Web 2.0 is paving the way for integrating direct and brand
marketing, enabling real-time dialog with customers and the
joint creation of content that increases and improves brand awareness
and perception, and generates sales and leads, according to a new report.

The “New Media Emergence in DM & Brand” report from the Direct Marketing Association
(DMA) investigates Web 2.0 - including blogs, virtual words, social
networks, user-generated content, RSS feeds, and Wikis - as the
platform that converges all marketing.

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Eugenia Steingold, Ph.D., DMA’s senior research manager, authored
the report, which examines how new media is being used for brand
building and direct marketing, and investigates the possibilities of
new media for integrating DM and brand.

Key findings include:

• Despite being relatively new, Web 2.0 is apparently recognized as a brand-building channel:
  
  • 84% of respondents use it to raise brand awareness.
  • 82% use Web 2.0 tools to increase brand preference.
• New media is used for direct marketing as much as it is for brand building:
  
  • 83% use Web 2.0 to generate sales.
  • 80% use it to generate leads.
• Most marketers realize the opportunities that new media create for integrating DM and brand:
  
  • 85% of respondents use Web 2.0 to engage their customers and rate
    it as a highly effective mechanism for customer engagement (average
    rating is 5.3)
  • 84% of our respondents use Web 2.0 to create a community of loyal
    customers, and they find it very effective for doing so (the average
    rating is 5.0).

Other findings:

• 82% of respondents allocated a quarter or less of their marketing budget toward Web 2.0.
• 70% of those who report that they are experts in interactive marketing also allocate about a quarter of their budget to Web 2.0.

Read an extract of the report at Marketingcharts.com