Some Really Interesting Information About How Tech Buyers Respond To Online Marketing

An article by Jack Loechner published on June 5, 2007 in the Center for Media Research’s Research Brief newsletter, entitled Tech Buyers Go Deep For Information and Bite on White Papers, highlights a new research study from KnowledgeStorm, in conjunction with MarketingSherpa which surveyed nearly 3,000 B2B marketers and technology and business professionals in April 2007, included CMO, VP or Directors of Marketing, Marketing or Product Managers, IT professionals, Strategic Planners, and Buyers.

I found some of the findings to be very interesting. For example:

• Sixty-six percent of marketers said they have a strategy for achieving a high organic (natural) placement for their content on major search engines. Yet, only fifty-six percent thought that their content was consistently indexed and usually accessible within the major search engines.

  That means that the webpages of more than a third of the technology marketers are NOT being found in the search engine results pages! That is a huge problem for those marketers.

• Eighty percent of technology buyers say that offline marketing materials such as magazine advertisements or direct mail “sometimes” or “frequently” create sufficient interest for them to seek more information online.

  I think that eight out of ten is pretty significant. This reinforces the need for both online and traditional marketing communications tactics.

• More than 50% of technology buyers say they give a valid name, email address, industry, job title and company name when they register for technology content online. And less than 40% provide accurate phone numbers.

  That means that nearly half DON’T give valid contact information and the majority DON’T want to be called by phone. Why? I think it is because they would rather be in control of their consideration and buying process but are often forced to “register” to get the information they want.

  So you have to find other ways to continue to reach out and touch these prospects as they move through their consideration process.

  Also, if your information helps sell your company, products or services, don’t you want to get it into your prospective customers’ hands? My approach is to let my prospects download the information they want without having to register first, then ask them if they want to sign up for some addition information that may be useful to them, such as a newsletter on the same topics or updates on future events.

• Nearly 80% of technology buyers will register for a white paper, which is also the top content type marketers deem as worth requiring registration. By contrast, only 38% of buyers will register for a demo and 31% for a Webcast.

  Requesting and reading a whitepaper takes less of a commitment than attending a Webcast or sitting through a demo, which may be more appropriate for the middle and later stages of your prospects’ buying process.

  I recommend that B2B marketers, including tech marketers, who are looking to generate sales leads, include multiple offers or calls-to-action in all their marketing communications; each designed to appeal to prospective customers at different stages of their buying cycle. By offering three choices, you’ve effectively tripled the chance that one of your offers is appropriate to the reader or visitor and will generate a response.

• When technology buyers are asked to register for content 74% want to see at least a one-paragraph overview. However, only 48% of marketers provide this desired level of detail.

  Wow.This is a huge disconnect. How can your prospects determine if they want it, if you don’t tell them what it is and why they would want it?

Request your free copy of the report here. Unfortunately, you’ll have to register first.