*Easy Being Green, Theoretically: According to Mediamark Research & Intelligence's Survey of the American Consumer, considering oneself "green" and actually following
through with its philosophies are two entirely different things. The study showed that the 2% of the population that proclaim themselves green advocates are also among the most
tech-savvy.
The survey examined different attitudes toward the environment and possible actions taken to support it, setting forth six distinctions of green-ness: Un-Green, Green at the
Supermarket, Green in Theory, Green But Only If, Green at Their Best and Green Advocates.
Other findings include:
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46% of U.S. adults say they neither think nor act green;
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Green advocates are 41% more likely to agree that technology helps make their life more organized;
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Green advocates are 36% more likely to be fascinated by new technologies and 30% more likely to agree that computers are a good source of entertainment; and,
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Green advocates are also 24% more likely than the average U.S. adult to prefer to use the Internet when booking travel and 23% more likely to be comfortable conducting day-
to-day banking online.
Source: Mediamark Research & Intelligence
*When Opportunity Knocks...: Despite the increasingly complex lead-generation strategies that have arisen in recent years, savvy marketers are still casting aside 60-80% of
genuinely interested prospects responding to their efforts, a TARGUSinfo study has revealed. Apparently, most companies don't follow through with more than 40% of initial inbound
phone leads and don't even find out who the rest of them are.
Source: TARGUSinfo/SecondApproach
*Continuity Errors: An AT&T study has revealed that one in five businesses is not fully prepared to maintain their operations in the event of a natural or man-made
disaster.
According to the survey, for the third year in a row, 30% of U.S. businesses don't consider business continuity planning a priority. The study also uncovered that:
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Two-thirds of IT executives predict that hacking will emerge as the most significant threat to cybersecurity in the next five years. The next most frequently mentioned
threats are internal, including accidents (56%), sabotage (47%) and remote workers (44%);
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Six out of 10 companies have made some type of business change in the past year that would warrant updating their business continuity plans. However, only 28% updated the
plans because of any of the changes;
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60% of IT executives view security, reliability and cost as their top concerns when thinking about using a hosted environment, and 37% are concerned about complexity.
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28% of IT executives have experienced problems in the past year with insufficient storage space on their company's computers or servers for virtual records; and,
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Although 80% of companies have automated text messaging or e-mail capabilities to reach employees outside of work, only 39% of companies have automated calling systems to
reach those employees by telephone or mobile phone.
Source: AT&T
*Direct Marketing's Inbox Runneth Over: According the Direct annual forecast survey of direct marketers, e-mail has become the outreach medium of choice, with 72% of
respondents using the channel to reach customers, and 50% relying on it to reach prospects.
Among the other findings:
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55% of respondents who use e-mail plan to increase their budgets for it next year;
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Direct mail as an outreach medium is declining--66% are sending mail to customers this year, as compared to 70% in 2007;
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59% mail to prospects, though that is only down one percentage point since last year;
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39% of those polled conduct search engine marketing--a 10% increase over last year--and 41% advertise on Web sites other than their own; and,
- Only 7% advertise on radio (down from 10%); 16% buy direct response space (down from 23%).
Source: Direct