B2B targeted paid search costs rise 30pc in a year

Post by Steven Cox on 27th January 2012
 in E-commerce, PPC, Search

Companies which trade directly with other businesses are reacting to the growing trend for decision-makers to look online for products and services by increasing their online advertising spend.

As a result, pay-per-click advertising rates in the business-to-business sector have soared, and were 29 per cent higher at the end of 2011 than 12 months earlier, according to research by Marin Software.

Medianewsline.com noted that the highly competitive nature of  specialist business-to-business companies had resulted in PPC becoming a key way in which many players perceived that they could gain an advantage over their rivals.

Figures compiled by Google and Compete from among American businesses also showed a shift in the ways executives are using online search, with more relying on visual information sources. The number of brand-related searches conducted on YouTube by business users more than doubled between February 2010 and March 2011, it noted.

Even more so-called 'influencers' are researching buying options for their businesses using a smartphone, another batch of research has suggested. It found that nearly six out of 10 business buyers had used such a device to find product information – "growing evidence of the increasingly important role mobile plays in the B2B purchase process", noted emarketer.com.