Hey, MarCom!

Choosing the Right Channel for Your Collateral Mix

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how great your marketing collateral is—without the right distribution channel, you might as well be sending that content into a black hole. So what’s the best way to get your collateral in front of technology decision makers?

According to our recent B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report, the most common channel for receiving written collateral in 2010 was through a corporate Web site. Specifically, 71 percent of respondents found white papers browsing through such sites, 65 percent got brochures/datasheets through that channel, and 56 percent acquired case studies that way.

Embedding Audio and Video into Written Collateral

Between YouTube and Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere, it’s really no wonder that people like to interact with technology on a daily basis. But we weren’t sure if people wanted this kind of interaction in their written technology collateral as well.

So in this year’s 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report, we asked the question, “Have you consumed any written collateral that contained embedded audio or video files?” Among those surveyed,  45 percent  answered “Yes.” And more importantly, a whopping 93 percent stated they had clicked through to these embedded video and audio files.

Short and Sweet

Here at Eccolo, we like to keep our content material short, sweet, and to the point. Previous survey results have told us concise, well-written marketing collateral serves marketers best. Well imagine our surprise when the 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report showed results that indicated respondents may be adjusting their preferences for collateral that is longer in length.

This year, 55 percent of respondents stated that they preferred white papers that were six pages or less in length—a ten point drop from last year. Coincidentally, respondents that wanted white papers of eight pages or more increased from 21 percent to 27 percent this year. 

Digital consumption of written collateral

More goodies from our 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report.  In 2009, our results showed that three-fourths of respondents, 76 percent, read white papers digitally.  Almost the same percentage (77 percent) did the same with brochures/data sheets; even more (84 percent) consumed case studies in this form.  In 2010, we expected this trend toward consumption of written content at the desktop to increase.  Instead, the 2010 numbers declined slightly. The decrease in consumption of written content in digital form was replaced by an increase in downloading and printing of written content.

Why the backward trend? Frankly we’re not certain. What the data does tell us is that print is not yet dead, and it seems most likely that, going forward, users will adopt a blend of consumption methods, rather than one hard and fast rule, to meet their needs.

If you haven’t downloaded the 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report yet, why not? It’s free for gosh-sakes! All we ask is that you give us your feedback so we can make the Report and the discussion around it as relevant as possible.

 

The Written Word

In our 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report we found that written case studies held steady from 2009 to 2010 in both their frequency of consumption and their perceived influence on technology purchases ( 79% of respondents found case studies to be moderately to extremely influential.) What we find even more interesting is that respondents had a marked preference for written case studies over other types of customer testimonials. Sixty-five percent ranked written case studies to be more influential than a video testimonial (33 percent) or customer podcast (2 percent).

Why is that? We’re guessing it’s because a written case study traditionally has more detail than its video or audio counterpart. Written stories will generally describe specific implementations and technical scenarios—this type of wonky deep-dive is generally edited out from video and audio testimonials in favor of sexy sound bites. Our clients are exerting a fairly consistent pressure these days to make all video and audio files shorter and more consumable, and respondents in the 2010 survey tell us that they prefer shorter lengths for these two formats. So it seems video and audio files are great teasers—they grab attention, add the human element, but a written case study is still going to be more influential when it comes down to the purchase.

If you haven’t downloaded the 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report yet, why not? It’s free for gosh-sakes! All we ask is that you give us your feedback so we can make the Report and the discussion around it as relevant as possible.

Whitepapers: They might be popular, make sure they don't disappoint

Last week we talked about the fact that whitepapers are still the most popular collateral type when it comes to influence on a technology purchase.  That doesn’t mean that whitepapers don’t have their pitfalls too.  In fact, one of our key findings in our 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report came when we asked our survey respondents to let us know what would disappoints them, and therefore reduce the influence of whitepapers on purchasing decisions.

The number one reason for a whitepaper to not be effective and to disappoint the audience is if it is poorly written.  This seems like a no brainer, but poorly written content can distract from your message and have a negative impact on your reader.

To read more about many of our other findings, including the difference between influencers and decision makers and how other collateral types fared, download your FREE 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report today.

We'd love to know what you think of our findings!  Keep the discussion going and post something on our blog!

Written collateral is still the most influential

2010 commemorates the third year of Eccolo Media’s B2B Technology Collateral Survey.  We ask respondent to tell us to what degree each type of collateral influences their purchasing decision.

It’s really not surprising that written collateral continues to be popular as the most influential collateral type.  What is surprising is that the rate of their popularity has not decreased.  While brochures and Data sheets are the most consumed collateral type, white papers are identified as the most influential.  In fact, 83% of all respondents stated that white papers were moderately to extremely influential in their purchasing decision!

To read more about many of our other findings, including the difference between influencers and decision makers and how other collateral types fared, download your FREE 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey today.

We'd love to know what you think of our findings!  Keep the discussion going and post something on our blog!

 

 

Our latest survey report is here!

The 3rd annual Eccolo Media 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report is completed and ready for download. This is the third year in a row Eccolo Media has surveyed technology professionals regarding their purchasing habits and their attitudes on what makes for the most effective marketing collateral.

We’ve got some great new information to report this year, including emerging trends in embedded video, white papers, data sheets, corporate Web sites, and more--research that can be immediately applied to your marketing communications work. Check it out. We look forward to your feedback.

Making a case for video

Our 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report is gearing up for release in September, and there is so much great information that I can’t help but share a morsel with you.

Last year we looked at video as the rising star of collateral.  To read more click here to read last year’s report. In 2010, video continues to be a strong collateral type, with more than half of those surveyed stating they viewed video to evaluate their technology purchase. 

Do you think video is an important collateral tool?  Tell us your experience and expectations of video as a collateral tool! 

Looking forward

We just finished compiling our research for the 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report and the information is great.  There is so much great information in there that we can’t wait to share it with you.  Right now we are putting the finishing touches on the report.

 

Here’s a little sneak peak: well-written content is still very important to technology purchasers! Our research tells us that the most disappointing thing to a B2B buyers considering a tech purchase is poorly written content. 

 

Keep on checking in with us as we prepare to release our 2010 B2B Technology Survey Report, and click here to review last year’s report.