The survey also found that traditional marketing tools such as e-Shots (46%) and web analytics (37%) are still at the vanguard of the internet marketing machine, while online advertising (35%) only just surpassed optimised search (34%) as the third most-used means of communicating with customers.
Better data analysis is seen as critical in helping to inform decisions that drive sales by 65% of respondents, and a variety of technologies and analysis tools are available to the internet marketer to support this process. However the research found that traditional methods still lead the way over emerging web 2.0 technologies.
Marketing Tool % of companies using always/often
e-Direct mail: 46%
Web analytics: 37%
Online advertising: 35%
Optimised search: 34%
Website e-news sponsorship: 9%
Online competitions: 8%
Internet forums: 8%
Viral marketing: 6%
Blogs: 6%
Podcasts: 6%
Twitter: 2%
“Twitter is undoubtedly the hottest thing on the web at the moment. It has been fully embraced by the mainstream, and millions of people are now receiving blow-by-blow updates on the lives of their friends and even celebs from Stephen Fry to Ashton Kutcher (the latter recently ‘tweeting’ a most-likely staged picture of wife Demi Moore’s backside). It has also impacted greatly on the media – publications are now tweeting headlines and journalists are using Twitter to share stories, appeal for information and post their own scoops before anyone else,” comments Colette Wade, marketing director EMEA, WebTrends. “However it comes as no surprise that the business world has been more circumspect. Many are simply not sure how to use it, and even if they could they wouldn’t be sure of what to say, and who exactly they would be saying it to. Some are also concerned about the implications of individuals posting personal views that could be misconstrued as representative of the companies they work for. Businesses also don’t want to be perceived as ruining something that has taken-off organically and is essentially a fun communication tool for individuals. The people that built these communities can be very cynical of clumsy corporate involvement.”
“The advice to any business that does want to jump onto the Twitter bandwagon is to think carefully about the message they want to convey, and whether or not Twitter is actually the correct vehicle for that message.”