Word of mouse trumps word of mouth
According to a survey published in the September 1, 2005 issue of "Electronic Design" magazine, you can reach 96% of business buyers with a well planned marketing campaign that includes print and an internet marketing strategy
When asked, "Where do you find the most useful information about new products and technology?" the respondents named their top three sources as
-
print magazines (54%)
- Web searches (23%, Google primarily)
- E-mail newsletters (19%, which includes RSS feeds)
This covers 96% of the bases, relegating trade shows (2%) and word of mouth (2%) to the sidelines
Who’d have thought the holy grail of marketing could ever become a non starter?
Now it’s word of mouse you want. Online product reviews and peer to peer recommendations are one of the most effective ways to influence purchasing behavior.
So if you are a BtoB marketer don’t discount print trade mags just yet. But make sure you have a solid Internet marketing strategy with all the necessary elements in place to get you to the top of those web searches on Google – you have to show up on page one when a buyer is searching.
Optimize the content on your website, get your message out into the news engines with optimized press releases (tipped as one of the top three online strategies for 2006 by Marketing Sherpa) and create a compelling online newsletter. Enable all this content with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) web feed so you get wider distribution and a bigger audience seeing your message.
And there is your 96% campaign.
