Over Half of Businesses Plan to Increase Marketing Spend

The latest survey by research group Mindmetre shows a growth in confidence from businesses when planning their marketing budget for 2012.

As reported by the BBC, 57.1% of the 2,000 firms questioned said they are looking to invest more in marketing while only 18.6% plan to make cuts. By comparison, the same survey in 2011 showed only 41% of companies wanting to increase their marketing budget and 42% had to prepare to cut back. Although there are worries over the UK being hit with another recession, these figures reflect how business owners understand the importance of spending in the right areas to encourage company growth.

One way to improve marketing productivity while seeing a clear return on investment is by integrating demand generation technology. A platform such as Profunnel’s will assist marketing and sales teams with their B2B lead generation, by increasing lead quantity, quality and conversion rates. Sales people are alerted of the activity and interests of warm allowing them target prospects with automated emails, tailored to suit their interests in specific services and products. This level of communication allows sales people to engage with leads who are at the final stages in the buying cycle - creating a greater rate for securing sales.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation.

Social Media Unfavoured for Marketing ROI

The latest survey by the Chartered Institute of Marketing has found an increasing number of businesses are using social media but are struggling to identify its overall value.

1,500 companies from around the world were questioned including both consumer and B2B companies. As Management Today reports, 67% of B2B companies are using Twitter and 64% are integrating LinkedIn while under half of the businesses are using Facebook. Although these figures suggest that social media is being considered an important marketing tool, many of the businesses in the survey have not been able to prove the ROI. More than 1 in 5 were not convinced that it helps to create new enquiries while only 23% thought it was proving useful for finding prospects.

This survey suggests that social media can be effective but needs to be used in conjunction with traditional media and not relied on to generate customers. A more valuable way to do this is through specialist marketing automation software, which can help businesses to pinpoint prospects. Profunnel’s email marketing solutions can increase leads directly into a sales team's inbox and alert the team not only of emails being opened but also clicks on a website so businesses can clearly see the activity of their database and efficiently act on warm leads.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing automation.

Always look on the bright side

A recent survey has found that SMEs are optimistic towards investment this year, despite claims of a continuing bleak economic climate.

As bdaily.co.uk reports, more than three quarters of the 100 UK small businesses questioned said that the poor economic outlook for 2012 has not deterred their plans to invest. Over 60% of the companies are looking to spend in marketing and sales, stating that one of their main focuses will be email marketing.

Businesses of all sizes need to make careful considerations for spending this year to ensure productivity and efficiency is either maintained or improved so they can be satisfied with their investment.

Profunnel offers an email marking solution which can be tailored to suit the requirements of your business. The software can assist marketers by engaging with only the warmest leads through a variety of methods depending on the campaign strategy, such as drip emails and trigger emails based on website visitor activity. Overall B2B lead generation is improved and better relationships are built between sales and prospects, increasing the number of appointments achieved.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing.

Email marketing ‘has a place’

Although some experts claim email marketing is being made redundant by social media, the latest research by Econsultancy shows quite the opposite.

As reported by MyCustomer.com, the UK market for email marketing grew by 15.5% last year with the value for platforms and services rising to £388 million. The figures have been drawn from email service providers, the cost of internal staff resources for email and spending on agency services.

The research indicates that this boost to email marketing is being strengthened by cross-channel campaigns and according to Econsultancy’s research manager, Aliya Zaidi, the key factor for marketers to master now is relevance. She suggests: “The growth of social media and greater volume of emails means companies can simply no longer afford to ignore email tactics that will increase the effectiveness of their campaigns, including personalisation, targeting and segmentation.”

By integrating email marketing solutions, businesses can create focussed, segmented campaigns based on the use of their website by prospects, such as keywords, downloads and number of visits. The technology can also provide real time statistics on open-rates to ensure marketers can concentrate on warm prospects while companies improve overall communications with customers.

Visit Profunnel for more information on targeted email marketing.