A new study from Forrester reveals that B2B marketing budgets are up 6.7 percent, with technology firms driving the growth.

A new study from Forrester reveals that B2B marketing budgets are up 6.7 percent, with technology firms driving the growth. B2B marketers say that lead generation and brand awareness are among the top reasons to increase budgets.

The Forrester survey, relayed by MarketingProfs, reveals that B2B marketing budgets are on the rise after years of cuts. The average 6.7 percent increase is led by 17 percent increases from tech-service companies.

Other top spenders by sector are finance and insurance firms, which increased marketing budgets by 7.8 percent on average, and high-tech product providers, increasing budgets by 5.9 percent. Business/ professional services and manufacturing companies round out the top five spenders this year, each increasing budgets by 4.3 percent.

The top investment area is product marketing and management, cited as a priority by 21.3 percent of respondents. Marketers may find new product search services offered by Google Places can help them make individual products easily accessible to online consumers trying to decide where to shop.

Lead generation was the second-leading area of investment – a focus for 15.7 percent of respondents. Branding was the third top investment area, cited as a priority by 13.5 percent of marketers. Marketers might find that social media marketing helps with both branding and lead generation as Brafton has covered studies that show social marketers cite these two areas as leading benefits of social media outreach.

Brafton recently reported that 51 percent of marketers selling to other businesses say they have formed new business partnerships through social media marketing.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.