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 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?

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.

Last week I attended the CMO Council’s North American Summit in San Francisco.  The keynotes shared experiences involved with re-branding, brand realignment and customer retention.  Lenovo’s SVP and CMO, Deepak Advani, explained marketing challenges that Lenovo faced before and after they acquired IBM’s Personal Computing Division.  The marketing team was not only challenged with re-branding their products as ThinkPad, but they also had to develop programs that fostered this Chinese company’s growth in the worldwide marketplace.  Subsequently, they launched the largest partnership with the International Olympic Committee.  At the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, they supplied 5,000 desktop PCs, 350 servers and 1,000 notebook computers, supported internet lounges as well as the the technology needs of many media partners.  Their flawless sponsorship led to extensive press coverage and they have since signed on for the 2008 Olympics.

Do you have any experiences with rebranding or growing a brand internationally?

Recently, Melissa discussed the increase in online consumption in the UK. In its most recent global online spending outlook, Merrill Lynch predicts that global online ad spending will reach $11.6 Billion in 2006, an increase of 35% over 2005. Internationally, online spending growth rate is set to match consumption in the UK at 46%, but the highest growth rate by far is expected to be in China at 50%. Leveraging this growth can sometimes come at a price for online publishers and marketers alike. As businesses flock to leverage the tremendous potential in this market, marketers should be aware of challenges as well as the many localized factors that need to be taken into consideration before marketing in China. MarketingSherpa outlines a few here.