Summary: So you want some hard numbers to prove the value of marketing automation? Here's a bunch. client asked yesterday if I had some benchmark information to justify the cost of her marketing automation project. This set off an hour-long scavenger hunt through my hard drive, followed by sporadic afterthoughts later in the day. Since this is a question that comes up pretty often, I figured I’d share some of the more useful results. If anyone else cares to expand on this list, even better. Neolane “ Making the Business Case for Enterprise Marketing Software ”. Statistics include: • 16.5% MORE >>

found five relevant studies dating back to 2009. Taking the oldest first: Silverpop International Email Marketing Benchmark Study, 2009 This one doesn’t break out results by mailer type, so it’s probably dominated by business-to- consumer marketers. market, but the 2009 Silverpop study showed similar figures for both. One of the things I’m enjoying about my new role as head of analytics at Left Brain DGA is being closer to hands-on marketing than I was as a consultant. That one came up last week and led me to review my files on industry benchmarks. Here is the U.S. Signup.to MORE >>

Summary: Marketing automation and CRM systems may eventually converge, but for now marketers need help explaining why they need a system of their own. hugely enjoyed yesterday’s Boston session of the Silverpop -sponsored B2B Marketing University. You can catch another session in Atlanta next week and in Seattle on December 1.) I won’t try to recap four hours of insights from Adam Needles from Silverpop, Carlos Hidalgo of Annuitas Group and Joe Moloney of Conselltants (no Web site, it seems), as well as Yours Truly. But there were a couple of topics that caught my fancy: 1. Vendors take note. MORE >>

Probably the most comprehensive study along these lines was Global Faces and Networked Places , released by Neilsen in March 2009. Digging a little deeper within the social media category, the women’s blogger community BlogHer reported in its 2009 Women and Social Media Study that as of March 2009, 75% of women participated in social networks, compared with 55% who read blogs, 40% read message boards or forums, and 16% update status on platforms like Twitter. Forrester chart posted on Mashable shows interactive marketing spend by category, projected from 2009 to 2014. MORE >>

Summary: Social Agency’s Spredfast helps marketers schedule social media campaigns the same way they schedule paid advertising. It seems like common courtesy to listen to an existing conversation before jumping in with a comment. If social media worked the same way, companies would first buy a monitoring system to track what’s being said, followed by tools to respond to comments made by others. Only later would they initiate conversations and, eventually, provide tools to help their friends spread the word. Silly me. should have known that marketers talk first and listen later. As the bit.ly MORE >>