Archive for IDG
January 11 th
Content Relevance Boosts B2B Vendor Success
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I came across some research done by IDG spread across two different posts that was pretty interesting. They interviewed over 100 information technology buyers about their content preferences from vendors. IDG noted there has been a 60% increase in content assets over the past five years. The rush is on to get in the content game and offer information prospective and current customers will find valuable and that will ultimately drive sales.
Only 39% of those interviewed said they find relevance in links offered to vendor content (though their expectation is only 50%). These same buyers say that if they find relevant content, it increases that vendor’s success rate.
The trouble may come when, in their haste, vendors don’t make the shift from promotional to educational content. Buyers want content that is relevant to their needs, and supports their decision making process. This means the content must have “meat” behind it and not just be considered marketing hype.
IDG asked IT buyers a series of questions about their content preferences from various social conversation channels. Here’s a brief recap of the top preferences by channels:
- Blog – case studies, ads, tutorials, seminar material
- Forums – tutorials, free event registration, evaluation versions, white papers
- Live Chat – free event registration, evaluation versions, white papers
- Microblog – ads, technical knowledge base, free event registration, white
- Social networks – free event registration, ads, ROI calculator, white papers
- Wikis – tutorials, white papers, case studies, knowledge base
To me, these seem more like expectations than preferences, and the study is really quite small. What I did like was their takeaway message.
Winners will be vendors that build a “relevant” content bridge to draw the conversation towards their own hosted platforms and insight.
This will motivate engagement, and build a sense of interest and reliance and credibility with buyers. The wrong content will damage vendor consideration within the ongoing conversation and beyond.
January 6 th
Does Your Content Measure Up?
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I recently came across a study done by IDG Research that looks at tech buyer’s satisfaction with vendor marketing information. Pay attention here–we’re not measuring up, and the bar is low.
IDG survey asked technologists and business buyers about their preferences for content as they move through the sales cycle.
The respondents were not very demanding as they said they would be satisfied if 56% of the marketing information was what they needed to become informed and create a shortlist of vendors from which to buy products and services.”
IDG goes on to describe the sale cycle and content requirements for each phase:
- General education – articles, advertisements
- Business case – case studies, articles
- Evaluation – case studies, tutorials, and demonstrations
- Shortlist creation/Final decision – case studies, tutorials, and demos
I suggest that white papers also belong in the mix, probably somewhere between general education and building a business case.
What was also interesting was that in the early stages, buyers preferred documents by more than 50%. This preference transitions to webcasts in the evaluation and shortlist creation, followed by documents again in the final decision phase.
What is still most important and has never changed is that buyers prefer peer-based content and independent reviews and not inaccurate or vendor-slanted information.
“Technology buyers are telling us that the days of randomly producing marketing materials without regard to what they want are coming to an end,” said Bob Johnson, Vice President, Engagement Optimization at IDG Communications. “As our research shows, vendors that get the right mix of content at the right time for influencers and decision makers will significantly increase their chances of making a sale.”
Bottom line here, make sure you have a content strategy that addresses each phase in the sales cycle with quality information buyers will find relevant and educational, in a format they prefer.
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