Believe it or not, that IS the case according to a joint survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers and BtoB Magazine.
I was surprised. For the past several months here at Godfrey, several groups have been boning-up on the new media (search, analytics, convergent PR and the new tools at our disposal including blogs, podcasts, social networks and user-generated content). I assumed the B2B community was the “follower” but in fact, we seem to be the early adopter.
In an article in the August 13 issues of BtoB written by Kate Maddox, she notes that 31% of b-to-b marketers allocate 20% of their total media budgets to new media platforms compared with only 5% of b-to-c marketers. The bulk of those dollars allocated to new platforms will be directed to the entrenched forms – the company’s own web site and e-mail marketing. It is an enlightening article. If you’d like to read it, you can find it here.
So what does this have to do with creative strategy? As we develop programs, we need to be familiar with these new media tools now at our disposal. The traditional trade ad, product brochure and direct mailer will no longer be enough. B-to-B customers are younger and more tech savvy, so we need to include new, innovative tactics as part of our programs. But even marketers willing to use the new tools need a sense of comfort and assurance that we can prove their effectiveness and ROI.
Effectiveness and ROI come only when a program’s strategy is clearly defined and appropriate tactics are implemented, no matter if those tactics are traditional, new or a combination of both.