Informa Tech has launched its first Trust in Marketing Index, measuring the state of the relationship between marketers and senior B2B technology buying decision-makers.
The Index, which reveals an overall score of 61 on a scale of 1 to 100, uncovers the disparity between existing content marketing practices and the preferences of senior business technology decision makers, giving marketers essential insights into how to elevate trust with this key audience.
Key findings include:
- Quality is key. Although 85% of business technology decision makers believe that high quality thought leadership B2B content improves their perception of a brand, 71% are often or sometimes disappointed in the value of B2B gated content
- Spammers beware. 41% of respondents who were incorrectly targeted or spammed said they wouldn’t buy a product from the offending brand, and 24% said they weren’t sure they would do business with that brand in future
- Senior appetite for content is high. 41% of combined C-level and executive-level B2B technology buyer respondents exchange their data for gated B2B insights an average of once a month or more
- Tech budgets are increasing in 2024. 88% of respondents declared their technology budgets will increase in the next 12 months
“The Informa Tech Trust in Marketing Index suggests there is more work to be done when it comes to maximising the value of marketing content,” said Emma Moorman, Informa Tech’s Marketing Services Product Director.
“It’s really interesting to see how valuable content is to senior decision makers but how easily wrongly-timed, wrongly-targeted, or badly-executed content can undermine trust. Trust is key to building long-term relationships, and we know from multiple studies that senior decision makers are more likely to make decisions based on trust and relationships than less senior roles in an organisation.
“With tech buying budgets expected to go up next year, it is crucial to understand the factors that will build or break trust in 2024 to create a fertile ground for sales.”
The 2023 Informa Tech Trust in Marketing Index was created from interviews with 150 senior executives, leaders and the C-suite across the business technology community in the US and UK. The survey analyses how trust is fostered through accuracy, clarity, expertise, personalisation and timeliness. It included five baseline questions with assigned point values for each answer to create the Index score.
