Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

A study released by the Acquity Group, part of Accenture Interactive, has found that 94 percent of B2B buyers conduct some research before making a purchase, with 55 percent of them doing so for at least half of their purchases.

XThe “State of B2B Procurement” report looked at 500 B2B procurement officers with annual purchasing budgets of approximately $100,000. The goal was to determine how B2B companies adapt and stay competitive through their purchasing decisions.

About 68 percent of B2B buyers purchase goods online, compared to 57 percent cited in the 2013 version of the study. Nearly 44 percent of respondents said that they researched goods and services on a smartphone or tablet over the past 12 months....

Content is supposed to be King in Social Media. But why is that so? What can content do for you, that you could not achieve without content? Done right content can work wonders for your business in Social Media. Yet, many get frustrated because they do not get out of their content what they expected.

...Yet it is still hard to figure out what kind of content is best for a given business and purpose, because the goals you can achieve, the benefits a business could get out of content and the means by which these goals are met vary from case to case. Social Media is a large playground; you need the right toy for every different angle, challenge and personality. To get the most out of your efforts, you need to be sure about what you want to achieve and what you expect. The content that is best for you depends strongly on your own specific goals.

The New York Times has sold its soul for a handful of beans...and there's no magical beanstalk to save it from a very bad decision.

Native advertising is the world’s worst idea and I can’t believe the New York Times management is so gullible and clueless in agreeing to its publication. Gullible — because they were talked into giving away their hard won position as the nation’s top newspaper by marketing people looking for short-term gains.

Clueless — because they can’t see the stupidity of their actions and how they’ve shot themselves in the foot, groin, and brains.The brands and marketing agencies are clueless, too. The practice is exceptionally harmful because it makes it seem as if all content is corrupt...