In my last blog post entitled, “B2B Content Marketing Tactics,” I wrote about a graph from a study conducted by Marketing Profs Research in May 2011 where I presented the most popular content marketing tactics in the United States. This time, I’ll discuss the tactics used by companies in Quebec.
In April 2012, Exo B2B Integrated Marketing commissioned a study on the integration of B2B sales and marketing in Quebec. One of the aspects of the study concerned the use of B2B marketing tactics, offline (print) and online (social networks). Thus, this blog post will demonstrate that some of the responses from B2B Quebec companies differ greatly from those of their American rivals.
The study on the integration of B2B sales and marketing in Quebec interviewed 115 companies from the manufacturing, construction and communications sectors. The median revenue of these companies was $11,500,000.
The answers provided by participants were grouped into two categories: offline and online tactics. When analysing the graph above, it can be seen that SMBs in Quebec mostly use traditional practices.
Firstly, offline tactics:
- 85% of companies think print media is the best way to attract leads and prospects;
- 64% of SMBs in Quebec estimate that presentations at corporate events are the best for generating qualified leads compared to 62% of American participants in the Marketing Profs Research study;
- Moreover, direct mailings to future clients are used by 59% of participants.
Secondly, online tactics:
- 63% of companies feel that email marketing is the most effective way to attract qualified leads and prospects;
- More than half (55%) of SMBs in Quebec use Google Analytics to find leads;
- About half (48%) of participants prefer sending newsletters compared to two-thirds of participants (61%) from the Marketing Profs Research study, which is quite a large difference;
- Less than half of SMBs in Quebec (46%) use social media to attract leads and prospects, versus 79% in the United States. As you can see, this tactic is more popular with Americans;
- In order to acquire qualified leads, 43% of participants from Quebec prefer e-marketing (Google AdWords);
- 37% of B2B companies in Quebec opt for the publication of informative content in qualified lead and prospect generation, versus half of American participants who attest to case studies (55%), white papers (43%), magazines (42%) and videos (41%);
- According to the study done by Exo Marketing, 32% of companies use webinars for content marketing compared to 42% of American companies. There is a noticeable difference between both cultures;
- Finally, 24% of participants in Quebec use blogs to attract leads and prospects, compared to more than half for American companies (51%). Americans use this tactic much more than Quebeckers to acquire qualified leads.
After analysing these two graphs, I wonder if the use of marketing tactics is cultural or if the results depend on the year the study was conducted? A new research subject, perhaps? What’s your opinion?
