Q2 Marketing Blog - Technology Marketing, Public Relations, Brand Consulting

Research and studies Category

Brand Loyalty–Another Recession Consequence

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

For most of you out there, another fallout of this strange economy is the loyalty of your customers. Buyers are increasingly looking to make the absolute best decisions with their budgets. In an attempt to shave dollars, they will even incur greater risk by swapping you out for a new product or service provider. And there’s also the risk of them cutting your portion of the budget entirely.

Forrester’s George F. Colony says in the Huffington Post:

Brand loyalty will be limited. For five years, Forrester has been tracking the precipitous decline in brand loyalty — particularly for complex products like cars. Brands will afford only limited protection for your company in the new world — because choice has been radically expanded. All brands are subject to consumer testing, discussion, disclosure, and transparency. You can no longer own your customer — your customer will own you.

Wow. Your customer will own you. Seeing any of that in your industry?

Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you know the Technology Marketing Blog isn’t about gloom and doom or hand wringing. We’re about solutions here, people. The question is–what are you going to do with this information?

We all know that new customer acquisition is a high priority. But an even higher priority is keeping the customers you’ve worked so hard to attain. If your pipeline has slowed, you certainly can’t afford to lose customers. But if customer retention isn’t part of your current marketing strategy, be prepared to face that unpleasant reality.

Later this week we’ll discuss marketing activities you really should be doing to increase customer retention.

Another interesting, if harrowing read, is from NakedCapitalism.com. If you’re not on board with the severity of this issue, this is pretty convincing.

Join us next week for solutions, and visit www.q2marketing.com for lots of other ways to solve your tech marketing challenges. Till next time….

Posted in Customer retention, Economy, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Research and studies, Sales and Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Six Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks’ John Moore

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Build a business that’s profitable, makes employees and customers happy and you don’t need to worry about branding. Branding will take care of itself.

These aren’t sentiments you’d expect from a marketer, must less John Moore, who designed and implemented marketing programs for Starbucks Coffee for eight years. But he’s pretty much an authority.

I attended his presentation before Accelerent last week. Special thanks to Brad Powell of JX2 Professional Software Services for the invitation. In his talk, Moore espoused six principles worth consideration—if not embracing—by marketers everywhere. Because he’s a heck of a wordsmith, some of his phrases are repeated here verbatim, or at least close to it. Here are the first three of his six principles:

1. The more obvious you are, the more original you appear…and vice versa. And here’s something particularly compelling for some in the tech marketing world. There’s no such thing as a dull product category. There are only dull brands.

He stressed the importance of earning opinions from your customers. A way to do that: unconventional names for your cup sizes. By taking something common and making it uncommon, you make your customers feel special, citing loyal customers who speak Starbuckian.

2. Be careful when defying your “circle of expectations.” The more obvious you are, the smaller the circle gets. Starbucks’ mark in the sand, as defined by Moore:

· bold coffee (this isn’t Folgers!)

· high quality beans

· not cheap

· non-traditional marketing consisting of locations as billboards and patrons carrying the distinctive cup

· comfortable stores

· engaged employees–another part of the Starbucks experience

The point is that the smaller the circle, the more effective the brand. Starbucks tried milder coffee, cheap coffee, salads, ice cream and other brainstorms that Moore said were unsuccessful because they were outside the circle.

3. If you want to earn customer loyalty, first earn employee loyalty. Your competitors can replicate your products and programs, but they can’t replicate your corporate culture.

Check back later this week for more on Moore’s six principles….

Posted in Advertising, Brand Consulting, Case studies, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Public Relations, Research and studies, Sales and Marketing | 2 Comments »

Stimulus Law Means $2.5 billion in Tech Funding from Federal Government

Thursday, March 19th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the much-talked-about stimulus spending law, is estimated to bring $2.5 billion in spending to technology vendors. This is according to IDC Industry Insights, as reported by David Hubler in Washington Technology.

This is a “once-in-a-lifetime flood of new technology money,” says IDC. They estimated $101.2 billion in technology spending will be generated between 2009 and 2012.

Among the federal tech opportunities that law is expected to impact the most:

● The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) National Computer Center data center modernization—$500 million.

● The SSA’s claims processing program—$490 million.

● The Homeland Security Department data center, law enforcement communications–$340 million.

● The State Department’s security and network assurance technologies—$290 million.

● The Institute of Education Science’s high-performance computing and predictive services—$250 million.

● The Veterans Affairs Department data center and information technology services—$50 million.

● The Agriculture Department’s Farm Services Agency data center and systems services—$50 million.

Posted in Business to Government Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Research and studies, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

99.5% of press releases not optimized for the web

Friday, March 13th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

DMNews reported recently that 99.5% of press releases don’t feature search engine optimization (SEO) for the web. This DMNews story was written by Brian Halligan:

He bases this finding on data collected from over 11,000 press releases. Here are the top three tips from Halligan on how to optimize press releases. No new information here, but if his data is accurate, there is a shortage of practical application in the PR world:

1. Link your releases back to your site.

2. The links should include relevant keywords.

3. Include the links near the top of your press releases, and focus on the first page as well.

Read the full story.

Q2 Marketing also recommends your keyword optimization strategy carry over to your press releases. Once you’ve determined what your top keywords are, particularly in light of the specific news of the release, use them appropriately. This includes headlines and sub-heads. But make sure your keywords or phrases comprise no more than 2% of your release.

One more note: don’t invent your own insular corporate labels for solutions and services. Use accepted industry terminology. A good keyword software will yield these results for you. If you are in a murky industry without clear definitions, look through industry analyst reports (and abstracts), industry articles, competitors’ web sites, conference brochures, etc., to understand what the most appropriate and popular terms are for your industry.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Research and studies, SEO, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Content to dominate marketing in 2009

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Look for businesses to focus marketing efforts on creating and promoting content in 2009, according to a new study from Junta42, as reported in Michael Stelzner’s white paper blog.

According to Junta42, “More than half (56%) of marketing- and publishing-decision makers plan to increase their content marketing spending for 2009.” Of those, 31% plan to increase significantly, and 25% plan to increase slightly. Only 13% plan on decreasing their content marketing spending, ranging from slightly to significantly.

Here are the top content types marketers will target in 2009:

Social media, other than blogs—68%
Enewsletters/email—60%
Blogs—56%
Case studies—55%
Online video—51%
White papers—46%
Microsites—43%

Any surprises? On which ones are you spending your marketing dollars in 2009?

Working with B2B and B2G marketers, it is clear to Q2 Marketing that the primary content challenge for marketers will continue to be twofold:

1. generate the content and/or prod subject matter experts to supply the content

2. promote the content through marketing databases and syndication outlets

Think carefully about how you will distribute these materials before dedicating many hours to creating them. Will such content be part of lead generation efforts or will it appear deeper in the sales process? Know what role each item will play and make sure your sales and marketing efforts maintain the consistency of your strategy.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Marketing Research, Research and studies, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Top web sites for tech buyers searching for solutions

Thursday, March 5th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Where do tech people search for products and solutions when making buying decisions? The recent Google/TechTarget Research Project asked 2,200 worldwide tech buyers and decision makers this question: Which of the following search sites have you used to find information on technology solutions for your organization in the past six months?

Here are the results:

Google 95.8%

TechTarget(SearchSecurity.com, SearchStorage.com, Whatis.com) 43.8%

Yahoo! Search 35.5.%

MSN Search/Live Search 29.0%

InformationWeek.com 21.8%

InfoWorld.com, NetworkWorld.com 16.3%

Ask.com 15.9%

eWeek.com 14.7%

AOL Search, ecommercetimes.com, Chinese search engine Baidu, CUIL, South Korean web portals Daum and Naver each received responses of less than 5%.

Download the Google/TechTarget Research Project here.

Posted in Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

SEO Secrets: How Tech Buyers Use Search to Purchase

Monday, March 2nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

The new Google/TechTarget Research Project delivers exciting SEO insight into how technology purchasers use search terms to find products and services like yours. If you’re serious about your SEO strategies and you want to outshine competitors, even the ones that outspend you, keep reading….

We’re examining the Google/TechTarget Research Project because it deserves some quality time. Serious B2B and B2G marketers should really download this free report. They then should come back here for more quick highlights and observations.

How many keywords are buyers using to find you?

Conventional wisdom in search, across industries, is that buyers are using two to three keywords to find information on solutions like yours. But this report sheds new light on this critical topic. In the early stages of research, technology buyers tend to type in two or three keywords. No surprise to search pros. But later in the buying cycle, they will use brief four- or five-word phrases. Why is this?

In later stages of buying, tech purchases use search terms like “compare” and “review” in an effort to distinguish between products and solutions. Specifically, they are looking for reviews and resources that compare technology solutions.

(As an aside, also from this report, 24% of buyers surveyed “frequently” find industry analyst web sites useful in the buying and evaluating process, but this resource is not even in the top five. Click back later to find where analyst sites rank and which resources rank higher.)

What does this mean for IT marketers? The first observation, taken from the report, but a clear conclusion, is that any and all favorable comparisons of your solutions to your competitors should be on your web site in whatever formats available.

If these resources don’t exist, you need to put a strategy in place to have reviews and comparisons created, preferably by reputable third parties like industry analyst firms, magazines, online editorial sources, etc.

You can also take the lead in generating a discussion around your technology, comparing it to your competitors. Maybe a social media program is in order.

From the report: “An analysis of TechTarget online campaigns demonstrates that many of the superior performing white papers are ones in which the author compares the solution or blueprint of one provider to that of another.” That is a very valuable piece in information.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Google/TechTarget Report Reveals Tech Buyers’ Search Patterns

Monday, February 23rd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

A new joint study from Google and Tech Target, examines the search habits of technology professionals when making purchasing decisions. The purpose of the The Google/TechTarget Research Project:

Reveal the mindset of the IT buyer in context of their purchase process and search mode
Put marketers in a better position to make keyword buys, choose content to syndicate
Determine optimal selection and scheduling of content and website media to attract the IT buyer

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Here is a recap of some important findings:

Different search terms are used by buyers at various stages of the IT buying process
There is a concrete relationship between search and branding, as well as lead generation and ROI implications
Surprises were found regarding buyer utilization of new media including mobile devices, video and RSS feeds
Information source preferences were established

Here are some more important findings on the brand impact of search:

53% of IT purchasers use search to discover vendor solutions they are not previously aware of
86% of searchers look for a familiar brand or manufacturer before clicking on a search result
67% willing to click on the link of a manufacturer with which they are not familiar
Over 40% of searchers will click on search ads that are contextual to content on IT Publisher sites, and 46% willing to read those ads.

There is some good stuff in this report, and we will be examining it in greater detail throughout the week. Thanks to Michael Stelzner’s “Writing White Papers” blog for bringing it to my attention.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Stimulus bill will generate $4.5 billion in state and local IT spending

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Federal research firm Input Inc. anticipates that the economic stimulus bill will generate $4.5 billion in new information technology spending from state and local governments in the U.S. This is good news for service providers who have been increasingly chasing those decreasing dollars.

The largest portion of spending in IT investments will be the broadband rollout, says Input. Then facilities modernization, mass transit and health IT are also slated to drive tech-related spending. Health spending generated by this package will be due to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and other improved data flow at hospital and clinics. Large Medicaid Management Information Systems projects will also account for some of the anticipated health IT spend.

The White House version allocates fewer dollars to broadband and health IT than the Senate version. Read more in Washington Technology.

Posted in Business to Government Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Research and studies, Sales and Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Newspapers not dead, 16% increase in online readership

Monday, February 2nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Nielsen Online reports a 16 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors to the top 10 newspaper web sites. This represents 40.1 million unique visitors in December 2008, up from 34.6 million in December 2007.

To top online newspaper site was NYTimes.com, with 18.2 million unique visitors. USATODAY.com and washingtonpost.com took the second and third spots. See the table below for more.

Here are the top ten finishers, courtesy of Nielson Online:

                                               Dec-08 UA   % Change

Top 10 Online Newspapers     40,093            16

 1. NYTimes.com                       18,187             6

 2. USATODAY.com               11,420           15

 3. washingtonpost.com              9,470           12

 4. LA Times                               7,963           73

 5. Wall Street Journal Online     7,235          34

 6. Daily News Online Edition    5,883          99

 7. Chicago Tribune                    5,235           35

 8. New York Post                      4,557           60

 9. Boston.com                           4,086            -6

10. SFGate.com                          3,503           26

Of the top 10 online newspapers, nine experienced positive year-over-year growth. No small contribution to this jump was the weakening economy, election cycle and new administration.

Posted in Economy, Industry Trends, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing | No Comments »

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