Jun 30, 2009 - Katherine Ventres Caniplli of marketingFOLIO, inc. says:
What's interesting here is that the low performing activities are those most likely to be managed by the client enterprise, while the higher performance tasks are those for which marketing/interactive agencies likely have greater influence. Although B2B marketing strategy has embraced the Web, full integration as a business development process lags. We see this gap in the "complex" selling environments where the hurdles of traditional, personal relationship selling retain job-shop sales strategy (where each rep runs his own show, with little central control, input or support) and resist coordinated process. And we see this in SMB as well as larger enterprises. Unless the people managing these fundamental processes start working in concert, these companies will continue to spend more than necessary to get less than they need. As buying processes shift more to the Web, for early stage info gathering and late stage specifying, these folks will wake up one day to learn that they've missed the party. As for the marketing agencies and strategy advisors, we need to engage clients in conversations well beyond our usual boundaries. Pull in other experts if needed, do what it takes to break down the silos, lay out the roadmap in the clearest terms possible. Okay, they might not go for it. But what's to lose? Katherine Ventres Canipelli president marketingFOLIO, inc. http://marketingfolio.com/the-industrious-marketer

Jul 06, 2009 - Scott LoSasso of LoSasso Advertising says:
This paints a much rosier picture than is the true reality. Agencies involved and exposed to Sherpa are probably much more advanced on these measures than others and that probably explains why these results are skewed. I would argue that outside of a thin minority, most companies are still doing a very poor job on most of these measures. There is no way that 76% are doing an OK job or better of SEO, and 54% using micro-sites and landing pages? Those are not accurate stats even when you consider companies mid-size and up. There so much opportunity in online lead generation. I am amazed at how many companies with large marketing budgets are still not taking advantage of it. This economy makes it tough to launch new programs, but that just adds to the advantage of those that adapt.