So much has changed in marketing and sales in the 9 years since we founded KickStart Alliance. Because we wanted to learn how our readers are operating in 2011, in April we sent a survey to our newsletter subscribers rather than publishing our usual monthly newsletter. The response rate was lower than we anticipated, at 4%, so we followed up in May asking for additional respondents. That generated just one more survey response. So while there wasn’t enough data to be statistically reliable, we’re sharing in this post some of what we did learn.

Completes85% of respondents completed the survey, including sharing information about themselves.

Demographics – Of those who completed information about themselves:

  • Market – 89% are in the B2B market
  • Business type – 83% are in corporations, 11% are contractors/consultants and 6% are in marketing agencies
  • Business size – 61% described their company as SMB, 28% as a start-up, and 11% enterprise-sized businesses
  • Industry – 50% are in the software industry and 23% are in tech manufacturing other than software. Under 10% each were in non-tech manufacturing, clean tech, business services, and “other.”

Content Sources – This was a check-all-that apply question, so results total greater than 100%:

  • Webinars and Online Trade Publications – 60% each
  • Trade group meetings/conferences and social media/networks – 55% each
  • Analysts – 45%
  • Blogs – 40%
  • Classes/courses and Print Trade Publications – 25% each

Devices Used for Browsing – In addition to 100% using PC or Mac, there is plenty of mobile browsing:

  • 50% use a smartphone
  • 25% use an iPad or other tablet

Social Media Elements Used – For their own business, and again a check-all-that-apply question, responses were:

  • 95% use LinkedIn
  • 70% read blogs
  • 30% post to a blog
  • 30% comment/participate on others’ blogs
  • 30% use Facebook for business
  • 25% use Twitter
  • 20% participate in online forums
  • 5% use QR codes

Based on this information, we’re keeping a close eye on mobile marketing, including QR codes, and continuing to work social media and content marketing into our practice.

We’ll follow up in another post soon with information about the survey respondents’ current marketing and sales initiatives. Stay tuned!