A recent online survey conducted by BtoB found that more than half of business-to-business marketers are increasing their overseas marketing budgets. This is in the face of global economic tightening, which is being felt in the United States as much as – if not more than – anywhere.
Although the survey only questioned a relatively modest 274 marketers, it should come as no surprise that organizations are increasingly turning to non-US markets for business opportunities. Indeed, over the past 12 months, US companies have commissioned B2B International to conduct competitive intelligence studies and to research market assessment opportunities in more than 60 different countries worldwide.
Of those respondents to the BtoB survey who indicated that they expect to be increasing their non-U.S. marketing spend:
- 60.0% plan increases of between 1% and 10% this year over last
- Around a quarter plan increases of between 11% and 20%
- 8.8% plan to up spend between 21% and 30%
- 6.4% plan increases of more than 30%.
Of those companies who are not expecting to see any increase in their international marketing budgets, the vast majority (87.8%) plan relatively minor negative adjustments of between just 1% and 10%. 12.2% are decreasing non-U.S. budgets by more than 10%.
Of all the b-to-b marketers responding to the survey:
- 25.9% said non-U.S. business makes up between 1% and 10% of total company revenue
- 9.1% said non-U.S. business makes up between 11% and 20% of total revenue
- A further 11.7% stated that non-U.S. business makes up 21% to 30% of their total revenue
- Approximately one-quarter confirmed that more than 30% of total revenue comes from outside the U.S.
- By contrast, approximately a quarter of respondents indicated that none of their revenue comes from outside the USA.
In spite of looking to increase international marketing budgets, many companies highlight the difficulties associated with this, including the challenges of entering new markets, handling different languages, and coordinating global efforts. To read about BtoB’s survey in full, please click here.
