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 am hearing from many technology marketers that — in a time in which marketing activities need to deliver tangible results within a tighter timeframe — it is imperative that marketers allocate a portion of their budget dollars toward campaigns which capture more late-stage, actionable leads.

To accomplish this, marketers often use pay-per-click programs that point towards product trials and online product demonstrations.  While these types of programs result in marketers competing for a relatively small pool of leads, they do generate significant results because they reach potential buyers in the late stages of the research and purchase process - the “ready-to-buy” prospect.  

Recent TechTarget market research indicates that “try-before-you-buy” programs are particularly effective in the Application Development software space, because the developer community is immersed in the types of tools and products that they are encountering or implementing on a daily basis.  In the developer community, we see that implementers have a high degree of influence on the IT purchase decision.  The “try-before-you-buy” method is very important in building their loyalty and trust, and provides the IT marketer with an opportunity to demonstrate both the quality of the product, and, in many cases, showcase the quality of the customer service supporting the product.

Also, because the developer community places a high value on peer feedback and product recommendations, marketers can leverage social media to reach this group by providing a platform for experts within their organization to engage prospects in discussions about market trends, not just to gain exposure for their product, but build a rapport with — and establish a degree of trust within — the community.

Finally, although there is a significant benefit to offering downloads and trial versions of software to generate leads from prospects in the final stages of the research and purchase process, it is important that this not be the sole focus of your marketing efforts to the detriment of campaign elements supporting your branding efforts or reaching potential clients at the early and mid-stages of the research and purchase process.  You still need to maintain program elements to generate leads that will generate sales over an extended period of time.

While there is no “silver bullet” formula for what percentage of your marketing budget should focus on long-term or short-term leads, it is important that your plans include a mix of elements - like topical whitepapers to reach IT professionals at the very start of the research process, Webcasts and Webinars to reach mid-stage prospects, and virtual tradeshows to facilitate direct contact with prospective buyers.

At TechTarget, we have spent a lot of time in 2007 gathering data from our ongoing research and developing marketing best practices around the IT buying process.   Recently, evidence surfaced that both the type of content (i.e. webcast, white paper, podcast, trial, etc.) and the topic of the content (analyst review, case study, product comparison, benchmarking study) determines whether the user is in the awareness, consideration, or decision phase of the IT buying process.  

With our recent acquisition of Knowledge Storm (a top-ranked search resource for technology solutions and information), we now have a complete product offering of both targeted, “push” promotion along with “pull” or broad based search strategies.  With that said, when implementing search engine optimization strategies, where do those leads generated fall into the IT buying process? 

In a recent post on www.searchengineland.com, Patricia Hursh highlights research that shows business buyers use search engines in the “awareness, research, and selection phases of the b2b buying cycle”.  At this point, I’m not willing to place leads generated through SEO in any particular part of the IT buying process.  Although I would like an opportunity to review more research, I suspect that search strategies can get more highly target content, such as events and seminars, in front of the right audience.  They aren’t just used for awareness building.  A lot of the success depends in how the content is catalogued and what search terms are used when syndicating the content.

Can you share any experiences or evidence that shows the influence SEO strategies have on all phases of the B2B or IT buying process?

While you were sleeping, Google made a move that solidifies its position as a media industry giant. Late Friday afternoon, Google announced that it was purchasing DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion, double what they paid for YouTube. Google beat Yahoo! and Microsoft to the punch in a true end-game move that extends its dominance in search to display advertising, essentially giving them ownership of a significant portion of the online advertising industry.

But they have not just stopped at online. This deal comes on the heels of aggressive partnerships to distribute the Google AdSense model to offline sources such as radio and TV, opportunities created in part by another Google acquisition, dMarc, a broadcast advertising management platform they purchased in 2006.  

As Google ventures into Orwellian territory (see this list of 17 Google acquisitions over the last few years), it will be interesting to see what kind of impact it will make on both media buying and ROI measurement for the industry as a whole. My senses tell me that it will be significant.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

A marketing survey that the ANA released found the top concerns on the minds of senior marketing executives are “integrated marketing communications” and “marketing accountability.”

Integrated Markeing leverages multiple media and marketing vehicles to work together rather than permitting each to work in isolation. Integrated marketing increases your share of voice and allows you to target decision makers at every phase of the buying cycle.
We have seen over and over again, that integrated marketing will result in greater recall of your brand.

What has your experience been with integrated marketing?

A couple weeks ago, I attended the Online Marketing Summit hosted by BusinessOnLine down in San Diego. One of the major themes of the event was how to measure website performance and ROI. The event featured a keynote from web analytics guru, Jim Sterne and a session from the ever entertaining Eric Peterson of WebSideStory. Both sessions helped me understand not only the power of website metrics, but validated that not everyone is doing it and/or doing it perfectly.

Being on the publisher side, I am highly intrigued with how all this data provided through website analytics can be used to determine the engagement level of our users. Discussions on Peterson’s blogs showcase engagement level as a customized, unique metric that is determined by the reviewing the goals of the website. As an example, if part of your marketing strategy includes a blog, what would you determine the level of engagement? When the user visits, responds to the blog, or reaches some frequency of response? It’s obvious that having the data is one thing, but using the data to define and reach goals is a hole other challenge.

What is your company’s strategy for website analytics and if you have a strategy, how do you use website analytics to determine and define engagement?

Podcast usage grew tenfold in 2006, according to the latest report released by Forrester. Forrester analyst Brian Haven, the author of the report, reported in a recent interview with Beet.TV that 10% of North American individuals online download at least one podcast a month – up from the 1% Forrester reported based on the same survey data for 2005. Advertising revenue is following suit as well with podcasts foretasted to generate $400 million in advertising revenue by 2011, a fivefold increase over 2006.

I commented on the original report in this blog back in April. At that time, while there was much skepticism on the adoption of podcasts in the mainstream market, we did not share the same outlook for the IT market where we have seen healthy adoption rates. Now that this skepticism seems to have eroded in the mainstream market, this medium is really poised to take off. And the key driver? According to Mr. Haven, content availability - the more the content becomes available, the more it will be consumed. I agree with this point, especially considering that at this time, podcasts can be produced very affordably with few technological barriers to download.

What are your strategies regarding podcasts in 2007?

For the past 3 or 4 years, the revenue associated with mobile advertising has grown extensively. With the launch of the iPhone and the announcement of paid mobile banner advertising from Verizon, the reality of buying banner impressions to advertise your brand on a mobile device is available now. Has anyone heard of using for this advertising medium towards the B2B audience?

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?

Over the last week, we have seen many marketers publish their 2007 marketing trends.

A recent BtoB article, Top trends for 2007: Marketers’ influence grows even as customers demand more control of the message proclaims there will be a boom in online video ads. By 2010, spending on online video ads will reach $2.9 billion, eMarketer projected. However, for 2007, eMarketers states that online video ads will make up only 4.2% of total online advertising in the U.S. next year.

At TechTarget, we have been investigating the use of online videos. We have also seen more and more interest from our clients.

Online video is another step on engaging with a prospect to shorten the sales customer. As we launch into 2007, marketers are looking at ways to create dialogue with their customers. Online videos can be an effective way to measure engagement levels.

Are you planning on utilizing online videos in your 2007 marketing plans?