Multichannel Marketing for B2B Marketers

Here’s a tip if you’re looking for a new use for social media.

How about customer service? You’d be entering a very elite group, according to a new study published by MarketingProfs for Digital Brand Expressions.

Of 100 companies surveyed, only 26% use social media for this purpose. Yet 91% use it for marketing, and 71% for public relations. And 55% deploy the social networks for sales.

You might even use it for human resources, an activity now pursued through social media by a measly 16%. continue reading…

Are you spending enough on lead generation?

Most firms aren’t, according to a recent report by MarketingProfs. It found that only 32% have have “sufficient or more budget to achieve” their goals.

Yet eMarketer reports that lead generation gets 28% of the average marketing budget, and 38% of the average online budget. That’s no small amount of money at some firms. So we wonder: Are they really not allocating enough? Or are they pouring the money into one stage of lead generation and neglecting the others? continue reading…

It’s hardly news that you can find a customer’s email address through email append.

But did you know you can do the reverse—get a name and postal address when you have only an email address to go on?

This process is called reverse email append. And it should be top of mind when you’re doing multi-channel B2B marketing.

For one thing, you’ll learn who the buyer actually is. That is, you can enhance your file with business demographics.

For another, you can now test direct mail (assuming you haven’t already done so). You will find, as other marketers have, that response goes up in channels when you use them together. continue reading…

The Wall Street Journal ran an article last month titled: “Why Email No Longer Rules.” It stated that “email was better suited to the way we used to use the Internet.”

Uh, what do you mean, “we?” continue reading…

Today’s report from the Internet Advertising Bureau confirms what many of us already know: That internet advertising has declined during “one of the most difficult economic slumps in decades.”

Online ad spending totaled $10.9 billion for the first six months of this year, a 5.3% decrease from the first half of 2008. continue reading…