OverLinked

The Direct Mail Advertising Industry report, published annually, contains timely and accurate industry statistics, forecasts and demographics. The report features 2009 current and 2010 forecast estimates on the size of the industry (sales, establishments, employment) for the 47 largest world countries, such as Japan, China, India, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, UK, France, Germany, Italy and U.S.. The report also includes industry definition, 5-year historical trends on industry sales, establishments and employment and estimates on up to 10 sub-industries, including mailing services, mailing list services and brokers.

Great resource for those interested in the direct mail industry. I’d be interested to learn how much India is shaping up as a national market. From what I have read, the Indian market is poised to increase both due to the mix of democracy and niche social groups. This could mean that more niche communications will be desired. This could have both online and offline components that ramp up.

The SMB world
What SMBs rely on offline…
– 43,6% newspaper and magazine articles
– 43,5% direct mail (including letters, postcards and catalogs)
– 32% radio/TV ads
– 27,4% phone calls
What SMBs rely on online…
– 72% online referrals (friends and peers) most popular information source on products and services
– 57% search engine marketing
– 44,5% educational websites
What SMBs favorite in social media…
– 19.7% Facebook
– 15,6% LinkedIn
– 11,3% Twitter

Interesting research that suggests B2B companies who are focused on Small and Medium Businesses, should carefully consider the media mix they are using to communicate. SMB’s still prefer communication through traditional offline channels.