We’ve written several times about the changing preferences of the modern-day consumer, and how these preferences are rendering the traditional sales funnel obsolete. In our multi-channel marketing world, consumers no longer follow a linear path from interest to conversion to close. Instead, consumers are researching online and on their mobile devices, attending events, participating in social conversations, and consuming more and more visual content like videos and infographics — and this has made marketing to the modern-day consumer anything but straightforward.

Most marketers understand the need to engage with their consumers on multiple channels, but they have a harder [...]

When companies want to spread the word about their products and services, where do they generally turn?

Social media.

Sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ have proven that they’re worthwhile investments when it comes to sharing information, spreading important news, and encouraging conversations around brands. But in 2012, Optify’s B2B Marketing Benchmark Report dug up some startling findings: social media websites drive only 1.9% of all traffic to B2B websites.

In fact, the same study found that 80% of traffic comes from a combination of organic search and direct traffic…which means, what?

Research. While companies are sinking time [...]