The abrupt shutdown of vast swaths of economy and the entire live events industry, to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, has dramatically impacted plans for B2B marketers. But, as in all economic slowdowns, not every business sector is affected in the same degree or way.
Those differences are one area explored in How COVID-19 is Impacting B2B Marketing, a research report just published by B2B Marketing Zone and Webbiquity LLC. More than 450 B2B marketing professionals gave their input to this study. Among the findings:
- 61% of marketers expect at least a modest reduction in their overall marketing budgets for this year, with smaller vendors expecting the biggest declines.
- 40% of respondents anticipate that unused live events dollars simply won’t be spent (i.e., overall budgets will be cut). But roughly the same share plan to reallocate those funds to other marketing tactics.
- The top three areas live event budgets will be reallocated to are content creation (43%): hosted webinars (40%); and search marketing (33%).
Check out the full report for all of the insights.