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B2B
Forrester Research: The Power of Industry-Specific Business Magazines
Business-to-Business marketing mix survey conducted by Forrester Research for American Business Media (ABM)
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Despite the value and importance decision makers place on B2B media such as industry-specific magazines, B2B marketers instead spend a significant percentage of their budgets on media that decision makers use less or rely on less.
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Date: 2007
Type of promotional material/activity tested:
B2B digital media, traditional media and in-person events (trade shows, conferences, product demonstrations, presentations). Traditional media includes general business magazines and newspapers, TV, industry-specific B2B and trade magazines. Digital media includes websites and other online vehicles, as well as emerging media such as blogs and RSS feeds.
Sample population:
867 B2B marketers from 21 industry categories and 878 business decision makers (the customers of the B2B marketers) taken from the Global Market Insights panel.
Metrics:
B2B marketers: survey of the use of B2B marketing vehicles.
Decision makers: survey of their use of media to make decisions and do their jobs.
Business Decision Makers
80% of business decision makers find the content and advertising in industry-specific magazines more engaging than general business media.
Business decision makers rank industry-specific magazines #2 in helping them to do their jobs:
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“Which B2B media do you use or interact with to do your job?”
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Email/electronic newsletters
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76%
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Industry specific magazines
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69%
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Word-of-mouth
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67%
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Vendors’ Web sites
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66%
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Industry-specific conferences
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65%
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Industry-specific trade shows
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62%
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Web portals (e.g. Google)
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57%
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General business magazines
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55%
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Industry-specific Web sites
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55%
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Industry-specific magazines were ranked #1 in providing business decision makers information that they can trust.
Close to 65% of decision makers read 3 or more industry-specific magazines per month and 44% spend 3 hours or more per week reading them.
Top executives are even bigger consumers of industry-specific magazines. They are twice more likely to read six or more titles per month and spend six or more hours in a week doing so.
B2B Marketers
For reaching decision makers effectively and generating leads, B2B marketers strongly agree that industry-specific magazines are more effective than general business magazines.
B2B marketers recognize the benefits of integrated marketing channels—85% state they get more qualified buyers by using B2B magazines and other B2B media together.
Industry-specific magazines and direct mail are among the top five media tactics B2B marketers used:
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2007 B2B Marketers’ Top 5 Marketing Tactics
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Corporate Web sites
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79%
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Industry-specific trade shows
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71%
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Industry-specific magazines
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63%
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Industry-specific conferences
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63%
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Direct mail
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62%
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Despite the value and importance decision makers place on B2B media such as industry-specific magazines, B2B marketers instead spend a significant percentage of their budgets on media that decision makers use less or rely on less -- such as broadcast and general business media.
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2007 B2B Marketing Spending by Tactic
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Industry-specific trade shows and conferences
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16.4%
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Various online outlets
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14.8%
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General business media
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12.4%
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Corporate websites
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12.1%
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Traditional broadcast
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10.7%
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Direct mail
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8.7%
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Industry-specific magazines
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8.6%
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Take Aways:
The unique strengths of industry-specific magazines make them a valuable component of an integrated communications plan – business decision makers value and trust this medium and B2B marketers find them more effective at reaching decision makers and generating leads than general business media.
Despite these findings, B2B marketers underutilize industry-specific magazines in their current and projected marketing spend.
Complexity rating: 1 out of 3
(Complex statistical analysis scale: 1= none, 2= moderate, 3 = difficult)
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