© Copyright 2012
We asked our clients, and others, about their views on marketing agencies, communications activities, social media and B2B marketing. Do they think social media is important to B2B marketing or just a FaceBook fad? How effective are traditional media versus social media? What are their plans for implementing social media?
| 1) When working with an agency, please rate the following in terms of importance: (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being highest importance) | |
| Knowledge of your industry | 3.8 |
| 'Out of the box' thinking | 4.7 |
| Graphic design capabilities | 4.3 |
| Content generation capabilities (articles, releases, blogs, etc.) | 3.8 |
| Branding capabilities/ideas | 4.1 |
| Knowledge of latest marketing opportunities | 3.8 |
| Internet / Social Media capabilities | 2.8 |
| Use of metrics to measure effectiveness | 3.6 |
| 2) For each of the following marketing activities, would you say that your company will do more or less than last year? | |
| Email blasts | 71% more, 29% same |
| Social media | 70% more, 15% less, 15% same |
| 33% more, 45% less, 12% same | |
| Events / training | 66% more, 33% same |
| Webinars | 86% more, 14% same |
| Web-based initiatives | 84% more, 16% less |
| Print advertising | 28% more, 44% less, 28% same |
| Online advertising / banners | 71% more, 29% same |
| Video | 100% more |
| Audio | 33% more, 16% less, 51% same |
| eBooks | 80% more, 20% same |
| 3) In general, how would you rate the effectiveness of your traditional media efforts? |
|
| Print advertising | 28% effective, 15% ineffective, 57% somewhat effective |
| Press releases | 71% effective, 29% somewhat effective |
| Trade shows | 43% effective, 14% ineffective, 43% somewhat effective |
| Company events | 100% effective |
| Company literature | 67% effective, 33% somewhat effective |
| White papers | 43% effective, 29% somewhat effective, 14% not sure, 14% N/A |
| 4) Have you personally used any of the following social media options when researching a product for your company and / or personal use? | |
| 14% yes, 86% no | |
| 43% yes, 57% no | |
| 29% yes, 71% no | |
| YouTube | 71% yes, 29% no |
| Blogs | 29% yes, 71% no |
| Slideshare | 0% yes, 100% no |
| 5) In your view, how important is social media to B2B marketing and to your company's strategy in particular? | |
| Extremely important | 15% |
| Very important | 41% |
| Somewhat important | 29% |
| Not important | 15% |
| 6) For existing and / or future online / social media initiatives, what are your primary objectives? (listed in order of importance) |
|
| 1. Building awareness | |
| 2. Lead generation | |
| 3. Listening to prospects and customers | |
| 4. Community building | |
| 5. Website traffic | |
| 6. Reputation management | |
| 7. Search engine rankings | |
| 8. Reduce customer acquisition costs | |
| 7) When it comes to implementing social media, which of the following poses the biggest challenge? (listed in order of importance) | |
| 1. Getting started | |
| 2. Identifying where to participate | |
| 3. Tracking conversions | |
| 4. Finding out who the communities and influencers are | |
| 5. Understanding how / where social media works for my company | |
| 6. Developing content | |
| 7. Cost / resource impact | |
| 8. Coordinating social media activities | |
NOTE: Totals may exceed 100 because of rounding.