MARCH 2010
From the Publisher – One in Four
New Year, New Look, New Opportunities
One in Four
Andrea D'Amato, Vice President & Publisher, Network World
As publisher of Network World, I'd like to welcome you to the first Network World Marketing Connections Newsletter, formerly the ITiki Newsletter. Our objective is to provide you with current marketing insights to keep you ahead of the competition. Network World offers programs that range from lead generation to build your sales pipeline to branding and awareness campaigns to give your company an edge in this enormously competitive market. We promise to keep the newsletter timely, fresh, and most importantly brief, as we know your job as an IT Marketer is super busy!
Which brings me to the headline "One in Four"...One in four what, you may ask? One in four Network World subscribers purchased a product/service after seeing a print advertisement in Network World last year.
Yep, you read that correctly, real purchase data tied to print ads. A bold statement indeed, but backed by data received through a Harvey Study to our readers in December, 2009. We posed the question, what actions did you take after reading an ad in Network World during the past 12 months? An overwhelming 96% took at least one immediate action – whether going to the advertiser's site directly, or sharing the ad with a colleague, or specifically requesting a sales call from the advertiser. And lo and behold, the data correlating real buying influence to print, was staring back at us: one in four.
How can this information be leveraged? We know you're challenged to stretch every marketing dollar as far as it can go, but if print is not part of your 2010 plan, perhaps it's time to think of print in a new light. Print is not just a branding activity, but a way to drive sales. I'd be happy to provide you with more details from the study, just drop me a note and we'll fill you in on the rest of the results.
Cheers,
Andrea
Author Profile
Andrea D'Amato is Vice President and Publisher of Network World. She can be reached at adamato@nww.com.
New Year, New Look, New Opportunities
John Dix, Editor-in-Chief, Network World
In the January 4 issue, we proudly presented a new design, the eighth major overhaul of the magazine since we launched the publication 24 years ago (yes, I've been here through them all).
Our intent was to make Network World more visually pleasing, easier to read and easier to navigate, and I'd love to hear if you think we succeeded on those fronts.
While that special issue was devoted to looking out at 2010, in the following issues we were back to delivering our usual mix of trend analysis, expert opinion and world-class product testing. We have introduced two new elements: Tech Debate, where we line up experts to argue opposing views on a hot topic; and Toolshed, a section that brings together our columns on IT tools, gadgets and advice.
The beginning of a new decade seems a fitting time for a new look, especially given the fact that IT as a whole is gearing up for an overhaul. As discussed in the January 4th issue, the recession put a crimp in many IT plans, but we know what we need to do and how to do it:
IT needs to be dynamic vs. static. We have to facilitate business opportunities instead of being the speed bump that slows change.
Systems have to be shared vs. dedicated to narrow tasks. Silos require over-provisioning, result in underutilization and are often brittle.
Infrastructure needs to be integrated and simplified. The rest of the voice network needs to be migrated to the data backbone, and we don't really need three data center networks.
Resources have to be virtual and capable of being redeployed on the fly. For added flexibility, we need to be able to shift between premise-based resources and others in the cloud.
More processes need to be automated. Manual intervention takes too much time, costs too much and introduces too many chances for error.
Computing has to be oriented around services that can be accessed by an device, anytime, anywhere.
So now it is merely a question of money, people and time. This is, after all, a journey. We won't get there overnight, but we look forward to working side-by-side with you as we start down this new road.
Author Profile
John can be reached at jdix@nww.com and on Twitter.com/JDNWW.
Optimism, Accountability, Social Media Top Trends
Kate Maddox, BtoBonline.com
After surviving one of the worst years in decades, b-to-b marketers are welcoming 2010 and hoping for improved business, efficiency and exciting uses of new technologies.
Despite the challenges of 2009, from slashed budgets to leaner work forces, marketers learned valuable lessons from marketing in a recession. Many said they will continue to make use of those tactics in what they hope will be a brighter year.
BtoB talked to marketers, agencies and industry experts to compile a list of the top 10 trends for this year.
For full story, link to:
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100118/FREE/301139998
Author Profile
Kate Maddox is a senior reporter at BtoB. She can be reached at kmaddox@crain.com.
Key CMO Priorities and Investment Strategies for 2010
Richard Vancil, Vice President, IDC Executive and CMO Advisory Groups
2009 will be a year that all marketers would probably like to forget. As a community, tech marketers have had to withstand significant recession-led budget cuts, staff reductions, and organizational disruption. For the full year 2009, the average large ($1b+) IT vendor will have reduced overall marketing budgets by 8.3%. The average vendor has reduced the number of marketing staff by about 10% in 2009. In total, IDC estimates that over 6,000 marketing jobs will be lost in the IT vendor community (worldwide) during 2009.
It may seem simplistic to say that "times of great change bring times of great opportunity". But IDC's surveys, interviews, and personal interactions with the best and brightest of tech marketers, validate that many CMO's and marketing leaders are indeed creating opportunity out of the 2009 chaos in preparation for 2010. So how are the best-in-class marketing organizations reacting? First of all, they have spent the past couple of years improving their organizational structure, working on key marketing processes (e.g., strategy planning, performance measurement) and streamlining their demand generation activities in collaboration with sales – putting them in a better position than other companies. This year, they are finding new budget monies via re-direction and re-deployment of existing budgets. They are moving monies from product-line marketing to streamlined thematic campaigns. They are creating more shared services that remove redundancy in complex marketing organizations. And they are leading an evolution of sales enablement to reduce expenses while boosting marketing and sales productivity.
CMOs should follow these steps as essential guidance during 2010 planning and budgeting:
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CMO's and senior marketers need to withstand potential organization changes by making sure that they maintain reporting control and/or budget control over the entire marketing organization: the full scope of corporate marketing, product marketing, and field marketing.
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Even as the recovery "emerges"...be prepared for further organizational changes in the marketing department. The most prevalent trend is change that will help in the unification of marketing and sales. There is opportunity in this change: marketer's can introduce and lead significant Sales Enablement practices, for example.
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Be prepared for an economic recovery. What marketing plans and initiatives do you have in place for the up-turn to come? Are you prepared to answer this question when the CEO or CFO asks you?
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For marketing staff positions that need to be filled or that may be the first candidates to fill when hiring freezes are lifted: there is some great marketing talent "on the street" right now and the best ones will not be there forever.
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Every new marketing initiative that you propose should be "bundled" within a cost-savings idea. Think about re-deploying and re-directing existing budgets, versus asking for new-new monies. The IDC CMO Advisory area has many case studies for budget re-directs and re-deploys. Clients should refer to IDC Best Practice Studies on Sales Enablement, Shared Services, and Campaign Management.
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Expand your operational proficiency for Digital Marketing. This would include a look at the sophistication of processes, infrastructure, and people. (e.g., refer to IDC's recent telebriefing on key success factors for BtoB social media strategies).
Author Profile
Richard Vancil is the VP for IDC's Executive and CMO Advisory Groups. His Technology Marketing Blog is available at http://www.techmarketingblog.blogspot.com/.
About the IDC CMO Advisory Service
The CMO Advisory Service provides senior marketing executives and their operations counterparts with critical research and insights to plan program and people investments, prepare marketing operations, mobilize resources, and measure results. Subscribers to the Service are invited to join the Marketing Operations Leadership Board which meets three times per year. Board meetings provide marketing operations (MO) managers with the tools, research, and peer-to-peer access to develop successful operations and improve efficiencies within their marketing organizations. To learn more, visit http://www.idc.com/eagroup/cmo.jsp.