The closest we can get you to actually standing over the shoulder of an IT buyer as they research technology business solutions, is our latest Google/TechTarget behavioral research study on the enterprise technology buying process.

But on February 11 at the Google offices in NYC, we’re taking it one step further and inviting you to join us and Google in-person to analyze and discuss the results with your marketing peers.

You already know from our first Google research study that search engines, IT publishers, along with specific titles, topics and content types generate the most interest — This behavioral phase of the research demonstrates that CIOs view more pages of search results, use keyword queries including “solution” more, and demonstrate more willingness to provide their telephone numbers than less senior IT buyers, directors or administrators.

The full conversation’s agenda will center around three main areas: Lead generation in technology marketing, advanced social media marketing for thought leadership and ROI measurement, and the new Google/TechTarget behavioral research project results.

This promises to be a great opportunity to discuss the implications with your peers and ask the analysts for further insight and how they see this playing out in actual Google and TechTarget campaigns, so I hope you’ll be able to make it into the city for a day to join us.

All enterprise technology marketers are welcome to attend; you can apply today at, http://www.techtarget.com/googletechtargetroadshow

We look forward to seeing you there…

As we enter 2010 and online marketing strategies are getting even more targeted, IT marketers forget about the importance of nurturing organic search leads versus their targeted leads.  Marketers are concerned with only promoting to a certain audience and utilizing leads that are from email list promotions.  Late stage leads that are further down the buying cycle with the shortest time to sale are seen as the best opportunity for ROI, and marketers think the best way to gain these leads is through email promotions.

Yet, it is becoming difficult for consumers to reach the end of the buying stage and decide on that final purchase.  With the economy slowly turning around, decisions on purchasing are going to be even more scrutinized in order to ensure that it is the correct move for the future.  Decision makers need to make sure they do all the proper research before deciding what products and solutions are going to provide the best ROI.

At the same time, web content is becoming available and consumers are demanding relevant and personalized search results in order to not waste their time and make sure they are researching the right content.  In return, this means that search engines will be looking for even more relevant and personalized content from publishers and brands.

Even mobile marketing and social media has a major effect on SEO as consumers become more tech savvy and use different applications to search for the content they want.  Tag words, tweeting, and Facebook messaging all play a role in where people search for content, and they can do it right from their phone or computer.

With all this in mind, IT marketers need to make sure they do not forget about organic search leads as they play a vital role in researching and purchasing products.  Finding the quickest, and most useful way to search information from anywhere in the world is going to have a major role on consumers and how they intake and download data.  Sometimes these contacts are more qualified leads versus a targeted lead because they are actively researching for content and are more interested than someone who is part of an email promotion.

Social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are continuing to gain traction and increasing in popularity every day.  People use these sites to keep in touch with friends, keep up to date on the latest trends and stay up to date on some of their favorite products, groups, etc.  More recently, social networking sites have been instrumental in getting out the message about devastation in Haiti, helping people locate loved ones and also raising funds to help the Haitians.

I, like many other people, am on Facebook and have become a Fan of many companies and groups to keep track of their updates, sales, etc.  However, I often wonder, how do they track the success of these campaigns and measure how successful their efforts are?  The same can be asked of IT companies that are using these social networking sites to tap into new audiences or audiences that are more engaged.  My curiosity propelled me to dig around and see what other marketers are saying about how they determine the ROI of their social media campaigns.

Determining the success isn’t always easy, but it’s important to note that you can’t measure these campaigns the way you’d measure a traditional marketing campaign - either straight lead generation or even direct mail campaigns.  These social media campaigns need to be viewed as an extension of traditional marketing campaigns that will help to add more prospects to your sales funnel - just not at the same rate.

It will be interesting to learn what strides we will make in this upcoming year and how social media campaigns will continue to impact organizations and how they will be utilized.  There are plenty of predictions out there as to what is in store for us.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see which of these predictions come true.

For any business, globalization and international growth is more feasible than ever before. But with this great revenue opportunity comes challenges in generating sales leads. Subsequently, TechTarget, with the assistance of our partners and clients, has developed a set of best practices to create and launch international b2b marketing campaigns. Here’s a sneak peak…

Evaluate a market’s “maturity” before selecting the media and measurement strategy.

Communicate with local marketing teams and marketing experts to determine how buying decisions are made. Rely on media companies to offer insight on local content usage. As an example, some less developed markets have bandwidth constraints which effectives the usefulness of multimedia. Other markets are used to registering for content online whereas some regions are hesitant to provide personal information. 

Product comparisons are effective in some regions, distasteful in others.

Recent research revealed IT pros desire content that compares technologies, products, and/or vendors. Although this content is effective in some markets, many markets have specific regulations on what a vendor can publicly say about their competitors. Also, these types of comparison can be perceived negatively and cause end users to question the validity of the data.

Determine if localized content is necessary.

When developing a content strategy, English assets will work in some markets like India, Singapore and Holland. Not surprisingly, local language assets yield higher conversion rates in non-English speaking markets. Be aware that translation of assets may not be enough. Technical assets can be effectively translated; however, other types of content, like case studies, should contain information that is specific to the region.

When working with regional and field marketing teams, over communicate.

When working with ‘in country’ marketing managers, be sure to engage them early in the campaign development process. Provide details of the content that will be supplied, where else the content will be syndicated, and establish anticipated success metrics.  

Stay tune for more regional specific media consumption research and best practices.

It’s that time of year again. In about 7 weeks we will be hosting our Online ROI Summit for about 300 marketers in Burlingame, California who want new insights on what’s working and what isn’t online - You can apply at www.TechTargetSummit.com.

However, before I plan the agenda for these conferences I make sure to check in with the marketers themselves about what they want us to cover — what is plaguing them the most when it comes to their online campaigns. And, no surprise, what keeps coming up is their need to know the latest best practices around “tightly” managing lead gen efforts and follow-up.

We all know “scrutiny” and “prove ROI” are the expectations du jour for the technology marketer and as economic times have tightened up focus on these aspects of their job have as well…

In rolling up trial and error stories from our actual technology customers what stands out is something that could appear as a huge contradiction but in reality makes sense, and that is the reality that the smaller the company, most likely, the tighter or “closed” is the process they have to stay on top of the leads they generate. The bigger, and often times more bureaucratic the company, the more complex it becomes. And so what we are left with is to figure out how do it the best regardless of company size. No easy feat but one we and our marketer participants will take on.

Check out the link to our Summit www.TechTargetSummit.com and if you want to hear what we all have to say please join us…  October 27th is only a blink away…

A recent MarketingProfs survey, Marketing ROI & Performance Evaluation Study determined that 60% of marketers have lead quality objectives and 40% of marketers objectives are defined around lead quantity. Why do we have to think of quality and quantity as mutually exclusive? 

When discussing potential media buys, some clients say “I need the lowest cost per lead and largest number of leads you can deliver” or “I need highly qualified leads, who are further along in the purchase cycle and want to hear from our sales team”. In my opinion, one reason for these separate goals is to either satisfy senior management (quantity, low cost) or sales (quality). My advice is to work with your publishers and create campaigns that have both goals in mind.

Here are some tips to drive quantity AND quality from your lead gen campaigns:

• When determining metrics of success for your campaign, select both a primary and secondary goal. As an example, we recently had a client request a primarily lead guarantee based on a targeted named account list (quality). In addition they requested a secondary goal of a high volume of leads to fill their pipeline. They gave us assets positioned for both goals, we created two different promotional plans based on the different target audiences and delivered a low CPL along with a bucket of highly qualified leads.

• Your choice to use qualification questions will impact the quantity of leads and subsequently your CPL. Our recent Google/TechTarget research reveals that 61% of users are willing to provide contact information and qualification data once they are ready for purchase. Therefore, when you launch a campaign, it may be advantageous to utilize pre-populated demographic questions and remove qualification questions to increase the quantity of the respondents. As a result we see conversion rates grow 25% and CPLS decrease 25%.

• Take advantage of automated re-messaging capabilities. To maintain growth in quality of leads, always create (or take advantage of) some sort of nurturing program. When you are launching a campaign, it’s the start of a relationship. As our research states, users will not want to hear from you until they are ready. Therefore, it’s important to build their trust through re-messaging and personalization. Furthermore, while you re-message, append additional qualification questions such as time to purchase or being contacted by the vendor. The stronger the relationship, the more apt the user will be to provide qualification data.

• Have content available that drives both quantity and quality of leads. Be sure to syndication and promote content types that require lower level engagement (white papers, webcasts, videos) to satisfy your need to drive high volume of leads while also syndicating trials, demos that attract those further along in the purchase cycle. This also allows for seamless integration of a re-messaging strategy. Always pay close attention to the distribution of your media mix as it should always be determined by the maturity of your particular market.

• Segment your lead delivery. When using a publisher, request your leads be delivered or uploaded based on whether they satisfy your quality or quantity requirements. Request segmented spreadsheets on a daily or weekly basis. Also be sure to request reporting that highlights multi-touch leads. Delivering leads effectively and efficiently is half the battle when trying to prove ROI.

I’m curious.  Anecdotally, is your success judged by quantity or quality of leads?

In light of the economy, more and more marketers are concerned with late-stage leads. These are the leads that are almost ready-to-buy and are far more likely to provide an immediate ROI. While marketers know that leads in other stages may become useful down the line, they often don’t know what to do with those leads in the meantime and count them as “bad leads.” What many of them don’t realize is that it is critical to nurture those leads now, so they add to the ROI of a program down the road.

While many marketers won’t discount these leads entirely, they will stop messaging them on the theory that they are too early on in the sales cycle and should be contacted again later on. This is a huge mistake. By the time these leads are contacted again they may have already decided on another vendor.

Alternatively, other marketers may continue to pressure a lead who is not yet ready to buy. This can result in frustration by a lead who is still in the awareness or consideration phase of the buying cycle and may discount this vendor when it comes to making a short-list.

The key is to consistently message these leads with relevant content in order to move them along the buying cycle. The exact method of re-messaging will vary from company to company and from lead to lead, so it’s extremely important for marketers to take their company’s buying cycle into account, along with different ways of re-messaging to different types of leads. This means getting rid of the one-size-fits-all emails being sent each month to all potential leads.

Nurturing a lead may happen in many different ways - it may involve phone calls, emails, printed mail, or invitations to events. The key is to figure out the process that makes sense for your product/solution and to make sure that leads are being targeted not just consistently, but correctly. Ideally, the communications should feel like resources and help leads as they move through the process.

At times this process may be frustrating, and there will always be leads that are never converted, but it’s important as a marketer to never lose a sale because you gave up halfway through the battle.

As marketers, we all realize the importance of continuing to fill the sales pipeline - but it becomes especially important during times of economic downturn. It also makes it that much more difficult. Every sale matters and every marketing dollar must be spent wisely in order to yield the highest return.

If budgets are tightening across the board, they are definitely tightening for marketers in smaller businesses as well. I came across a recent blog post from Marketing Studio which takes a look at how smaller businesses have been impacted, and it found that 60% of the respondents stated webinars, case studies/article and blogs are the most difficult lead generation tactics to execute.

I think it is safe to say that executing such lead generation tactics during this recession is a tough job for small/mid-sized/enterprise businesses alike. However, I would think it hasty to move lead generation resources away from “difficult to execute” tools such as webinars/webcasts and case studies.

TechTarget recently conducted its 2009 Media Consumption Report which observes how IT pros are consuming media during the recession. The following slide highlights the report’s findings showing that webinars/webcast & case studies are of use to IT pros during both the consideration to decision phases of their buying process.

Key findings from this report also concluded that given the recession, IT pros need content which will:

• • CUT TO THE CHASE - Be efficient - tell them what they need to know, in order to help make their research process faster.
• • SHOW OFF SUCCESS - Highlight content showing the proven product success or case study/vendor comparisons.
• • BE ON THE SHELF - Maintaining presence is key given search is one constant medium which IT pros rely on throughout ALL phases of their buying cycle.

While marketers may find it more difficult to execute on lead generation tools such as webinars/webcasts and case studies - I would have to agree that they can be very effective tools during a recession. In fact, I have noticed an increase in the use of case studies in technology-focused lead generation campaigns. Often times in the form of syndication or as offers incorporated into display advertising.

What are your thoughts? How are you currently highlighting your organization’s success stories?

A few weeks ago, I was reading the New York Times (the online version, of course) and came across an article that made me say “Huh?” This article, “Put Ad on the Web. Count Clicks. Revise,” showcased advertising agencies that are bringing former Wall Street analysts over to Madison Avenue to help them track ROI on their marketing campaigns.

Now I don’t know about you, but I feel like this is something Online Marketers have had to prove for some time. In my role as an ROI Consultant, I know I feel pressure from clients to help show initial ROI on a regular basis. This is especially true this year, as marketing budgets have withered away and we have had to produce more results with less money. In fact, we’ve tasked ourselves with helping clients achieve ROI for some time, as evidenced by TechTarget’s foray into responding to this pain point.

Aside from congratulating ourselves on how far ahead of the curve we are, what’s next for Online Marketers? You are being asked to innovate and do more with less. As an industry, we have progressed far past click thru rates, conversions and demographics; far past traditional ROI. We need to prove more, see how our lead generation efforts are working; actually watch what our target audience is doing so we can craft content appropriately. Learn what they aren’t telling us by way of registration questions.

One way we are doing this at TechTarget is by transitioning into behavior-based email messaging. As users interact with editorial pieces, vendor-sponsored content, websites and apply for conferences, we watch them to see where they spend their time. That helps us tailor our outbound messaging based on what is important to them now. The response is incredible-but what is most interesting is what we can ascertain from this intelligence.

We are now able to identify “hyper-active” leads and show exactly what they’re touching on our network. With this information we can show “mass activity” around topics so you can be present to influence our users, make recommendations on how to reposition your next program based on hot topics, and identify leads who might be more inclined to purchase based on their activity level.

Armed with this type of information, we push past ROI and into new territory that the New York Times can report on in 2 years.

An old boss once told me that success happens when preparation and opportunity meet. This also holds true for targeting an audience with your marketing campaigns. I’ve been thinking about the evolution of targeting and how it has and, in some cases, has not progressed. As marketers, we often default to the basics of a targeted audience’s make up: title, industry, role, technical characteristics and so on. Why not first think of project, responsibility on the buying team, interest level, purchasing stage…  Because targeting is not just about capturing the right audience at the right time, it is also about the investment you make and passing on the most likely opportunities for sales to engage and close. Helping sales save time, effort and hard costs and focusing efforts on the opportunities that really matter could move those opportunities along faster as well as save budget and resources.

So, how do we do this? Employ a targeting strategy that takes into account activity, content and context at least as much as demographics. Finding an active, interested, engaged audience can help your marketing campaign by providing a better starting point for your qualification and selling efforts. How you use the intelligence from the activity, content and context can also better shape the follow-up approach to lead qualification. Think in context of the enterprise technology buying team. All the leads that you capture may not have ultimate authority or the need may be latent, but knowing their role can help with qualification by determining the type of questioning and relationship that sales would want to build. This type of strategy can help you identify the urgent, actionable leads that inside sales and field sales can jump on quickly and can put the proper emphasis on the leads that matter.