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How important is communication for B2B export companies? A survey of the Portuguese business community shows that just over half of these companies have a communications department.
Furthermore, the total number of companies in this category with an established annual action plan is less than 60%.
Even so, 75% recognizes that its importance is "High" or "Very High", according to the "InterComm Report - B2B Communication Trends in Global Businesses (InterComm)", a study developed by the School of Social Communication in partnership with SayU Consulting - Evoke Network.
According to this study, which was also supported by Aicep Portugal Global, 581% of Portuguese B2B exporting companies will increase their investment in communication in order to strengthen their relationship with stakeholders. At the moment, this relationship is ensured by the commercial department in 78.21% of the organizations surveyed. Of these, 46.81% work with communications agencies or consultants.
Nine out of ten of the companies surveyed (90.3%) have a website, and the majority of investment in communication goes to social media (76.6%). This is followed by participation in trade fairs (70.2%), advertising (59.7%), business missions (50.4%) and, finally, media relations (41.1%).
However, only around half of the companies surveyed (49.2%) monitor and evaluate the return on communication investments.
"The context in which we live, and which we don't know for sure when it will change, has made it clear that it is time for top management to understand the contribution of communication to the competitiveness of companies. The business of B2B organizations is mostly based on relationships between different interlocutors and communication plays an essential role, adding value to companies and making them more competitive," commented Ana Raposo and Marta Gonçalves, the researchers responsible for InterComm.
In Marketeer