A hundred years ago John Wanamaker, founder of the great Philadelphia department store complained that...

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half."

As Mr Wanamaker has also been attributed with the phrase "the customer is always right" it's worth exploring whether his original marketing paradox holds true in an age where technology promises to allow ever better targeting of marketing and sales resources.

Television and radio have long sort to measure viewing and listening figures in an attempt to justify huge advertising spend through this media; but 2009 saw online advertising and marketing spend outstrip mass broadcast advertising for the first time.  Last year saw that the real rise of web 2.0 - search engines, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media -- have given marketeers the tools to laser in with the right message to the right customer at the right time - John Wanamaker would have been a happy man.  As ever business to consumer marketeers have been quick to realise the opportunities these technologies present whilst their business to business cousins remain firmly in the last decade.

The effectiveness of any investment in b2b direct marketing -- direct mail, email campaigns and telemarketing -- lags way behind what could be delivered by today's technology.  Marketing departments continue to spend heavily on email shots and telemarketing -- interruptive approaches whose returns and effectiveness at lead generation have been diminishing for years.

It's time for B2B sales and marketing to move with the times!