Web 2.0 – Integrating Brand and Direct Marketing

An irresistible vacuum for
time and VC money

Web 2.0 paves the way for integrating direct and brand marketing, enabling real-time dialog with customers and the joint creation of content that improves brand awareness and perception.

More importantly, all that work can generate sales and leads, according to a new report, MarketingCharts writes.

“New Media Emergence in DM & Brand,” a report from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), approaches “Web 2.0” – blogs, virtual words, social networks, user-generated content, RSS feeds, and wikis – as the seat converging all marketing.

Eugenia Steingold, Ph.D., DMA’s senior research manager, authored the report, which examines how new media is used for brand building and direct marketing. She also investigates possibilities for integrating DM and brand.

Elements most used by Web 2.0 direct marketers are (in order) blogs, online video, user-generated content and social networks:

dma-web20-use-for-dm.jpg

Other key findings from the study of B2B and B2C DM marketers who use Web 2.0:

* Despite being relatively new, Web 2.0 is apparently recognized as a brand-building channel:
o 84 percent of respondents use it to raise brand awareness.
o 82 percent use Web 2.0 tools to increase brand preference.
* New media is used for direct marketing as much as it is for brand building:
o 83 percent use Web 2.0 to generate sales.
o 80 percent use it to generate leads.
* Most marketers realize the opportunities that new media create for integrating DM and brand:
o 85 percent of respondents use Web 2.0 to engage their customers and rate it as a highly effective mechanism for customer engagement (average rating is 5.3)
o 84 percent of our respondents use Web 2.0 to create a community of loyal customers, and they find it very effective for doing so (the average rating is 5.0).

Other findings:
o 82 percent of respondents allocated a quarter or less of their marketing budget toward Web 2.0.
o 70 percent of those who report that they are experts in interactive marketing also allocate about a quarter of their budget to Web 2.0.

As a complement to the report, DMA is hosting a virtual seminar, “Using New Media – The Link Between DM & Brand,” on Wednesday, May 7.

About the study: in January 2008, DMA deployed an online survey to it target audience, including B2B and B2C direct marketers who use Web 2.0 as part of their marketing strategies, and specifically strive to integrate DM and Brand. The survey was closed for tabulation in late February 2008 and obtained data from 160 respondents who completed the survey.