John Gallant, Network World, Inc. – IT Marketing Insights

Ann Roskey, Accela Communications –The Next Trend in Online Communications: Video White Papers

Elyse Tager, Elymedia – Using Web 2.0 for B2B Marketing (part 1)

Raymond Boggs, IDC – What’s Happening in Your SMB Market?

Jean Romeo, Research Concepts, LLC – Market Research: Network World’s Strategy for Reaching IT Professionals

I’ve been involved with the IT industry for nearly 25 years now – having started as a staff writer covering the software beat at IDG in 1983 – and I’ve never seen as much change as what’s occurring right now. I don’t mean just in the technology arena – although the pace of transformation in IT is staggering today – but in the ways that buyers are learning about products, sharing information with one another and making decisions about what to deploy.

Networking is reshaping the world in myriad ways – from how we deploy software and build data centers to how we collaborate and share information. As a result, IT executives are faced with critical choices regarding mobility, security, management technologies, virtualization, green tech, data centers, next-generation applications and apps delivery, data centers and new WAN services, among other issues. Those decisions have to be made within the larger context of helping their companies innovate and open up new revenue streams. And the pressure to contribute to real organizational growth has never been greater.

For IT shops and IT leaders the choice is simple: Drive business growth or become a low-cost utility. Make a difference or be relegated to the back room.

No pressure, right?

To gain insights needed to make the right decisions for their organizations and build their strategic plans, IT leaders are looking for not only the latest news, but also the kind of context that comes from blogs, videos and podcasts, newsletters and feeds, and the views of their peers shared at face-to-face events, online events and social networks.

At Network World, we’re constantly striving to understand how our community of IT execs wants to get information and, even more important today, how they want to participate in information sharing. We’re continually evolving the mix of content and services to help readers get what they need and connect with one another. One of the goals of the ITiki newsletter is to share what we’re learning and to find out what you’re learning as you reach out to buyers through new approaches.

But ITiki will also bring you a variety of other perspectives on the changing marketing landscape. We’ll share the insights of innovative marketers in the client and agency worlds, research and opinion from analysts and other experts in the field. We’ll also offer up the views of buyers on their relationships with current suppliers and how they make decisions to deploy key technologies, change vendors or build stronger ties with strategic partners, among other things. We’ll talk about how to communicate with influencers in the field like key editors, bloggers and analysts.

As I said at the outset, ITiki is intended to be a resource for marketers striving for success in a bewildering time. To make it the richest possible resource, we need to hear from you. We’d love for you to suggest ideas for topics to cover and – even better – to share your opinions and experiences about marketing IT today. If you read something that makes you shake your head in assent or disbelief, let us know where you stand. Also, let us know who you want to hear from. Who are the innovative thinkers we need to showcase?

In wrapping up, I’ll let you in on a little secret. We’re not being entirely altruistic here. By establishing this forum for discussion, we’re going to learn a lot from you. And that will help us serve you better. That way, we all win.

Thanks for reading.

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The Next Trend in Online Communications: Video White Papers
Ann Roskey, VP of Marketing & Audience Development, Accela Communications

Video white papers are a relatively new concept, so let’s start by defining what a video white paper is. A white paper is an authoritative report that is intended to educate customers and prospects about a particular product or service. They are often used in situations where the product or service being sold is fairly complex so the use of charts, graphs, or other research is critical to effectively support a position. Because of their high content value, many companies put a registration form in front of them and use them as a lead generation vehicle. A video white paper is simply an alternate delivery medium, which relies on visual elements such as video, graphics and animations to convey the information. Here is an example of a program we recently produced for a tech company called, Biomni.

One of the benefits of video white papers is their ability to combine detail with the personality that is conveyed through audio and/or video. When done well, audio and video enables the speaker’s authority and personality to bolster a program’s content. You can also efficiently build a relationship with prospects by offering a variety of content choices to keep them engaged, so they'll become educated and interested enough to begin seriously considering a product or service.

A recent B-to-B study found that 78% of respondents believe video makes online content more compelling (KnowledgeStorm/Universal McCann). In a similar study, respondents were increasingly selective about what types of content appeals to them most, with educational white papers topping the list at 71% (KnowledgeStorm/ MarketingSherpa). These consumption patterns indicate that companies should utilize video white papers to deliver educational information that will attract and appeal to their target audience.

In certain markets, moving from text to multimedia white papers is no longer a luxury. eMarketer reports that online video consumption in the U.S. alone will grow by 28% to 157 million viewers by 2010.  This growth is fueling a sense of urgency for marketers to use video in all aspects of their communications for target audiences. This is especially true for the younger generation that has grown up in multitasking, multimedia environments. In addition, media of all shapes and forms have multiplied — from mobile, to podcasts, wikis and blogs, so utilizing a medium that will cut through the clutter is of utmost importance.

Behavior Says it All
For marketers, the ultimate goal of producing a white paper is to move prospects along the awareness-consideration-purchase continuum. Video white papers can help accomplish this goal and drive time and expense out of the sales cycle if they are built on a platform that supports user-driven navigation, has flexible online data capture, and reporting metrics that support marketing performance measurements.

For example, an on-demand rich media platform like AccelaCast can measure things such as number and source of registrations, how long a person viewed your white paper, what resource links they clicked on, and which segments they actually watched. This very tangible engagement data can help your sales team prioritize leads, develop a follow-up strategy based on what content the viewer is most interested in, and even identify those prospects that are closer to buying. All of these data points can feed into an engagement formula and ultimately, this kind of behavioral intelligence offers real value that you simply don't get with a PDF document.

Appropriately designed interactive video white papers can not only deliver tailored content based on the requirements of consumers, but also the actionable insight your organization needs to accelerate the sales cycle. This can be accomplished with a robust rich media platform and service provider that is willing to work with companies during the development stage to provide creative input, feedback and guidance during the production process.

Ann Roskey is VP of Marketing & Audience Development for Accela Communications, an interactive marketing firm that provides online video production, streaming media and data management services. Ann can be reached at ann_roskey@accelacommunications.com, or (508) 303-9704.

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Trend Report — Using Web 2.0 for B2B Marketing (Part 1)
Elyse Tager, Founder and Principal, Elymedia

How is the business community utilizing web 2.0 for their marketing activities? We have been surveying our clients and attending webinars and trade events on the subject to cull the salient points for our readers.

Our clients tell us that the challenges are:

• Technology itself – how to create a podcast, an ongoing blogging effort, etc.
• The organization – your company may provide the biggest barriers to success.
• The culture of Web 2.0 and does it fit in with your corporate culture?
• Devising a meaningful strategy.

We also found that the areas of greatest participation (from highest to lowest in frequency) were in creating RSS feeds, blogging, and Video and Podcasting. The overall tone for activities, and the real key to success, is to teach, not sell. Sharing information is what creates the viral nature and creation of a community, which is one step removed, and really a new flavor lead generation. A few lessons learned in each of these areas may save your company some pain in the short term.

RSS has been used to communicate content in a shorter form. The content can be product information, trend analysis, company news and offers. The subscriber is dedicated but has a short attention span, so keep it short and simple, but keep it frequent. The title should be carefully crafted since this will catch the readers attention or not. Optimize all meta tags – just as you would a landing page. Ping the RSS analytics sites on a regular basis to optimize search. Remember another objective of RSS (and all forms of Web 2.0) is to create a larger footprint on the Internet for your brand, so search optimization should always be part of the strategy. Place an RSS icon (or chicklet on every page of your website, if possible). Publish and Promote your feeds by working with the RSS aggregators to get the word out.

Part 2 next month will talk about how blogging, Podcasting and Videocasting are being used and will include helpful tips for each area.

Elyse Tager is founder and Principal of Elymedia, an online and traditional media agency that has worked with many of the world’s most recognizable brands from Microsoft to PowerBar. With twenty years of executive marketing experience in direct response, coupled with ten years in Internet marketing, Elyse has gained a thorough understanding of both media and how they interact. This depth of experience and knowledge has benefited her clients as they strategize marketing objectives in the online and offline worlds.  Elyse can be reached at elyse@elymedia.com, or  (510) 864-1892.

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What's Happening in Your SMB Market?
Raymond Boggs, Vice President for Small/Medium Business and Home Office Research, IDC

The SMB market continues to be a growth engine for IT suppliers, and IDC forecasts that total IT spending by SMBs will continue to run 2-3 percentage points higher than the growth seen in enterprise IT spending across almost every region. Looking forward over the next 12-18 months, a number of different factors will spur market growth, including new vendor marketing initiatives, products and technology reaching new and more attractive price points, and customers more interested than ever in technology that will make them more competitive. But market success will still require both skill and investment:

1) Cost of channel recruitment, product development, and market awareness building will prompt at least one major technology player to put SMB efforts on hold (but pretend to remain interested in order to smooth reentry at a later date)

2) Major SMB technology brands will forge new alliances. As an alternative to offshoring, and with regulatory blessing given the increasing rigorous competitive environment, major players will leverage the onshore capabilities of potential rivals. In the new world of rapidly changing alliances, watch for telcos, solution providers, and hardware suppliers to establish breakthrough relationships.

3) Look for another channel acquisition by a technology company impatient with the pace of recruitment of SMB partners (with the Xerox acquisition of Global Imaging as the model). But don’t be surprised when integration problems turn out to be so massive there will be major upheaval in senior management. The economies envisioned in theory are remarkably difficult to achieve in practice (especially when cultures collide).

4) The higher costs associated with rising energy prices and the increasing intensity of globalization at every level will actually spur increases in SMB technology spending. Interest in more advanced solutions to improve efficiency will be behind much of the spending growth in North America and Western Europe. New lower priced hardware will help strengthen SMB infrastructure in other geographies such as A/P and Latin America.

Ray Boggs is vice president for Small/Medium Business and Home Office Research at IDC. He directs survey research, forecasting, and market analysis for advanced telecommunications, computing and office automation products and services designed for small and mid-sized companies as well as for home workers. Research includes identifying key product requirements of different market segments, tracking changing customer channel preferences, and evaluating alternative strategies in response to competitive developments. To schedule time to speak with this month's analyst, please contact mmurray@idc.com.

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MARKET RESEARCH: Network World's Strategy for Reaching IT Professionals
Jean Romeo , Partner, Research Concepts, LLC

Everyone knows ongoing contact with customers is critical to a business’s success.  For technology vendors, this means reaching the IT professionals who buy their products.  Network World faces this challenge as well since it is imperative to be in constant communication with its readers, Web site visitors, e-mail newsletter subscribers and event attendees. 

Network World established a research panel in order to stay in touch and get feedback from its audience.  The research panel was created to give Network World a vehicle to get input from technology professionals in a timely matter.

What is the Technology Opinion Panel (TOP)?
Network World’s panel currently consists of approximately 10,000 IT professionals who join to give their opinions and share their experiences using technology.  The important differentiator is that these busy professionals are opting in to be a panel member in order to provide feedback to the technology industry and Network World.  Panel members are screened to ensure they are involved with technology-related purchase decisions at their organizations.  They represent a wide range of industries, company sizes and areas of technology expertise (e.g., security, convergence, storage, etc).  This diversity allows us to gather information on a variety of technology topics from different perspectives.

What are the advantages of having a panel?
Since panel members join to give feedback on technology-related issues, responses to surveys are better than just sending out an e-mail blast to gather feedback.  In addition, most responses are collected within 72 hours, so turn-around time is very fast.  Panel members complete a brief registration survey, so we know the technology areas they are involved with and their firmographic information.  As a result, we can target surveys to go to members who have experience in that area.  The advantage to members is that they are responding to surveys that are relevant to their jobs.

Why do IT professionals join the TOP?
These busy IT professionals join to shape the technology industry.  Also, for non-proprietary research, panel members are provided with study results.  This information can help them obtain insights into what their peers are doing at other companies.  In addition, panel members receive newsletters quarterly highlighting results from the research studies, with links to complete study results.  There is also a panelist portal that members can access.  The portal archives study results for panel members.

What types of research studies are conducted?
Network World has used its panel to conduct custom studies for technology vendors and agencies.  These include vendor awareness studies, reactions to advertising campaigns and more.  Since the research survey is sent from Network World and the vendor sponsoring the research is not identified, vendors get an objective assessment.  Another advantage of using the panel is that qualified respondents are easily identified and results available in a timely fashion.  The research is completely turn-key since Network World works with the vendor to develop a questionnaire, programs the survey, collects and analyzes the data and provides a report of the finding. 

In-depth studies have been conducted on a wide variety of technology topics including Convergence, Mobility, Network Security, Storage and Network Applications.  Surveys focused on a specific technology area get at issues such as reasons for deployment, ability of technologies to live up to expectations, inhibitors to deployment, etc.

In addition, every month the panel conducts a quick poll.  This is a 2-question survey on a hot technology area.  Some topics that panel members have responded to include:

• Experiences with zombies and botnets
• Threat of iPods to network security
• Use of mobile devices to access the Internet
• Thoughts on enterprise network product pricing

Find out more
Research Concepts, LLC (www.research-concepts.com) manages Network World’s panel.  This includes designing surveys for the panel, programming surveys, analyzing data and collecting reports.  For more information on Network World’s panel, go to www.nwwbetopdog.com or contact Jean Romeo at jromeo@research-concepts.com or at 978-443-9042.

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