I absolutely think you are correct. Direct marketing like direct mail, telemarketing, email are growing increasingly less effective. We are becoming increasingly adept and blocking that clutter, and so when one get’s through our first response is loathing and annoyance.

That said, at a B2B level (particularly at an executive level like yourself), I think you will continue to see these tactics for a bit longer. Here’s why -

1) They are measurable. Businesses can trace that activity directly to the top line
2) While I agree Twitter is a great way to share messages (assuming they’re meaningful and not self-promoting spam), how many senior executives such are actually members of these communities? I don’t have formal research, but my gut tells me you are the enlightened minority. Bottom line Twitter is great for consumer product marketers but in some ways its effectiveness remains to be seen on a B2B level.

Overall I agree with an earlier post on search being the primary “new” media tool for B2B marketers right now. Social media will have to become more segmented before b2b marketers really adopt this as a tactic. That said even Google is becoming incredibly cluttered, and I would not be surprised to see niche search communities really gain momentum in the coming years.

Thanks again for your candid feedback. This is the sort of information that allows me to be better at what I do. I often blog on the topic of marketing and would welcome your thoughts (in fact I just discussed social media in b2b marketing yesterday).

You will also get bored of facebook and similar.

Any solicitacion is annoying.

Companies should expose themselves in a searchable way.

This is what made Google founders extremely rich. People click their way to what they want.

I only do one announcement when I start something and that is it.

Thanks

Thank you!

great thoughts (as usual Will)! This post made my morning.

It’s cold in Wisconsin?