Hey, MarCom!

Video is ready for its close-up

For years, marketers have wondered if online video is ready for primetime. According to our 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report, the answer is finally a big, definite “yes.”

B2B audiences are becoming more and more receptive to watching videos to help them make business decisions. In fact, our research shows a dramatic change in how often business decision makers consume online videos. In 2008, only 28 percent of respondents watched a video to prepare for making a purchasing decision. In influence, video was ranked fifth—dead last when compared with other types of collateral.

In contrast, this year nearly half (49 percent) of respondents had watched a video in the last six months. Even more impressive, 79 percent of business decision makers or influencers share video with their colleagues, making it a highly viral form of collateral. As more decision makers grow comfortable with consuming sales and marketing content via video, the B2B audience for online video will grow even larger. Clearly, video is a medium to watch.

We found a lot of other interesting statistics about the changing use of video, so be sure to download our full report to get the full details.

Survey results: White papers still best bang for your buck

Like last year, our 2009 survey indicates that marketers’ best use of their collateral budgets is to develop high-quality white papers. Hands down, they're considered the most influential type of content.

In 2008, 68 percent of survey respondents told us they’d read at least one white paper in the last six months. In 2009, we saw that number increase to 77 percent, with the vast majority of respondents (84 percent) rating white papers as moderately to extremely influential when making final purchasing decisions. Add in the fact that white papers are also the most frequently shared collateral type, with 89 percent of respondents passing them along to others, and you see why they are the must-have marketing tool.

Our 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report offers up all the details -- plus a few best practices that you can start applying to make the most of your white papers. Download the report right here.

Survey results: Print isn't dead...yet

For the past few years, everybody's been telling us that print is dead. And while our latest survey results certainly confirm that print is on its way out, you shouldn't eliminate it from your collateral mix quite yet.

Yes, purchasers prefer to interact with your collateral and content on the desktop: 79% of our respondents told us that they preferred to consume content in digital form. Electronic content is easy to forward to other influencers and decision makers, greatly increasing its viral capacity. You should take further advantage of purchasers’ online reading habits by inserting hyperlinks or other HTML content into digital versions. This allows the reader to rapidly access relevant Web pages, request additional information, and even link to other materials within your collateral library, greatly extending the reach of any one document.

However, print isn’t dead yet: Recognize that print versions of your collateral may still be a preferred format for some of your audience—particularly decision makers from smaller firms. According to our survey, a significant number still find value in a leavebehind or in print collateral, especially brochures and data sheets. Plan a content strategy that takes both these print and electronic preferences into account.

We have a lot more tips and best practices to share in our 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report—get your free download right here.

Quality matters: Well-written content is the most influential

It's only been two weeks since we released our 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report, and the response has been overwhelming—we've been picked up by B2B Online, among others.

The finding that seems to resonate most? Technology purchasers—both influencers and decision makers—clearly appreciate a job well done when it comes to collateral. Fifty-one percent of respondents felt that high-quality writing is either very or extremely influential. Add those who felt well-written collateral was “moderately” influential, and that number increased to 86 percent. And even though respondents of all kinds said they preferred to have collateral—particularly white papers—written by a third-party, good writing from a vendor trumped mediocre writing from an objective source.

That's only the beginning: the report is full of findings and best practices that you can begin applying right away. Get your free download right here.

Decision makers are important, but don’t forget the influencers

We’re still abuzz about the release of our 2009 Eccolo Media B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report last week. We’ve gotten a great response, and the report is filled with so much interesting information that we wanted to talk about a few specific facts and figures in-depth. Where should we begin?

Before we get into the nitty gritty numbers, we think it’s important to point out a major difference between this year’s survey and the report we released in 2008. Last year, we asked people whether they actually made technology purchasing decisions or merely influenced them. For our 2009 report, we dove a little deeper into this distinction and explored the important differences between the two roles.

Not surprisingly, we found that decision makers are higher up in their organizations than influencers and usually work as C-level executives, vice presidents, or directors. They are also older and have more years of experience in the technology industry. But we came up with some other, more surprising, differences too. For example, decision makers consume more of each type of collateral that we looked at—white papers, case studies, data sheets/brochures, podcasts, and video—and find it more influential than influencers do.

But you can’t count out influencers altogether. They are big sharers and tend to pass on collateral more often and to more people in their companies than decision makers. If you look at white papers, for example, 90 percent of influencers share that content with other people in their organization while only 81 percent of decision makers do.

The bottom line? Purchasing decision makers should be your number one target, but developing content that can be passed from influencers to decision makers easily can help your collateral get into the right hands.

You can discover even more interesting differences between decision makers and influencers in the full survey. Download a free copy of the report here.

Our 2009 survey report is here!

After months of hard work and planning, we’re proud to announce the release of the new Eccolo Media 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report!

We discovered a ton of interesting and useful information, including the fact that a lot has changed in the year since we released our last survey report. For example, last year we found that 28 percent of respondents had watched a video to prepare to make a purchasing decision; this year, that number jumped to 51 percent. How people interact with collateral is constantly in flux, so it’s important to pay attention to how people use your content and adjust accordingly.

But we don’t want to spoil all of the surprises. Download the free report to get the full details—and be sure to check back here for an ongoing discussion of our latest findings.   

The wait is almost over!

Over the past few months, we've been keeping you up to date on the progress of our 2nd-annual B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report. The air is thick with anticipation here at the Eccolo Media offices because we're thrilled to announce that the 2009 report will be released next week!

For this year’s report, we more than tripled the number of respondents, we included more survey topics, and discuss even more best practices. Be sure to check back here next Wednesday, September 15 to read highlights from the 2009 report and download your free copy.

In the meantime, you can check out the findings from our 2008 report. If you have any questions or comments about our research, we’d love to hear from you.

Enter the (lead nurturing) matrix

We recently looked at how lead nurturing campaigns can play a key part in revving the sales cycle. Understanding how content can keep customers engaged is interesting stuff, so we were happy to hear from the folks at a Bay Area marketing automation firm called Marketo. They directed us to their most recent publication, The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing, and it turns out they're marketing people after our own hearts.  

Why is that? Marketo emphasizes something we’ve known for a long time--customers appreciate quality content, and they want lots of it if they think you’re offering valuable information. But how can you tell if your content is worthwhile? The guide has some pretty simple advice that we happen to agree with: “Ask yourself if the information you’re providing will be useful to them even if they never buy from you.”  

Marketo’s guide features some really fascinating numbers around lead nurturing. For example, did you know that nurtured leads produce a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads? Even more surprising: according to Marketo, 95 percent of qualified prospects who visit Web sites are there to research and aren't ready to buy yet.

So go ahead and check out Marketo's guide (it's available as a free PDF download). We think you'll like it.

On our radar: The video white paper

First of all: We've long believed that a well-executed white paper is the most influential type of collateral you can produce -- and last year's survey report confirmed that.

Second of all: In the last few months, we've started to turn out video testimonials at an ever-increasing rate.

So...it should come as little surprise that we're exploring the next logical step in the ongoing evolution of our collateral offerings: the video white paper.

Just as a video testimonial is an audiovisual representation of a traditional written case study, the video white paper takes the basic elements of a well-written white paper -- thought leadership, third-party validation, and a compelling business case -- and translates those into high-impact visuals.

So how do you get started? Here's one way: if one of your customers is hesitant to participate in a case study, you might want to suggest that they participate instead in an objective discussion of technology trends.

That discussion, captured on film, can serve as the basis for your video white paper. And because it isn't framed as a promotional piece -- since it is, by definition, objective -- you might have a better chance of convincing skittish customers to participate. 

We're excited about the possibilities afforded by the video white paper concept...and considering that video only continues to grow in presence and influence on the Web, we have a feeling that it won't be long before video white papers become key elements in any collateral toolbox.

Lead generation vs. lead nurture: What's the difference?

In the past few months, more and more of our clients have asked us to create collateral for lead-nurture campaigns. Now, plenty of people are familiar with using email for lead-nurturing efforts, and we've certainly created traditional email campaigns in the past. But our more recent lead-nurture projects have been based around the creation of a wider range of collateral--and we see that as a significant shift in how organizations nurture leads.

For example, we might craft a campaign around a specific product or service by writing a business brief, an article, a Q&A, and a fact sheet. Maybe we'll even create a podcast based on one of our SME interviews. Then our client will offer each of those collateral pieces as part of an ongoing nurture stream, introducing each piece over the course of several weeks in order to draw prospects through the stages of awareness, consideration, and purchase. 

We see this as an excellent way of aligning marketing with sales. Too often, marketing groups see lead generation as a one-step process; they believe that their role ends as soon as a prospect enters the sales cycle. But it's our belief that marketing can play a more active role in keeping that sales cycle from running out of gas. By creating collateral designed to maintain and even increase interest in your product or service throughout the sales cycle, you're better positioned to raise conversion rates--a result that will make both your sales and marketing groups very, very happy.