Check out our recent marketing research findings (done in conjunction with the CMO Council) that point to the increasing popularity of software downloads among technology professionals. In a marketing survey of 750 IT professionals, software downloads were noted as being the “most effective” media type for shopping a vendor’s solution online. Also found in this marketing research is that podcasts usage is climbing and responses indicate that they are viewed as providing early stage buyer/research information to IT pros.
Any comments on either media type would be appreciated.

According to the MediaPost article by Tobi Elkin, Jefferies: Online Ad Spending could exceed $60B by 2010,  Investment bank Jefferies & Co. raised its estimated for the worldwide online advertising industry  to more than $60B by 2010 – up from the $54B it projected in 2006.   With this increase in online advertising budget - how will marketers spend this increase in advertising dollars?   One option:  Contextual advertising.  Contextual advertising has been one of the latest advantages for online advertising.

It allows a company to meet the right audience at the right time.  Many websites have started to offer targeted text ads. These ads display in relevance to the content on the website that they appear.

At TechTarget, we have proven that aligning ads to the most relevant editorial content doubles or triples response rates.   What has your experience been with contextual marketing?

In a recent article, “Traffic Building Tip: Use White Papers” (Feb. 27th) author Jonathan Kantor points to publishers like TechTarget that are fully leveraging the powerful pull of a well-written white paper.

He challenges a recent report that gives white papers a lukewarm ranking as a means to drive traffic to websites, and then proceeds to enumerate on the many applications of white papers. He poses the question as to whether we agree with this report ranking.

From our experience it is a combination of good SEO strategies coupled with the posting of a relevant white paper that will pull traffic to a website. White paper titles and abstracts need to have choice keywords embedded in them so to attract traffic to download the white paper in the first place and to earn high search results rankings.

In terms of lead generation highly relevant white papers pull the largest mass of leads-hands down. Anyone experience anything differently when it comes to white papers?

As a Best Practice I occasionally consult our Advisory Board of TechTarget clients. They provide me with a realistic sense of what their pain points are in terms of their professional roles. A consistent theme I hear from them is the notion that the Internet consistently introduces a new array of media products and marketing solutions. The end result of this is that their immediate marketing landscape is in a constant change of flux. The onset of Web 2.0 is just one aspect of how this impacts them.

This reality has both its good and bad sides. On the positive side, it creates an environment that demands they embrace change and innovation and as a result they are challenged in their jobs.

On the other side, is the reality that because nothing remains static or the best solution for too long, they must constantly reevaluate their media choices and educate themselves anew as to how to prove ROI on their investments? A good example of this is performance associated with video interactive ads. Should money be spent on these or be placed to support advanced SEM tactics? And in general should new media replace the old new media like webcasts and/or email newsletters?

Years ago, it seemed marketing tactics were less complicated because there were fewer choices and a loyalty to specific media (like direct land mail) that historically performed. Now, try something new is the cry of the day and most marketers are spinning in their virtual office chairs trying to sort out what to do next.

Anyone have a perspective on this situation you’d like to share with us?

When expanding your offerings into new markets, there are many things that marketers must take into consideration. But what do you need to consider when you are expanding into a new universe? If you don’t yet know about Second Life, you soon will. Cutting-edge marketers are now beginning to look to Second Life as a new medium in which to engage with their prospects and/or user base. Brands such as Toyota have utilized Second Life to launch a virtual showroom where users can purchase both real-world and “virtual” Scions. And Reuters has even launched a Second Life news bureau. Currently, Business-to-business marketers are primarily using the medium as a means in which to hold events. These events are different than virtual tradeshows which have been around for some time, and if you are considering executing an event utilizing Second Life, there are a few things you need to know. This B-to-B article helps explain these considerations.

Is Second Life part of your 2007 plans? If so, we’d love to hear about it.

In past posts, we have discussed how to write a good white paper.  But, when it comes to actually syndicating the white paper, what are best practices?  This week, MarketingSherpa offers a comprehensive list of dos and don’t for content syndication.  In my opinion, one of the most important best practices for syndication that they provide is to take their white paper content and turn it into other media venues, specifically podcasts.  Our experience has shown that taking your content and syndicating it different media venues will help you attract IT pros in all different stages within their buying cycle.  Do you have any examples that support that?

With the rise of social media and word of mouth marketing, the concept of Listening Centered Marketing has gained some attention. Pete Blackshaw’s blog on Consumer Generated Media offers a great conversation on this topic and provides a chart that defines the role of LCM. Based on these definitions, what ways have you incorporated LCM to your B2B marketing strategies?

Last week I had a great webcast with Mary Bermel of HP and Larry Weber of Racepoint. It gave us all a chance to show our experiences and explain our thoughts on Web 2.0, each from our own perspective - that of a large tech company, a cutting-edge agency, and mine as an IT media publisher and marketing consultant.

Take a listen and let me know your thoughts on these new media.

I read a very interesting article this week on ClickZ entitled “The End of Lazy Marketing.” The author, Mark Kingdon, makes the following observations:

* The Internet is quickly becoming the “can’t live without” choice over TV.
* Creation and connection rule as the social Web becomes the big story of 2006. There are more people on MySpace today than were Internet users in the US in 1998.
* People are walking Tivos as they unconsciously and consciously filter out the 3,000+ messages we blitz them with every day.
* The Internet accounts for only 6 percent of marketing spend and 24 percent of consumers’ media consumption. Very quickly, those figures will equalize at the expense of TV and print.

The underlying theme here is that you cannot rely on being able to reach your audience through broad or “lazy” means anymore. In order to increase effectiveness of your marketing, it must be contextual/environment-specific marketing and it must have an eye towards increased engagement. This is not just about spending more money online and less on TV, but about making sure your message is being heard loud and clear. Less eyeballs does not necessarily equate to lower traction. At TechTarget, we have moved towards a topically-based approach to communicating to our user base and have seen the response and engagement increase dramatically. Along these lines, RSS feeds, while still in relative infancy, are also gaining traction - the idea being “show me only what I am looking for.”

Are you currently integrating this approach into your marketing efforts?

I recently came across an intersting article on MarketingSherpa about the growing use of personas in advertising. In fact, their study says 40% of business technology hardware marketers use personas for their marketing. My comment to the author was that I agreed they are tricky because it’s really important to make sure the way you are depicting your target audience is “dead-on” with how they see themselves. I wondered if any of our visitors have had experiences with using perosnas in their recent ad campaigns — online or print. If so, tell us about them….and check out the story with this link.