The new B2B report from MarketingSherpa

So we've been perusing the new 2009-10 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report from the sages over at MarketingSherpa, and we've found some data points that dovetail nicely with our upcoming B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report.

For instance, we noted in our 2008 survey report that podcasts play an increasingly significant role in the purchasing cycle. The new MarketingSherpa report confirms that trend, noting that 40% of respondents in large organizations (i.e., orgs with more than 1,000 employees) rated podcasts as "effective."

Our upcoming survey report will also expand on our past findings, paying particular attention to the channels (especially the social media channels) through which respondents find influential information. So we find it especially interesting that, according to MarketingSherpa, B2B marketing seems to be ahead of B2C marketing in adopting social media strategies. As far as we're concerned, that's all the more reason for marketers to pursue Web 2.0 strategies for influencing prospective purchasers.

We've got a lot of big plans for our upcoming report...keep your eye on this space to see what we discover. 

Comments

[Ron Arden]

I just read your 2008 collateral report and wondered if you only spoke to IT people. It is unclear from the titles in your survey results. I find that while many IT people respond to whitepapers most business people do not. They like brochures, but are increasing interested in podcasts and videos. Did you ask about a video or audio brochure or only written? I wonder about using video and audio for all these types of collateral.

[Lorie Loe]

Respondents to the 2008 collateral survey were both business and technology decision makers responsible for either influencing or directly making technology purchases for their organization.

It's interesting to discuss the delivery of content in alternative formats--our survey found that willingness to use audio and video collateral (regardless of subject) was strongly related to the age of the respondent, not their role in the organization.