In this age of multi-platform audience delivery, you might be forgiven for forgetting the power of print. This year has seen a resurgence of activity in the sector, following a couple of years of downturn.
Magazines are at at the centre of the array of the B2B media available for advertisers to communicate with business customers. They are a vital investment, able to stand on their own or to be the core around which a multi-platform campaign is planned.
The B2B information and communications industry turnover was £13.7 billion at the time of the last measurement in 2001. It is a major employer, with more than 175,000 people work in the industry. It makes a substantial contribution to exports, generating about £4.5 billion revenue from overseas, and a number of UK-based companies are major global players. The industry is evolving rapidly, particularly because of technological advancements in the field.
There are about 10,000 business magazines and journals, according to the Business Information Forum, an organisation made up of trade associations in the business information and communications sector. These generate estimated annual revenues of more than £3.3 billion, of which about £2 billion is advertising revenue. The BRAD directory uses narrower definitions but still lists more than 5000 business magazines which accept advertising. The Advertising Association estimates B2B magazines’ advertising revenues at just over £1 billion which accounts for nine per cent of main media spend in the UK.
Campaign cornerstone
B2B magazines earn their position as the vital core marketing investment for companies promoting their products or services to businesses. Other media can often perform a fruitful role within the communications mix and the Internet, in particular, is a valuable component but it is the printed page of the business press which is outstanding in its capacity to serve as the foundation of a B2B campaign.
Magazines offer a unique set of benefits to the advertiser, including: independent editorial, precision targeting, and wide reach into business; they are also highly respected and trusted by their readers.
Most significant purchasing decisions are made by people in more than one job function and almost everyone reads at least one business magazine regularly. B2B magazines reach all the different levels of decision-makers within the purchasing chain. This is achieved through both industry-based vertical titles and/or discipline-based horizontal’ titles. Business-to-business magazines can therefore ensure advertisers’ campaigns reach all relevant decision-makers.
Core information resource
Advertising in business magazines works because they represent the most important source of information for the business people they serve. Decision-making readers rate business publications as their first choice for staying in touch with what’s going on within their sector. This is why 86 per cent of advertisers say B2B magazines are best for providing sales leads, and 96 per cent of sales and marketing directors consider B2B magazines best for providing effective advertising for their campaigns.
B2B magazines allow advertisers to form close relationships with their customers, and their readers certainly agree. Research has shown that 73 per cent of business decision-makers found B2B magazines contained advertising useful to their jobs. This is impressive considering the usual reluctance to admit that advertising effects people and their business decisions.
B2B titles also provide the means for organisations to obtain and convey information, to promote products and services and to keep abreast of developments. They help drive decisions, shape strategy and deliver success in specific industry sectors, which is why 87 per cent of decision-makers use B2B publications regularly for work purposes, more than any other medium.
With such a compelling case it is unsurprising that, after some tough years, new forecasts of advertising spend signal the continued recovery of B2B magazines. Figures from the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) predict that spending on B2B magazines will rise by 6.4 per cent in Q4 2004 against an all media average of 5.6 per cent. WARC believes that this reinvigoration of B2B magazines will continue into Q1 2005 with the medium again outperforming the ad market with an increase of 6.6 per cent against an all media average of six per cent.
From this, we can deduce that the effectiveness of advertising in B2B media is unrivalled. In a study conducted for American Business Media, more than half of those exposed to advertising had purchased or recommended a purchase of an advertised product.
