In a November 2012 Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Act-On, a leading provider of cloud-based integrated software, entitled "Driving SMB Revenue in a Tough Economy". In this study, decision makers from 208 companies were asked to share their perceptions about a multitude of activities, including online marketing, business planning and programs, organization and process, and technologies used to support online customer acquisition.
The results of the study paint an interesting and informative picture of the top-performing SMBs. Seven key factors emerged from the results that help us to understand why some SMBs are succeeding while others continue to struggle.
The following seven habits are those that have been widely adopted by top performers:
- An emphasis on online over offline marketing strategies
- A focus on new business leads and customer lifetime value over customer acquisition cost savings
- The execution of highly-optimized, multi-channel campaigns leveraging email, web and social media
- Nurturing leads carefully until the time is right rather than trying to sell from the get-go
- Collecting the metrics that matter and measuring results in order to iterate and improve
- Increasing collaboration between sales and marketing, made easier through quantifiable measures of success
- Maintaining -- or even increasing -- marketing budgets during a difficult economy in order to increase business momentum, seize new opportunities, and gain the competitive advantage
Have you adopted these habits? If not, isn’t it time to start? Take your first step by visiting InfoGrow Corporation.
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