by tradesmeninsights | Mar 24, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
We all want to come up on page one of Google, Yahoo, Bing and all the other search engines. There’s a good reason that we need to strive for that. According to a recent article in emarketer data from an icrossing study shows only a small amount of people go beyond the first page.
Across the big three search engines, 95% of traffic came from first page results. That should make us all sit up and take notice. If you haven’t taken search seriously, maybe now would be a good time to do so. Don’t do all the hard work and have less than positive results because you’ve not taken organic search seriously.
A report from Econsultancy and ExactTarget indicated search spending would increase…nearly two-thirds of the marketers interviewed said they plan on increasing spending in this area.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 23, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Marketers across the board are realizing that social media is here to stay and those that have jumped in have found that they are making new friends.
How does that translate though into spending out of your marketing budget? With budgets shrinking over the last 18 months, marketers have had to do more with less and find social as a viable option.
A recent article in eMarketer, Marketing Budgets Spiral Towards Social, they cite recent surveys from both Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and American Marketing Association that indicate that upwards of 20% of marketing dollars will be going to social in the next five years.
B-to-B marketers are catching up with their counterparts in B-to-C. Part of the reason B-to-B marketers are spending more on social is because it lines up with their marketing goals of brand building and CRM.
What are your goals moving forward in 2010 and beyond?
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 17, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Online marketers usually focus on three key major objectives: Customer Retention, Brand Awareness and Lead Generation. Not surprising given the state of the economy, lead generation is getting more attention according to a recent study by AMR International.
AMR International interviewed 1000 marketers and here are highlights of their findings:
• Annual growth in US B2B online marketing spend is forecast at 8% in 2010 and is set to reach 14% by 2012
• B2B advertising spend on social media and lead generation sites is forecast to grow at an annualized rate of 21% and 17% respectively to 2013
• Online accounted for 7% of the B2B marketing mix in 2008. This is set to reach 12% by 2013
• Two thirds of B2B marketers believe that online must be complemented by traditional marketing activities
• Only 50% of B2B marketers formally analyze metrics to judge ROI – but those that do find online marketing more effective
What’s the focus of your online marketing program for 2010?
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 2, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must know that social media, even in the B-to-B space, is gaining traction on a daily basis. Top marketers worldwide agree that digital will increase in 2010. A recent article in eMarketer, Engagement on social networks top priority for marketers, substantiated these trends.
81% of the brand executives surveyed expected an increase in digital projects in 2010. Social networks and applications were among their biggest priority.
B-to-B marketers are evaluating traditional media investments and are reallocating dollars to paid digital spending. Digital allows marketers to measure engagement whether it be time spent on a site, page views or click-through rates.
What are you doing to capitalize on the digital age? I’d love to hear from you.
by tradesmeninsights | Feb 24, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
According to a recent study completed by Alterian in their 2009 annual survey (get the full report here), social media will become the focus of marketers in 2010. This should come as no surprise to us in the B-to-B marketplace where budgets are still tight and management is continuing to demand accountability for marketing efforts.
The survey covered 1068 marketing professionals. The respondents came from Europe (36%), from North America (62%) and from Asia Pacific (2%). Here are the highlights:
- 66% will be investing in social media in the next 12 months.
- Of those investing in social media, 40%will be shifting more than 20% of their traditional direct marketing budget towards social activities.
- 67% feel social media is either critical or increasingly important to their success.
- 36% are investigating social media monitoring tools.
- 51% are moving from a campaign-centric direct marketing to a model of multichannel customer engagement.
Commenting on the survey results, Alterian CEO, David Eldridge, said, “2010 marks the start of the digital decade for marketing. Untargeted and irrelevant marketing techniques are now redundant and the results of this survey show many in the industry recognise this. The one thing to remember, however, is that investment in Social Media Marketing is futile without adequate measurement.”
Eldridge concludes, “Engaging with customers is becoming paramount and the yardstick by which we measure those brands that survive and those that don’t. Marketers now need to appeal to the individual and engage with customers on a one-to-one basis. The easiest way to achieve this is by investing in Social Media Marketing and Social Media Monitoring, and by embracing the web.”
So what are your plans for 2010? Are you going to embrace social media? I’d like to hear what you’re planning on doing.
by tradesmeninsights | Feb 18, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
One of the biggest challenges I face with our B2B clients is trying to convince them that Social Media has a place in their overall marketing plan.
B2B an B2C are more aligned than you think. And in most cases in my opinion, B2B companies have an advantage because they have a well-defined audience, (e.g. Plumbing Contractors), where they can focus their energy and expertise.
Jay Baer in a recent post, Crushing the Myth of B2B Social Media, agrees with my premise, and he cites a recent study by MarketingProfs, State of Social Media Marketing Report, (which surveyed more than 5000 marketers) that both B2B and B2C marketers basically used the same tools… Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace.
In that study, both use the same basic tools, but how they use them differentiates the two groups. Jay reinforces the fact that no matter who you are, you should have a plan and process in place to implement and monitor your progress.
So B2B marketers should get on the band wagon and start utilizing these tools.
