Question: If your customer based relied heavily on one particular form of media to make purchasing decisions, would you stop using that form of media to communicate with them?
The obvious answer is no. Yet, according to this article in Print in the Mix, many publishers and B2B marketers are doing just that.
The article outlines some pretty surprising choices being made by B2B marketers. The facts come from American Business Media’s “Value of B-to-B” report and seem to point out a big disconnect between the way B2B decision makers seek industry info and the way B2B marketers provide it.
According to the article, “Websites (65%), manufacturer product info (62%), and print magazines (48%) are the top 3 resources for decision-makers researching work-related purchases.”
Yet the marketers charged with influencing and reaching these people are cutting their print advertising budgets. And we don’t think that’s because businesspeople are turning away from printed content. In fact 61% believe that “print magazines will stay constant or grow in importance over the next five years.”
Even more surprising, while print advertising continues to drive the lion’s share of revenue (43%) for B2B publishers, 32% of them are planning to cut their print ad budgets this year.
This has us scratching our heads.
Could this be another case of the marketers determining the market?
The bottom line is decision makers refer to print magazines quite heavily in their journey toward purchase. By choosing not be there, are B2B marketers throwing away one of their key sources of revenue? Let us know what you think.
See more at: http://printinthemix.com/Fastfacts/Show/757#sthash.3EoQ9vBm.dpuf