PathFactory: 2018 Media Buyer Survey Report

PathFactory and HeinzMarket released their latest “Media Buyers Report.” When it comes to reading content, more B2B marketing professionals prefer digital content over print, and they turn to web searches to research vendors.

Approximately 88% of the more than 200 B2B marketing professionals surveyed said web search is the channel they most frequently use to learn consumer information and research supplier solutions.

This is consistent with how marketers are investing their paid media marketing budgets in online channels. Gartner's previous research found that paid search and organic search account for an average of one-quarter of marketing spending, making them two of the four "main forces."

B2B marketers should keep in mind the visit behavior dynamics of their target audience. B2B paid search click-through rates are still highest on desktops, although paid search clicks on smartphones are rising.

Buyers rely on email and social networks for information

PathFactory’s research found that 7 in 10 respondents use email to obtain consumer information and research supplier solutions. B2B marketers have said in the past that email delivers leads with the highest ROI. Notably, email is more important for B2B than B2C.

Social media is also a channel for respondents to consume information. More specifically, half (50%) of the marketing professionals surveyed get information from LinkedIn, and about a quarter (24%) use Twitter to gather information.

While online channels dominate the content channel list, about a third of respondents (34.4%) prefer old-fashioned methods such as getting information over the phone. However, this number is not equal across the supply chain. The report found that only about a quarter of executives are likely to use the phone.

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