The majority of US manufacturers who participated in an online marketing survey said internet marketing initiatives were crucial to their long-term financial success.

In the E-Business Trends in Manufacturing report, the New Jersey-based online marketing agency SVM E-Business Solutions surveyed more than 220 manufacturing companies across more than 20 industrial sectors and found 79 per cent of companies believed in online marketing initiatives.

Almost every manufacturer surveyed (98 per cent) had a website, for the purposes of "providing information about the company, improving brand awareness and generating sales leads".

The respondents listed "sales lead generation features" and "online product catalogue" as their websites' top capabilities.

Around 76 per cent of industrial marketers said they planned to increase spending on their company websites, email marketing and search engine marketing.

Online marketing budgets are expected to rise at the expense of traditional marketing avenues, like magazine advertising, trade shows and direct mail.

However, in 2005, manufacturers listed trade shows, sales people, industry directory listings, catalogues and brochures, and magazine advertising as their top five marketing tactics.

When asked about tactics that generated the most leads, industrial marketers listed online marketing above some traditional marketing tactics. The top tactics were sales people, 59 per cent; trade shows, 49 per cent; high ranking in search engine results, 33 per cent; email marketing to customers, 32 per cent; and public relations, 30 per cent.

Click here to download the survey.