Only 36% of Marketers Find Consumables Valuable

August 16, 2011

This article is included in these additional categories:

B2B | Brand Metrics | Creative & Formats | Media & Entertainment | PR | Promotions, Coupons & Co-op

cmo-consumable-value-aug-2011.JPGFewer than one in three (27%) marketers find marketing consumables timely and valuable, containing the exact information needed to make sales, and another 9% say they are impressive and persuasive, according to [download page] an August 2011 study from the CMO Council. The remaining 64% of respondents to “Mapping & Tracking The Optimized Marketing Supply Chain” had negative comments about the quality and value of consumables.

Twenty-three percent said they get too many consumables, which wind up in storage or the trash. Other popular negative responses include too few to make an impact (18%).

44% of Marketers Say Lit Critical to Customer Decision Making

Despite relatively low rates of positive response to the quality and value of consumables, 44% of marketers said the availability of marketing literature and point-of-purchase materials is critical to customer decision-making, and another 39% say they play a small part in customer decision-making. Nine percent say they are neither important nor unimportant, while a combined 9% say they are irrelevant or unimportant.

Six in 10 Marketers Seek Product Lit

cmo-info-request-aug-2011.JPGMore than six in 10 (63%) marketers say they frequently request, seek or use product literature/brochures to help impact customer buying decisions. Displays followed at a close second with 57% frequently seeking or using this tool.

About half of marketers (49%) frequently seek/use product/service information sheets, while 43% seek/use samples and 41% frequently seek/use both price sheets and coupons or savings cards.

New media consumables prove far less popular. About one-third of marketers (32%) use/seek web content, while 17% use/seek digital documents and only 13% use/seek third-party reviews. Software demos score even lower (7%). Also factoring in the low use rate of DVDs/audio files/memory sticks (8%), it appears that traditional printed consumables are still the leading consumables used by most marketers.

Consumables Aid Sales, Awareness

cmo-important-matls-aug-2011.JPGWhen asked to list the top three reasons it is important to have marketing materials on hand, the highest percentage of respondents (48%) rated both sales teams having more tools at their disposal and building brand awareness as a top three reason. Customers frequently asking for these materials as part of the buying process closely followed (42%).

There is then a significant dropoff between customers asking for materials and the next-most-popular reason, sales have increased thanks to additional content and information (26%). A combined 31% of respondents listed negative reasons such as marketing materials are not critical or even useless in their top three.

Direct Download Top Access Method

cmo-access-aug-2011.JPGDirect download of material from a company website is marketers’ most popular means of accessing product, service, sales, marketing or company content (49%). Another 44% use a sales representative. Forty-one percent use a company website request form.
Other popular digital methods include email request (15%), direct download from third-party website (9%) and request form on third-party website (8%).

Half of Marketers Have Sent Outdated Materials

Half (51%) of marketers responding to an October 2010 CMO Council survey indicated they have sent out materials with old or outdated content, and 8% don’t know if they have or not. Considering this fairly prevalent lack of marketing supply chain oversight (six in 10 marketers cannot accurately say they have never sent outdated content to prospects/clients), it is not surprising that 78% admitted to having a closet or warehouse where old materials are stored and possibly forgotten, instead of destroyed or recycled.

About the Data: The CMO Council and BPI Network surveyed 113 marketing executives.

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