“The number one thing B2B companies spend money on is events,” explained VP and principal analyst of B2B marketing at Forrester Research Laura Ramos. “Now, some companies say they need to figure how to generate demand in other ways, but if we were good at using other methods, we wouldn’t have relied so much on events.”

‘Other methods’ translates to digital marketing (as B2B print publications face their own challenges amid the pandemic). The transition to digital marketing has not been simple for many B2B companies—but it is happening in several ways. 

We encourage you to subscribe to our blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

B2B Marketing Budgets Reallocated to Different Online Channels

Without events, B2B companies are reallocating budgets to digital channels. 

For example, Dell reinvested out-of-home and radio advertising into digital media channels to take advantage of increased engagement throughout April and May. 

“We were already in these spaces to a healthy degree, but we’ve significantly increased our attention and our investment,” explained Michael Lambert, senior director of small business marketing at Dell Technologies.

But there are several ways to do online marketing to increase demand and tighten up pipelines—where are B2B companies putting their dollars?

Webinars

Many brands are taking their events and converting them into an online event or webinar. Since the beginning of the year, the number of companies advertising webinars has almost tripled.

Because large gathering safety remains uncertain, 2021 events are already going online. For example, CES 2021, the large trade show that typically hosts about 182,000 people—will be hosted online in January. Events like these will change networking strategies, programming, roundtable discussions, and more. 

Digital Advertising

B2B ad dollars shifted strongly into digital advertising amid the pandemic, especially in the early days. As case counts seemed to decrease, digital advertising spend on B2B websites followed suit. However, with the recent increase in cases, digital ad spending rose again.

Comparing Q2 of last year to Q2 of this year, we see that the categories making up online B2B ad spending saw dramatic shifts.

The largest jump came from Medical/Pharma brands, who dramatically increased ad spending on B2B websites as the pandemic took hold. 

Travel brands, on the other hand, cut ad spend dramatically—hurting B2B websites with content focused on the travel industry. Other B2B websites that are supported by business travel advertisers also feel the significant cuts.

Content Creation

Companies also reallocated budgets by investing in organic content creation and search engine optimization (SEO). 

Research conducted by Webbiquity LLC. found that the top spending categories for B2B marketers to reallocate event budgets to included:

• Content creation
• Hosted and sponsored webinars
• SEO 
• Industry vertical lead generation programs

“Marketing budget dollars originally slated for events are being shifted to content marketing and social media,” explained Tom Pick, founder and chief digital marketing consultant at Webbiquity LLC. 

While companies are creating free content to drive traffic to their websites, B2B magazines are being pushed online—navigating their own questions surrounding free and paid content. Many B2B magazines are currently seeing larger audiences online compared to their print editions, but they will have to create content that truly stands out to remain profitable. 

No matter the industry—B2B companies all seem to be finding new rhythms to drive lead generation, engagement, and sales. We will continue observing advertising trends to understand the reallocation of event dollars. 

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Prior to COVID-19, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research reported that B2B marketers who participated in events spent about 40% of their budgets on trade shows, which was five times more than online marketing spending. 

This year, trade shows and exhibitions are not taking place—and digital B2B ad spending is growing.

We encourage you to subscribe to our blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

Without events, B2B companies invested in digital marketing

The first half of 2020 was all about pivoting. Prior to the outbreak, B2B companies were running online campaigns and doing account-based marketing—but without physical events or meetings, digital efforts became even more vital.

“Everything is digital now,” said Toni Clayton-Hine, EY’s CMO for the Americas. “And because of that, we actually have more information to help us create and develop user journeys.”

With digital marketing, there are many ways to attract leads and track their customer journeys. EY created a series of virtual events with helpful information relevant to the chaotic first months of the pandemic. One of their webcasts on the CARES Act had more than 18,000 registrants.

Even though professionals had hoped that events would come back by the fall or the end of the year, large events in early 2021 are already being cancelled. 

CES, one of the world’s largest tech events, cancelled their in-person 2021 event, saying it will be all virtual. Last year, more than 171,000 people attended the event. 

“With the growing global health concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it is not possible to safely convene tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas in early January 2021 to meet and do business in person,” announced the Consumer Technology Association. 

Professionals will not be ready to return to large events until there is assurance that it will be safe. For now, many marketers are focusing on leveling up their B2B content by producing the most-consumed content asset types during the pandemic—webinars, videos, eBooks, and reports.

MediaRadar Insights

Digital isn’t the only option for ad dollars to be diverted to—but it is the most optimal. Digital allows advertisers to buy ads efficiently, understand buyers better, and understand their campaign performances accurately. Alternatives—such as print—can’t compete. 

B2B print advertising was already in decline, but COVID-19 accelerated the trend.The number of advertisers buying B2B print started the year down 13% due to pre-existing market trends. With the pandemic, the number of advertisers fell 47% YoY in June. 

Without confidence in print and in-person events, ad dollars quickly went to digital.

Webinar ads saw massive growth as they replaced in-person events. Between January and June, the number of companies running webinar ads on B2B websites was up 165%.

Mirroring this growth, digital ad spend across B2B websites saw massive growth. In the early days of the pandemic, weekly ad spend was up 35% year-over-year.

As live events, direct mail, and other popular B2B marketing tactics were rendered not available during the pandemic, digital picked up the slack.

For more updates like this, stay tuned. Subscribe to our blog for more updates on coronavirus and its mark on the economy.

In a survey conducted by Digital Commerce 360, 58% of B2B eCommerce executives have lowered their financial projections this year due to Covid-19. 

With lower financial expectations and an economy that remains unstable, how are executives directing their advertising funds? 

We encourage you to subscribe to our blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

6 Verticals Affected by COVID-19

Here we look at how different industries under the B2B umbrella are pivoting in these unprecedented times. Some are surprising (spoiler alert: coffee). Others are not (i.e. webinars). 

Webinars and Digital Marketing 

With the cancellation of trade shows, marketers have had to make a new game plan for generating new leads and building relationships with clients. This was a huge loss for companies that participate in events because 70% of event revenue is made in Q1.

Research from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research found that B2B marketers who attend trade shows allot about 40% of their marketing budget to events, while they only spend 8% on online marketing. 

With this crisis, B2B marketers are now facing the inevitable: they need to pour more into online efforts.

About 65% of B2B marketers will reallocate dollars from live events to online events and webinars this year. We have seen this result in a large spike in the number of companies running paid advertisements for webinars.

Outside of webinar ads, we have seen a spike in digital advertising across B2B as a whole.

Both the number of companies and dollars spent increased 9% month-over-month in March.

In total, over $305M was spent on digital B2B advertising in Q1. This is a 9% year-over-year increase.

Working from Home Software Solutions

As many teams shifted to remote work, home productivity tools (like Slack or Zoom) were up big. In March 2020, spend from these brands were up 63% month-over-month.

IT Companies

These companies know there are challenges in getting workforces to function remotely.

Their response was swift. Ad spend in March was more than 2x the spend in January.

Coffee Brands

Not getting your morning brew in the office any more?

Coffee brands, not normally considered a B2B advertiser, realize this.

Spending in B2B publications from the category was up 4.5x between January and March.

We’ve seen coffee ads on sites like PMMag.com, Engineered Systems, MultiChannel News, Interiors and Sources, and more.

Insurance Companies

As the market becomes more uncertain, insurance companies are increasing their ad spending.

Notable categories up in Q1 2020 year-over-year include:

• Life Insurance: +167%
• Business Insurance: +165%
• Legal Expense Insurance: +135%

MBA Programs

Business school applications go up in times of recession. Many don’t have work and young professionals can use this time to sharpen their skills.

Schools increased their spending in B2B publications. Business school ad spend was up 43% month-over-month in March, and Executive Education programs were up 64% month-over-month.

Interested in learning more? We will go more in depth on how this pandemic has hit B2B companies in our upcoming trend report. Stay tuned for more details.