Better Search listings or more Blogging? Which will get you Noticed?

Search - through services such as Google or Yahoo! - is undoubtedly the most important development in marketing in the last ten years, according to the overwhelming majority of 350 senior technology executives surveyed by Eurocom Worldwide, the Global PR Network, in association with UK member agency, Six Degrees.

Eurocom Worldwide’s Annual IT Confidence Survey shows that 4 out of 5 executives (79%) highlight the importance of search engines and their impact on corporate communications and marketing. This reflects the continuing importance of web search engine technologies in sorting and presenting increasing amounts of information to web users, regardless of whether they are professional users or consumers.

The survey also finds that 3 out of 5 executives (59%) expect the company they work for to increase expenditure on Internet advertising in 2008. Internet marketing is rated as the best value for money in the marketing communications mix (43% of respondents) just ahead of Public Relations (42%) and well ahead of traditional technology industry marketing methods such as trade shows and exhibitions (13%).

“The Eurocom Worldwide survey shows that corporations and businesses around the world are going through a fundamental shift towards embracing the Internet as an engine for marketing,” said Network Director Mads Christensen, Eurocom Worldwide. “This applies across all sectors from business-to-consumer (B2C) to business-to-business (B2B).”

ATTITUDES TO BLOGGING
The Eurocom Worldwide Annual IT Confidence Survey also explored attitudes to blogging with over a quarter (28%) of respondents saying they or their company have a blog. Sixteen per cent expect to adopt one in the next year.

However, the survey findings highlight that nearly half of all respondents (47%) do not blog. Respondents’ main reasons for this are that they don’t see the value (42%) or it is too time consuming (32%). “The jury seems to be still out on the merits of corporate blogging as a tool,” commented Jennifer Janson, Managing Director at Six Degrees. The Eurocom Worldwide Survey finds that of those who blog, 50% do so to improve interaction with the public or with customers. Twenty-one per cent blog to participate in industry debate and issues. Nineteen per cent blog to raise their profile and 10% do so to boost Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

“Corporate blogging requires dedicating time and resource, as well as a commitment to transparency, which may not sit well with many traditional companies,” added Six Degrees’s Jennifer Janson. “However, its value in terms of search engine optimisation and interaction with the public is potentially enormous.”

Associated Link: Eurocom Worldwide Technology Survey 2008

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