State of the market 06: Up-and-up for B2B

Business-to-business marketing is in a rude state of health, according to the first annual State-of-the-Market Survey by B2B Marketing magazine, with 64 per cent of respondents describing conditions as “buoyant” or “very buoyant”. Twenty eight per cent described the market as “flat” whilst only eight per cent of respondents used the term “in decline”.

Meanwhile, 96 per cent of B2B marketers anticipate marketing budgets will either rise or remain static during the next 12 months.

The responses to these questions, and a number of others from the survey, suggest that the B2B sector is bucking expectations of a downturn in the economy, with the future promising good prospects and a strong commitment to marketing. This contrasts with the view of the wider economy taken by many newspapers and commentators over recent months, many of whom have predicted a period of economic uncertainty. For example, the IPA's Bellweather Report of marketing budgets – produced quarterly and which last appeared in April – suggested that marketing spend may be reigned in during the second part of the year.