Half of companies using social media don’t have a strategy in place
Of the 53% of companies currently using social media as a marketing tool, half do not have any strategy in place, a small study has found.
The ‘Channel Vision’ study, put together by design, print and marketing specialists Catalogues 4 Business, found that 39% are looking to add social media and digital marketing to their activities this year, with 19% looking to add a website with e-commerce functionality for the first time.
The report, from interviews with 123 companies, found that the top three sale driving tools were the e-commerce website, email marketing, and a catalogue – but 13% don’t have a catalogue because their customers prefer to use the internet.
Ian Simpson, managing director at Catalogues4Business, said: “It’s great to see so many companies embracing social media and digital marketing. It can be a very powerful tool, but as with most marketing activities, there must be a strategy in place, and some joined up thinking. This will ensure each marketing activity is working with each other and working to the max. Otherwise you can quickly find you’ve wasted a lot of time, and money, and not got much to show for it.
“As the web has grown, competition for a place within it has become ferocious. Ad word and affiliate programs have developed into an industry in their own right and, combined with all the other e-based marketing activity, represent a potential significant marketing spend, yet still the single biggest thing businesses can do to drive traffic to their web site is targeted direct marketing, through mailing catalogues.”