In “The Value of B‐to‐B: Quantifying the role of the business‐to‐business information and media industry in the buyer‐seller relationship” a report published by The Association of Business Media and Information Companies (ABM), surveyors revealed some interesting statistics demonstrating how diversified today’s B2B media users are – and that marketers aren’t necessarily getting the picture.
The report, which surveyed more than 6,000 media users from a range of industries, examines how trade media and information companies bring business buyers and sellers together; Among its findings, 96 percent of media users read both print magazines and websites followed by product information from the manufacturer (93 percent), e-newsletters (92 percent), conferences or trade shows (80 percent) and print newsletters (76 percent).
But the buck doesn’t stop at print. Other stats from the surveys show that 63 percent of users are also gathering business information from mobile websites and applications.
No surprise there, but what is surprising is that these users don’t have a loyalty to either digital or print, instead more than 70 percent of these professionals prefer a mix of digital and print media outlets.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what most marketers are refusing to see. A majority of publishers with growing audiences identified print as the most important revenue source to their bottom line.
Yet only 11 percent of marketers plan to increase their print budget in the next year.
Marketers, in their haste to digitize, have missed the boat on the effectiveness of print media. ABM’s report proves that there is still a definitive audience responding to the tactile approach of print media.
So if media audiences are still valuing print, why aren’t marketers?
Image courtesy Association of Business Media and Information Companies
