In my last post I described the demographics and content usage of respondents to our recent survey of KickStart Accelerator (our newsletter) subscribers. This time, I’m reviewing results on the questions we asked our readers in that same survey about their current marketing and sales practices and initiatives. Since these were all “check-all-that-apply” questions, the percentage totals will exceed 100%.
Bear in mind from the last post that our responses were predominantly from people in smaller to mid-sized B2B companies that sell tech products or services. Here is how they responded to questions about how they are engaging with customers:
Q: What media “channels” have been successful in reaching your customers?
- 91% – Email
- 68% – Web
- 50% – Social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
- 45% – Telephone
- 32% – Video
- 23% – Direct mail
- 23% – Podcast
- 0% – Mobile
“Other” write-ins:
— TV/print
— All things web (including webcasts and social media)
— Webcasts (multiple write-ins)
Q: In the last year, how have you learned about needs and concerns of your customers?
- 68% – Sales reps
- 58% – Surveys
- 47% – User group meetings
- 37% – Win/loss reports
- 32% – Channel partners
- 26% – Focus groups
- 21% – Customer advisory boards
- 16% – Customer satisfaction studies
“Other” write-ins:
— Talking with customers directly
— Old fashioned research
Q: How do you stay in touch with, nurture existing customers and prospects?
- 79% – E-newsletter
- 60% – Periodic emails
- 45% – Social media
- 35% – Blog
- 10% – Advertising
“Other” write-ins:
— Telephone (multiple write-ins)
— Community/Customer Meet-ups (regional)
— In person
Q: How is your organization developing new prospects?
- 65% – Webinars
- 50% – Cold calling
- 45% – Email lists
- 45% – Trade shows
- 35% – White paper syndication
- 35% – Other online advertising
- 20% – Banner ads
- 20% – Media site email blasts
- 15% – PPC ads
- 10% – Print advertising
“Other” write-ins:
— Events
— Telemarketing
— Downloads of open source versions and live cloud trials
— Networking
— Partner referrals
Q: What type of sales tools does your organization use?
- 95% – Case studies
- 80% – White papers
- 75% – Demos
- 45% – Sales playbook
- 40% – Competitive guide
- 40% – Proposal tool
- 25% – ROI calculator
“Other” write-ins:
— Presentations (multiples write-ins)
— Technical application notes
— Lots of demos, free tutorials, partial training days (really extended demos)
While our readers’ practices in connecting and engaging with prospects and customers seem not to have changed significantly in the past 5 years, we found they are dabbling in use of new tools and social networks for their businesses. Could our readers be on the brink of big changes in the way they conduct marketing and sales? We’ll need to follow up and check the pulse again before this time next year.