A new MarketingSherpa report indicates search engine optimization and email marketing are two top tactics for B2B companies, illustrating the importance of content marketing for these firms.

A new MarketingSherpa report indicates search engine optimization and email marketing are two top tactics for B2B companies, illustrating the importance of content marketing for these firms.

The study found 12 and 11 percent of B2B marketing budgets are devoted to email and SEO respectively, putting the two internet channels ahead of other proven channels, such as telemarketing, direct mail and public relations.

As the source notes, email marketing is an extremely cost-effective marketing solution, but that doesn't mean that companies don't spend a lot of money on the tactic. Expenses range from mailing list development and analytics to content creation. Moreover, content can be repurposed for company blogs or social media sites, enabling firms to get more mileage out of their emails and bolstering SEO and social efforts.

B2B firms seem as if they are still on the fence when it comes to social media marketing – only 7 percent of budgets are allocated to the emerging marketing channel. However, this is slowly changing – social media usage has jumped significantly over the past two years, a BtoB Online study found. Whereas only 52 percent of B2B firms used the platform in 2009, nearly 90 percent do today.