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.

Marketers spend a lot of time on content creation, really thinking through what they want to offer the audience to educate them on products or services. More time goes into a catchy or succinct title and promotional copy that will act as the hook to reel the leads in. Everything in place, great content, strong title, informative copy and then…there is the “Registration” page. It can be a marketer’s best friend or worst enemy.

Demographic questions are typical and most respondents are used to providing answers to them in return for content. In addition, many sites have pre-populated registration pages for return users. But what is your strategy with additional qualification questions? On the one hand, qualification questions can give marketers a large amount of information about their prospects. It can help them bucket the leads for their sales teams - offering the hottest ones first and highlighting leads that need more nurturing. However, it’s important that you have a sound strategy behind each question asked.

In our experience, people collect qualification data in several ways. Some options include:

• • Make questions mandatory
• • Make questions voluntary
• • Ask questions in steps, as prospects download more information, ask more questions
• • Don’t ask any questions until your sales team or telesales contacts them

If making questions mandatory, make sure that the question asked is deemed important for qualifying leads for sales. Having mandatory questions increases the rate of abandonment, so the quantity of leads will decrease, but valid responses can lead to a quicker sales cycle. Keep in mind that our recent Google/TechTarget study revealed that only 30 - 40% of respondents provide valid information. They are more likely to share valid qualification data the further along they are in the buying process. Bottom line, be sure you are asking the questions for the right reasons and have a sales strategy in place that will make the most use out of this information. Do not use registration questions as a survey or if the lead is going to be called on regardless of the answers.

Making qualification questions voluntary is an effective way of collecting reliable information with decent conversion rates. In this Pardot blog there is a case study of a company who tested this option and had some surprising results.

Asking questions in steps, as Adam Blitzer of Pardot outlines in his blog, can help build a greater trust between the marketer and the prospect. Also called “progressive profiling” this strategy allows an interaction or relationship to build between the vendor and the lead. Prospects feel they are offering their information, but also getting something in return be it a white paper, webcast, case study, etc.

Another option is to not ask any qualification questions. This option would increase conversion rates and would use a lead nurturing strategy to truly qualify the leads further.

Therein lies the question - Do you put a strategy in place in which marketing and sales work together to define what is a “HOT” lead or if a lead is a lead is a lead, do you collect as many leads as you can and call them all?

Using Twitter for Online B-to-B Technology Marketing

We’ve all heard so much buzz about Twitter over the past few months, and with good reason.  Recent Twitter growth statistics were quoted in a blog posting last week on Godfrey.com - “Twitter’s Value to B-to-B Marketers“

According to statistics from Nielson NetView, there were 7,038,000 Twitter users in February 2009, an increase of 1,381%, up from 475,000 the previous year.  Even higher figures were seen from Compete, who reported over 14,000,000 unique users in March 2009.

One may think that Twitter is primarily a vehicle people use for updating “followers” with their most up-to-the minute “tweets” - all in 140 characters or less.  But what is the value of Twitter to B-to-B marketers, and how should it be used?

Twitter is about connecting with people and sharing information.  Online B-to-B marketers should look at Twitter as a vehicle for listening, sharing, and responding.  Not only can marketers gain insight on how people think and feel about their products, marketers can also use Twitter to solicit feedback and conduct research.  Twitter can also be used for marketers to share news on product releases or even announce event (such as webcast) updates. Lastly, Twitter may even be used as a method marketers can use to respond to customers.

The beauty of Twitter is its real-time delivery of updates people care about, instantly.  Marketers can deliver timely responses, address or answer complaints, build/nurture relationships, and engage with customers, at all different stages in the buying cycle.

Can Twitter be incorporated within a media campaign?  It sure can!  In fact, there is one program I am currently managing that is mainly comprised of syndication of client content, custom Microsite creation, and sponsorships within our IT Knowledge Exchange (ITKE) IT user community.  We’ve included an additional component involving the creation of a Twitter account on behalf of the client, giving the client the ability to promote their Twitter community within the ITKE community as well as within their own user community. “Tweets” may be posted on behalf of the client, at a frequency of 3-4 tweets per week.  Updates could be broadcasted on a multitude of things, like new videocasts recorded, recent blog postings published, upcoming webcasts available, as well as fresh content made available on the Microsite itself. 

This approach is a great next step for staying visible in front of active followers, and is also a great way to dip your toes into the next realm of social media!

I recently sat down for an interview with Stephanie Tilton from Savvy B2B Marketing. In our discussion, we addressed TechTarget’s latest IT Media Consumption and Google/TechTarget research studies. Both technology marketing studies point to IT buyers’ preference for specific content based on their buying stage, which further suggests IT marketers need to align their media types, content strategy, and keyword buys to these IT buying stages.

To read more about our marketing reports, and how TechTarget is helping marketers take advantage of these key findings, read Stephanie’s blog at: http://www.savvyb2bmarketing.com/blog/entry/84801/qa-with-marilou-barsam-of-techtarget-a-top-b2b-advertising-venue--

You can also follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephanieTilton

Today’s economic climate is definitely impacting how IT marketers are measuring their online marketing programs.  There is so much pressure to deliver qualified leads in a timely fashion that will ultimately convert into opportunities.  I know that in my conversations with my information security clients, this is definitely top of mind for them.  However, it seems to me that because of this pressure by senior management, marketers are losing sight of the basic fundamentals of a successful online program.

As I’m sure you’ve all heard before the old saying that ‘content is king’ and the foundation to a successful program.  Now, that is truer than ever.  I was recently talking to one of my security SIM vendors  about the challenges they were facing - trying to establish themselves in their technology market, make a name for themselves and differentiate themselves from their competition - in addition to generating qualified leads that they could pass along to their sales team all while proving ROI in a timely manner.

Not an easy task… However, what I’m discovering is my clients want to reach these end stage decision makers - who doesn’t - but are utilizing content assets that are in the early phases of the buying cycle and attracting users that are in the research mode.  This really gets back to mapping content to the stages of the buying cycle.  If you utilize content that is educating people about a technology, you are bound to attract users that are trying to educate themselves and aren’t close to creating a short list much less make a purchase.  It’s very important to stay in front of people that are creating their short list of vendors with the appropriate content but if you want to reach the end stage buyers, you must give them the content that will appeal to them.

Our Google research provided tremendous insight into how users are searching when they are in the end stage of the buying cycle utilizing comparative phrases to learn more about the vendors’ solutions that are on their short list.  Creating content that compares your solution to your competition is easy to do and simple ways to reach the prospects that are either researching your solution or your competitions’ solutions!  So, if your marketing objectives include researching these end stage prospects - and I’m sure that includes all IT marketers - be sure to create content that speaks to this audience.

Last week we held our fourth, semi-annual Online ROI Summit, and, judging by the comments from attendees, this was one of our best ones yet. It was obvious to me that the impact of the recession has marketers even more focused on how to accelerate their online marketing activities, especially those related to  lead generation.

Over 245 technology marketers in attendance heard from marketers at HP, Tableau Software and VersionOne on how they track there lead generation efforts, along with the latest research from Google on how search is used during the IT buying process. We also had some great workshops focusing on email conversion Best Practices and measuring the ROI of social media.

And speaking of social media, we’re seeing some great posts out in the blogosphere from some of the attendees. Elizabeth McCann from Intuit recapped her takeaways from the Summit, What I Learned at the TechTarget Summit. Ronnie Ray from MarketPlane also wrote a wrap-up on the event, Notes from the TechTarget Online ROI Summit. John Bennett on BE Strategic recapped the key findings from the Google/TechTarget research presentation, Content is Still King in IT Marketing. Along with blogs, we also say a lot of traffic via Twitter, with more than 30 attendees tweeting, such as cappypopp and InboundMarketer.

Here are some of the highlights that we tweeted during the show www.twitter.com/ITAgenda:

• Welcome IT buyers from ING, BJs Wholesale, American Bible Society to TechTarget Online ROI Summit - event opens 8am tmw #TechTargetSummit

• A look at new Google research on search habits during IT buying process- presented during TechTarget Online ROI Summit tmw #TechTargetSummit

• #TechTargetSummit updates- tech marketing presentations from Google, HP covering IT buyer lead generation, compliance, social media

• Tech buyer is “hyperactive” researcher - 40+ editorial 10+ vendor touches over 6+ months of research - competition is fierce #TTGTSummit

• Publisher’s lead profiling - IT marketers demand more info from media partners - popular article and whitepaper titles #TTGTSummit

• Heard from HP, Tableau Software, VersionOne on ROI tracked from lead generation to revenue #TTGTSummit

• Lead generation is main focus of online advertising, syndication/SEM changed everything and social media is rapidly emerging #TTGTSummit

• There are 4 major recession-proof areas of IT spending - Business Intelligence/BPM, Compliance, Disaster Recovery, Consolidation #TTGTSummit

• Purchase Intentions study - data deduplication and disaster recovery have momentum this year, significant opportunity #TTGTSummit

• SearchCIO.com study - 29% of companies increased IT budgets in 2009 with IT security & compliance receiving largest portion #TTGTSummit

• 49% of IT organizations have 1+ SOA underway and majority are deemed “very important” to the business #TTGTSummit

• Email conversion - level of investment required for your offer will determine email copy length #TTGTSummit

• Social media - measure current conversations - free online tools, then join existing communities of customers and experts #TTGTSummit

• Lead activity - 69% of leads interact with competitive vendor content during a 3 month period #TTGTSummit

• IT buyers search using literal terms “comparison”, “compare” and “review” near the end of purchase process, per Google #TTGTSummit

• 67% of IT buyers willing to click the link of a manufacturer that they are not familiar with when searching, per Google #TTGTsummit

• Online media complexity creates opportunity - examine metrics carefully and see how media plan improves SEM/SEO strategy #TTGTSummit

• Consider the purchase journey and work closely with media partners to understand your prospects better #TTGTSummit

• #TTGTSummit all presentations and reports at www.techtarget.com/formarketers

You can download all the Summit presentations and our latest Google and Media Consumption reports at www.TechTarget.com/ForMarketers. Thanks again to all our speakers and panelists for a wonderful event!

A whopping 84% of users like receiving Email from companies in which they register and close to 60% of marketers plan to grow their traditional Email marketing spend in 2009. With these great stats, why is there a perception that Email marketing is not as effective as it used to be? Email is still one of the most effective marketing tools of today. However, I’m not confident that we are all optimizing our Email campaigns for optimal performance and conversion.

After investigating further, it seems that you, the IT marketer, are looking for tips and recommendations on how to not only make your marketing dollar go further, but also make your Email marketing dollar go further. As a result, my colleague Chris Olive and I were asked to run a workshop titled “Best Tips and Common Mistakes to Avoid for Improved Email Conversion” at this month’s TechTarget Online ROI Summit. The goal of this workshop is to go back and re-visit “your roots”. Specifically revisit the roots of your Email strategy. During this workshop, we will provide insight into steps to follow to get the best performance, review real-world examples of how to increase Email performance 2X, and discuss new strategies to assist in making the most of your Email lists.

How is your Email performance? Do you think it could be better? If not, what are your strategies?

If you can’t join us live at the Online ROI Summit, be sure to come back and visit MyEducatedGuess for a recap of the session.

Looking at how the recession has impacted businesses, specifically how businesses are making decisions, I’ve decided to look at common mistakes IT marketers need to avoid during a recession.

A misaligned ROI program can aim you in the wrong direction causing bad decisions. Placing too much emphasis on the end game or revenue of an ROI measurement program can cause you to miss revenue opportunities and shorten sales cycles that would have ultimately improved ROI. Online marketing enables you to define and track conversion rates to improve ROI for faster payback. Knowing which target segments are most responsive, which offers generate the greatest interest, and, most importantly, which conversion rates are exceeding benchmarks help you make better decisions, faster and improve program performance. Conversion rates can include: clicks to leads, leads to Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), MQLs to Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), SQLs to meetings, meetings to pipeline… through to sales and revenue. Employ a re-messaging and nurturing program to prospects and early stage leads so you can identify the most interested prospects faster, while moving prospects to SQLs sooner.

Prioritizing program efforts on existing prospect lists can cause you to miss the active projects being researched right now. IT buyers are searching online for your solutions right now. 97% of all IT pros start with search to identify the solutions for their short lists. Online marketing offers scalability to reach the buying team when “they” are ready. The most significant trend in IT professional online usage patterns shows search engines and publisher websites are consistently the starting point for any research. IT buyers use search to locate the information they need, but rely on IT publishers to have the resources on specific topics, including editorial content, analyst research, whitepapers, webcasts, videos, blogs and trial downloads. This helps you attract net new buyers, including existing customers, to maintain and grow pipelines, giving you a better opportunity to penetrate and capture multiple members of the enterprise buying team. Use your content to extend your message to where the IT buyers are searching online.