Wednesday 28 October 2009

Energizing Advocacy: Why use Social Influence Marketing (SIM)?

Most traditional marketing tools and techniques are increasingly becoming ineffective:
+ Companies are paying $5 to $250 (or more) per lead, yet less than 1% of leads are qualified (source: Forrester)
+ Conversion rates have plummeted to 2% or less (source: Forrester)
About 75% of consumers abandon shopping carts (source: Shop.org)
+ Consumer receptivity to paid media and marketing is at an all-time low. Only 16% trust company blogs and 14% of consumers trust advertising (source: Forrester)
+ 69% of marketers say marketing has "no discernible effect on consumers" (source: World Advertising Research Council)

Social Influence Marketing however provides marketers with a compelling, cost-effective solution:
+ 94% of consumers trust Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing (source: Forrester)
+ 84% of business buyers say Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing is the #1 influencer of purchase decisions (source: Forrester)
+ Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing marketing delivers a 15X ROI, notably three times higher than traditional marketing (source: Harvard Business Review)
+ Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing is the fastest-growing form of marketing and 77% of marketers plan to increase their investment in Word of Mouth & Social Media marketing (source: eMarketer)