Chief Marketer released the results of a 2012 online survey of U.S. marketing professionals in March, and the results provide some interesting stats that help us understand the direction of digital marketing as local business owners.
As provided by eMarketer in the post, Marketers Use Growing Number of Tools to Spur Website Engagement, a summary of the results are provided below:
The top three digital marketing campaigns of survey respondents were as follows:
- 78% use email marketing
- 59% use email newsletters
- 58% use a social network presence
When asked which “niche” or “secondary” interactive digital marketing tools they used:
- 28% use webinars
- 20% use social apps
- 13% (up 7% from last year) use branded games
When asked what methods were being used to boost organic search rankings:
- 68% responded with improving their Facebook/Twitter presence by adding sharing buttons
- 51% are optimizing landing pages
- 47% increased the content being uploaded to their webpage
- 45% increased blog content
- 37% are loading video content
As we share with clients and have shared in previous blog posts, email marketing is still going strong and social media and recent content are important components of a local business marketing strategy, and these stats support that others professionals agree. In addition, getting creative with complimentary tools and tactics, such as webinars and apps, is what a local business needs to do to keep up with and stay ahead of the competition.
What online tools do you use to promote your local business online with success? Please share below.
For nearly three decades, Chris Marentis, Founder and CEO of Surefire Social, has been responsible for driving innovation and sales growth for large media and e-commerce brands as well as start-ups. With a long-history of counseling local businesses about their marketing efforts, Marentis provides insight on what it takes for small businesses to succeed and thrive in today’s evolving digital environment. His notable career includes creating the foundational blueprints for online marketing, e-commerce and content branding for AOL’s Interactive Marketing group, where he served as Senior Vice President. While CEO of Clearspring Technologies, Marentis developed one of the most widely adopted venture-backed Web 2.0 technology platforms. Marentis is a frequent speaker at local digital marketing conferences and a contributor to SMB and technology-focused publications.
