As Marketing Sherpa was kind enough to answer a few questions about the upcoming guides.
Do you have an anticipated date when the report will be available?
The two Buyer’s Guides will be available at the end of April — our graphic design and proofing team are already cranking on them. Check SherpaStore.com for details in a couple of weeks.
What prompted Marketing Sherpa to offer two surveys this year?
We’re constantly surveying and talking with our 173,000 weekly readers — who are mostly VPs and directors of marketing in the corporate world (ie client-side) — and in the last year many have begun to budget significantly (20% of overall online/offline ad budget) not only for paid search, but for agency/expert help to run the campaigns.
Paid search isn’t a run-it-yourself-on-the-side marketing tactic anymore.
Paid search is *very* different on many levels from SEO, so we think it’s rare to find a consultant who can do both equally well. Some bigger agencies may have departments with experts for each field – but it’s different departments.
So it made sense to split the tactics into two different Buyer’s Guides. Plus, let’s face it, our current SEO Buyer’s Guide is pretty fat by itself. I think anything fatter might give marketers back strain 
How will this year’s report be different than last year’s?
Each year we try to vary the questions and add new questions that really help various search firms differentiate themselves from the pack. We don’t think any one firm is perfect for every client. It’s a more unique-to-unique matching process.
We are definitely asking about new stuff this year such as PR and search, blogging, RSS feeds, etc. In recognition of M&A fever and rapid industry changes, we’re also asking for company news highlights.
As for the rest, you’ll have to wait and see
Anything else that’s new about this year’s report?
Well, of course the Paid Search Agency Buyer’s Guide will be 100% new from stem to stern. It’s a first edition. The SEO Buyer’s Guide is a 4th edition.
Thank you Anne, we’ll be watching for the next issue.
Last year, the SEO Firm Buyer’s Guide sold for $149 as a download or $159 in print.
Tags: Marketing+Sherpa, SEO+firms, PPC, SEO, search+engine+optimization
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