More brands are using social networking to win new business: 43% of US companies say they are successfully using social networks to find new customers, up 8 percentage points from the 35% that reported doing so a year earlier, according to a survey from Regus. more

"We have found that a large number of companies allow unfulfilled leads to fall into a great abyss, never to be contacted again," writes Mike Neumeier at the Arketi Group blog. He suggests that companies take another approach—and apply the principles of nurture marketing to lost leads and "recapture unfulfilled sales ... more

A successful search strategy relies on strong content marketing—and that means recruiting your company's experts to write articles, blog posts and white papers."For some of us writerly types, content comes easy," writes Ari McKee-Sexton in an article at Marketingprofs. "For other types of folks, extracting copy is like pulling bad ... more

One aspect of being social is relaying information as efficiently as possible. But data is dense, and we have more of it to sift through than ever before. To help you get your data across in an eye-catching way that resonates, Fast Company offers a list of five tools businesses can ... more

In a post at Marketing Interactions, Ardath Albee recalls a B2B client who thought her proposed lead-nurturing messages might be too brief. Albee begged to differ. "[I]nundating prospects with more links and choices rather than improving the personalization, value and contagiousness of your email message is not the right answer," she ... more

This February, copywriting coach Chris Marlow sent out an email promoting a free webinar. At the webinar signup page, recipients encountered a form that required more than the usual amount of information. Soon, Marlow's Facebook page was receiving complaints about the signup form. One irate responder even refused to attend her ... more

More than three-quarters of US microbusiness owners say they are very (42%) or extremely (35%) happy to work for themselves, according to Vistaprint's newly launched Small Business Happiness Index, which tracks the pulse of US microbusinesses. Moreover, 35% say they wouldn't even consider working for someone else. more

Though the use of social media among the nation's smallest businesses surged in 2010—a trend likely to continue in 2011—email and brand websites are still the two most effective marketing tools for small businesses, according to a survey from Constant Contact. more

Fully six in ten marketers (60%) say they plan to increase spending on virtual events and environments in 2011, while 42% plan to decrease spending on physical conferences and tradeshows during the year, according to a survey from Unisfair. more

After several years of making cuts, B2B marketing leaders are increasing their budgets 6.7% in 2011 over 2010 levels, with tech-services companies driving much of the expansion, according to a report by Forrester Research. more

Nearly one in four visitors to B2B websites referred by LinkedIn are enterprise visitors—those arriving at sites via corporate IP addresses—according to a report by LeadFormix. Among such leads, those referred by LinkedIn "groups" are the most likely to complete a form-fill, or convert. more

One out of ten presentations is now viewed via mobile device, up 640% over 2010 levels, with Apple devices the top choice for viewing such presentations, according to a report by SlideRocket. more

"A drip campaign is a series of emails that are sent in a specific order at predefined intervals," writes Liz McInnis at BuyerZone. You might use campaigns to educate, nurture new leads or cross-sell to customers. Whatever your goal, her bits of advice, like the following, are likely to be ... more

Does your business spend time and money generating leads that languish neglected in a pipeline? "The industry wide statistic of 70% of leads never receiving effective sales follow-up is astounding," writes Maria Pergolino at Marketo. "With the mass amount of resources devoted to lead generation, the act of following up ... more

In a post at the Lunch Pail blog, bride-to-be Casey Barto recounts a visit to a bridal expo. "On the day of the show with pen in hand, I scribbled my email address and name on the contact lists of vendors who interested me most," she says. What happened next ... more

With sales growth the biggest challenge for business leaders in 2011, many say they are planning to deploy cloud technologies this year, hoping to shorten sales cycles and acquire new business, according to a survey from Hatsize. more

Mobile Web traffic to high-traffic e-commerce sites grew more than 300% during the 2010 online holiday shopping season over levels registered during the same period a year earlier, according to a report by Conductor. more

Any successful B2B marketing strategy "involves the integration of email marketing," Maria Pergolino asserts in a post at the Marketo blog. Whether designed for lead generation or nurturing leads and repeat buyers, carefully crafted email campaigns and messages can still achieve optimal results, she notes. To help B2B marketers keep email as a ... more

In anticipation of stronger business conditions, more than one-half (52%) of digital and direct marketing executives plan to increase hiring in the first quarter of 2011, up from the 41% who said so in the previous quarter, according to a survey from Bernhart Associates. more

"In today's economic climate, content syndication is one of the lowest risk lead generation vehicles there is," writes Howard J. Sewell at The Point. "At our agency, the programs we negotiate for our clients are almost all performance-based," he says; that is, "they guarantee a minimum number of leads at ... more

Though B2B marketers report most of their new sales coming from current customers, only one-half (55.4%) say their companies have departments that focus primarily on customer retention, according to a survey by Loyalty 360 and SAS. Among those with formal loyalty programs, most are using traditional channels such as surveys ... more

"As a seller, when you approach a big company, you are most likely more concerned about your fears than theirs," writes Barbara Weaver Smith in an article at Selling to Big Companies. But big-company buyers are often fearful of their own decisions, she argues—especially the decision to do business with ... more

"Let's face it, buying today is different than it used to be," says Ardath Albee in a recent post at the Marketing Interactions blog. Products and solutions are growing in complexity, she notes, but buyers have far less time to consider their options. How can B2B marketers better meet the needs ... more

"Most corporate blogs are ghost towns, in terms of both content and reader engagement," writes Ian Greenleigh at the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog. "Abandoned blogs litter the web, making the businesses that own them look lazy, uncommitted and anything but current." A well-executed blog sets your content marketing apart from ... more

Nearly one-half of sales professionals worldwide (49%) say social media is important to their success, and among top-performing salespeople, more than two-thirds (65%) say social media is integral to their success, according to a survey from OgilvyOne. more