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…

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

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!

Insights for marketers on how to better align keywords and online media to the IT purchase process 

Over the past month, we have visited five cities throughout the United States to roll out the results of the Google/TechTarget Research Project. The research was based on a collaborative study between TechTarget and Google, where we interviewed over 2,200 IT decision-makers worldwide.  Accompanying me on the roadshow were Mark Martel, Senior Industry Marketing Manager of Technology Markets at Google, and Jeff Ramminger, Senior Vice President of Product Management at TechTarget. With a total of nearly 600 IT marketers and media buyers in attendance, we discussed our latest research findings that explained the relationship of IT buyers’ search and online media consumption practices to their actual purchase process within their respective enterprises.

Attendees from the roadshow took away a detailed view of the journey IT pros go through during their purchase process and specific search queries they use during the various stages. A revelation was the importance “comparison and review” queries have to IT pros and the implied importance of marketers providing content assets with “comparative” focus. In fact, during our Cambridge event, Harry Gold, CEO of Overdrive Interactive, was busy Tweeting some of these key takeaways: http://www.clickz.com/3631617

The focus of the Google/TechTarget Research Project Roadshow was to give marketers the tools to make smarter and cheaper keyword and content choices for their 2009 online marketing plan. Along with gaining detailed insights on how IT buyers move through the purchase process and the specific keywords they use during each of the research stages, attendees also discovered the buyers’ attitudes toward registration forms and other lead generation efforts and the relationship between online search and branding. Another hot topic from the roadshow was the buyer’s utilization of new media; such as mobile devices, video and RSS feeds. Needless to say video is hot, and the length of the video greatly impacts its success.

For those who were not able to attend the event, we now have the full research report and the video of the roadshow presentation available online.

Having just returned from the TechTarget Online ROI Summit in San Francisco, I combed through a number of attendee survey responses as I was very interested to know which specific subjects were most interesting and relevant to the 240 IT marketers/clients attending the event.It’s a foregone conclusion that anyone attending is generally interested in Best Practices for Online Marketing and its relationship to proving ROI; however it’s important to note which discussion points resonated with them the most.

It turns out that our data and insights related to trends in “the IT Buyers’ Purchase Process” were most appreciated. Marketers expressed that understanding how their content and media investments line up in satisfying all stages of the buying cycle is critical information when planning a program or campaign.

This explains why our findings around search — and where buyers are in their purchase consideration relative to specific search practices — received such high marks. It also explains why our general session around content strategy as it relates to the buying process is a standing-room only session.

As much as we all live and breathe “the buyer’s purchase process” here at TechTarget, the subtleties of how IT marketing media types and content relate to the process were very much appreciated by Summit attendees.

This makes sense as our insights suggest that marketers must have very distinct content topics and media offerings to attract buyers at the various stages of the research and purchase process.  It also emphasizes the degree to which “content preparation and strategy” are an essential component to success.  Yet based on this reality, nearly two-thirds of our audience admitted to having few resources to build content, and are often expected to produce it themselves.

That is astonishing when you consider how important content is to program success,  and how busy these folks are.  It seems to there needs to be a resetting of priorities in the IT marketing arena so that budgets are allocated to support content development so the burden doesn’t personally fall on the shoulders of the marketing directors themselves, so they can be free to spend more of their time being strategic.

Last week we had the opportunity to hold our second TechTarget Online ROI Summit. I am glad to report that close to 300 TechTarget IT customers/marketers attended, all eager to absorb our collective experience set related to IT online marketing as well as network with one another. In a nutshell, most technology marketers find it challenging to stay on top of ever-changing online marketing practices and look for very specific examples of what to do and not do to stage effective online campaigns and prove subsequent ROI.

As a result of surveying our attendees we learned some valuable things with a couple of key data points worth passing on to this audience…

• •  Related to the tightening economy, only 56% cited marketing budget decreases due to economic conditions
• •  Of those 85% cited online spending would increase

The interrelationship of these two responses begs for some interpretation so I’ll take a stab at it. Even for IT enterprises cutting back their marketing spend the majority of the budget remaining is intended to increase in favor of online investments. This may have everything to do with how truly “accountable” management has come to see the role of online, in that it is a quantifiable medium, one that can be used reliably to measure response, conversion to sales opportunities, traffic to sponsoring websites and much more. And most importantly in IT, online research is where the action is when it comes to the IT buyer’s need to use it to research and seek out solution providers during their buying process.

The steady decline of print advertising in the face of online growth further substantiates how valuable interactive “online” information sources are to buying audiences. For the marketer this should come as somewhat of a blessing in that there is a reliable medium to continue to stage major marketing efforts and promote one’s brand to IT audiences. To online publishers like TechTarget, the reality is that there is a strong future for online venues to provide advertising opportunities to marketers looking for ROI.

I recently read a statistic in The Economist from the Chinese government for 2007 that I found to be quite astonishing: the number of Internet users in China has reached 210 million, up more than 50% from 2006 (more than three times the number in India).  What’s more, Morgan Stanley predicts China will surpass the US total within months.

On a visit to China in August 2007, I was fascinated to hear various college-aged, American, Canadian and Chinese students discuss their use of the Internet and their frustration with certain sites simply “disappearing.”  Censorship by the Chinese government is certainly a very controversial topic and it shapes the way the most populated country in the world is using the Internet.  This is also the case because the Internet is used so commonly as a social networking forum for China’s youth.

Although only about 16% of China’s population is using the Internet, the fact that such an overwhelming majority of these users are under the age of 30 (more than 70%) should indicate that we are only on the cusp of monumental growth of Internet users in China.  Already, China boasts more mobile-phone subscribers than the US, Japan, Germany and Britain combined and mobile messaging and streaming advertisements are already extremely prevalent there.

When will US-based companies start to seriously shift or dedicate large portions of B2B online marketing budgets to China?  Will the attention from the 2008 Olympic summer games expedite the process of foreign influence and business in China?

Certainly US-based consumer brands have gained healthy traction in China, but with the difficult restrictions put on foreign companies by the Chinese government including foreign investment and license and permit requirements, “capitalizing” on this emerging market has already proven difficult.  However, considering the technology focus in China coupled with its maturing market, it seems like only a matter of time before Internet users in China demand more from the world and their own government in the form of an all-encompassing Internet environment.

What are your thoughts on this?

Given the current IT marketing environment - reduced or locked down budgets, the transition from print to online media, and other factors - it’s no surprise that the demand continues to grow for conferences and events providing information on how to maximize and prove the results of online marketing expenditures.  But how can you be sure that these events are really designed to deliver actionable recommendations that can be applied directly by marketers against the most pressing and relevant issues they face?

If you really want to make certain your IT marketing conference or event covers the most relevant and timely industry topics, you really can’t do any better than having a client advisory board of industry experts to provide insights and recommendations.  At TechTarget, we have put together an advisory board that includes representatives and perspectives from leading IT companies like OMD, Business Objects, HP/PolyServe, BEA, Liquid Machines, DataFlux, Microsoft’s Windows Server Business Group; and EMC Corporation, a good way to assure your event will include the right topics presented the right way.

That’s what TechTarget did with its first Online ROI Summit which was held in San Francisco last fall and attended by 250 C-level and management-level IT marketers representing the world’s leading IT companies.  The subjects and areas of concern identified by TechTarget’s advisory board (pardon the pun) didn’t just hit the target; they all truly hit the bull’s-eye, covering the “must know” topics for every senior IT marketer, including: Proving the ROI of IT marketing investments; Web 2.0; and Closed-loop Lead Management.  All of which reflect TechTarget’s unique perspective and expertise as a leading provider of proven branding and lead generation programs to over 1,000 of the world’s leading IT companies.

Another factor contributing to the success of the 2007 TechTarget Online ROI Summit was the high quality of the attendees.  To strengthen its client relationships TechTarget focused its efforts on assembling only the key decision makers from its leading client companies for this event, with over half of attendees at the CEO/CMO/VP/Director level; 30% managerial-level; and the balance consisting of IT marketing generalists and agency representatives.  As a result, the Online ROI Summit actually delivered the often touted - but seldom delivered - high-level peer networking opportunity in an event setting.  The 2008 Online ROI Summit will offer “Bird of a Feather” networking activities designed to facilitate and enrich peer relationships among the leading IT marketers.

The 2008 TechTarget Online ROI Summit - coming to the Northeast April 24 at the Boston Marriott Newton - will feature a number of improvements and enhancements, including a second day - April 25 - of intensive workshops on topics identified as “critical” by the TechTarget ROI Advisory Board, attendees of last year’s event, and recent client survey results: Web 2.0: The Latest on “New Media” Performance and How They Deliver ROI; Selecting Content to Match the Buying Process; and Life after Lead Generation: Best Practices on Why Lead Generation is No Longer Enough.    

But perhaps the most compelling reasons to attend the 2008 Online ROI Summit are summarized in the attendee feedback from the 2007 Online ROI conference.  You can read even more actual client feedback on this Marketing Interactions blog. 

“I want to thank you for a great presentation and a fantastic conference.  We learned so many valuable online marketing strategies and we are putting together a list of recommendations for our management team.  Thanks again and I look forward to attending other events in the future.”

-Manager of Lead Generation

“The people I met at your Summit were of the highest caliber - it was quite a group. I’ve also been blogging about it and talking it up to friends - hoping you’ll have one again next year. It was wonderful to hear firsthand from C-level panels who spoke candidly about how they do business and what they want.”

-B2B Marketing Strategist

Will we see you at the 2008 TechTarget Online ROI Summit?

A recent marketing survey, conducted by Datran Media to online marketing professionals, revealed that 80% of marketers call email the best performing online medium. The survey even has email beating out search! The survey also indicated that 82% of the marketer’s surveyed plan to increase their email marketing spends in 2008 by 82%.

In terms of success, I  have seen that one medium doesn’t necessary outperform the other -  in order to receive optimal results the two mediums need to work together. What is your company’s plan in terms of allocating budget towards email vs. search in ‘08?

Have you found that one medium outperforms  the other?

Video is a “New” Media which has received a lot of attention from online marketers.  In the most recent Q3, 2007 Technology Buying and Media Consumption Survey (the third in a series of quarterly surveys to TechTarget’s IT Panel),  video has emerged as a leader as one of the most effective forms of media.

TechTarget, recently hosted the Online ROI Summit, where we gave a case study of how Sun Microsystems used video to educate developers about Java Business Integration.  The program created editorial interactive video with industry luminaries. Video proved to be a powerful branding tool, and appealed to the developer’s sense of community.

Sun was able to achieve their objective by using video to establish JBI brand in the developer market and to engage the developers in a peer-to-peer communication.  How has your company used video?