Chris Koch

JANUARY 21, 2011

At ITSMA , we’ve been busy preparing for our annual State of the Marketing Profession briefing next Tuesday. It’s where we introduce some of the top findings from our annual budget survey of marketers. But we don’t like to just parrot the numbers from the survey.

Social Media 100

Social Media Budget Programs Paper Stats 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

The publishing model is also relevant because as a business model, it is dying—especially for trade magazines. Demand for that content hasn’t gone away however, and companies that can provide an adequate alternative will grow their businesses more than those that can’t. How to adapt the publishing process to marketing. Audit content.

Planning 100

Planning B2B Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

The publishing model is also relevant because as a business model, it is dying—especially for trade magazines. Demand for that content hasn’t gone away however, and companies that can provide an adequate alternative will grow their businesses more than those that can’t. How to adapt the publishing process to marketing. Audit content.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Planning Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 18, 2011

In fact, our most recent thought leadership survey found that few marketers are measuring much besides consumption of their marketing content. One great way to connect ideas to offerings is to create a business theme—think IBM’s Smarter Planet or Cognizant’s Future of Work. We’re focusing on the wrong things.

Work Management 100

Work Management Thought Leadership Marketing Management Paper 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

When I covered CIOs for 13 years at CIO Magazine, I found that it was very difficult to generalize about the profession, beyond a handful of universal problems such as alignment with the business and the complexities and the voracious needs of the IT infrastructure. Business Strategist. And that has big implications for marketers.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

When I covered CIOs for 13 years at CIO Magazine, I found that it was very difficult to generalize about the profession, beyond a handful of universal problems such as alignment with the business and the complexities and the voracious needs of the IT infrastructure. Business Strategist. And that has big implications for marketers.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

In ITSMA’s Thought Leadership Survey, marketers with formal thought leadership processes segment their ideas this way 95% of the time. We need to create a mix of these two types of thought leadership content to maintain strong relationships with their target audiences. Here’s why: Marketers who do this are more successful.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Loyalty Case Study 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

In ITSMA’s Thought Leadership Survey, marketers with formal thought leadership processes segment their ideas this way 95% of the time. We need to create a mix of these two types of thought leadership content to maintain strong relationships with their target audiences. Here’s why: Marketers who do this are more successful.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Loyalty Case Study 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

When we’re thinking about new offerings, we need to consider all the pieces of the business that will be affected by the decision—from customers, to operations, to strategy, to profitability—and factor them into the research. Talk to the right people first. By good data I mean taking a comprehensive research approach during the “why” stage.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

When we’re thinking about new offerings, we need to consider all the pieces of the business that will be affected by the decision—from customers, to operations, to strategy, to profitability—and factor them into the research. Talk to the right people first. By good data I mean taking a comprehensive research approach during the “why” stage.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 2, 2010

It’s why our latest ITSMA marketing budget survey shows (free summary available)that thought leadership has risen to a higher priority level than in any recent year. Tags: Blogging Customer Relationships Social Media B2B marketing Business LinkedIn marketing Subject matter expert Technology Thought Leadership Twitter. Tweet This Post.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

survey, (all ITSMA clients can download this executive summary ), we found that “increased web traffic&# was the most frequently cited benefit of Web 2.0 Indeed, some B2B early adopters are seeing 10-15% of their lead totals generated through social media, according to this survey by DemandGenReport. In our recent Web 2.0

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

MAY 14, 2010

At least that’s the conclusion we reached at ITSMA recently when we did our social media survey (there’s a free summary if you’re interested). That means that marketers need to integrate social media with the larger marketing and business strategies. Social media creates the need for marketing to lead within the organization.

Organic Leads 100

Organic Leads Social Media Social Marketing Organization 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 22, 2010

ITSMA’s annual survey of IT buyers found that this year, for the first time, a majority of buyers in the US—and 75% when you include other countries—are using social media in the purchasing process—especially the younger ones. And finally, the trade press and general business media are dying.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Marketing Management Automation Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 19, 2010

If you can link to a survey and promise respondents some level of access to your findings, you can create a powerful source of information. For example, posting a link to a survey that you reference in a white paper or will discuss in an upcoming event helps drive interest—and may even provide valuable research. Seed discussions.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Media 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 30, 2009

And yet our latest annual survey of 355 buyers of complex IT solutions, How Customers Choose Solution Providers, 2009: The Importance of Personalization, Epiphanies, and Social Media, shows that the door to the C-suite is opening up. Sounds like a business case for investment to me. You can download an abbreviated summary here. ).

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Enterprise Management Media 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 29, 2009

Even if we believe deeply in the power of social media, we all have that gnawing feeling deep in our guts that says that there’s little reason for a busy, intelligent person to want to receive frequent updates about our brands when those brands produce complex services and products with two-year sales cycles. The research confirms it.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Marketing Management 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

I’ve been interviewing ITSMA members about their thought leadership programs as follow-on to our recent thought leadership survey and asking about what makes a good thought leader. Thought leaders themselves must be better-rounded than in the past, as comfortable online as on stage or in an interview.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Thought Leadership Social Media Storytelling 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Of course, devising those incentives, putting them in place, and driving the cultural change necessary to make them stick is a maddeningly complex process that helps keep consultants and academics in business. Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Of course, devising those incentives, putting them in place, and driving the cultural change necessary to make them stick is a maddeningly complex process that helps keep consultants and academics in business. Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 15, 2010

Today, more salespeople are able to have business and strategy discussions with customers and take the time to listen to their needs. Businesses are asking if you’re not doing all these things you used to do anymore, why should I give you more budget? Except that today many of those sales guys are gone.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 30, 2010

According to a recent survey by ABI Research, 28% of respondents said that they access web sites from their phones at least once per day —up 75% in a year. I always take analysts’ forecasts with a grain of salt, but ABI’s prediction that mobile marketing (ads on mobile phones) will be a $4 billion business by 2014 makes you stop and think.

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing Mobile Advertising Paid Search Agency Wiki 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

These brands all start to sound the same and there are so many variables at play—the usual business stuff like VC funding, marketing, strategy, management, funding, M&A, etc.—that For marketers trying to figure out where to put their resources into social media marketing, the horse race looks more like a crapshoot. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

These brands all start to sound the same and there are so many variables at play—the usual business stuff like VC funding, marketing, strategy, management, funding, M&A, etc.—that For marketers trying to figure out where to put their resources into social media marketing, the horse race looks more like a crapshoot. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

In ITSMA’s social media survey, 68% said that marketing is the catalyst for social media. We always hear that it’s wrong to use a lot of jargon, and in general it is, but only because most B2B marketers are usually trying to reach a general audience of both business and technical people. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

In ITSMA’s social media survey, 68% said that marketing is the catalyst for social media. We always hear that it’s wrong to use a lot of jargon, and in general it is, but only because most B2B marketers are usually trying to reach a general audience of both business and technical people. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

IT and business buyers are flocking to social media more rapidly than anyone would have imagined even a few years ago. Our latest annual survey of 355 buyers of complex IT solutions, How Customers Choose Solution Providers, 2009: The Importance of Personalization, Epiphanies, and Social Media, shows that the door to the C-suite is opening up.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Work Management 100

Chris Koch

JULY 29, 2011

The trouble started when the McKinsey Quarterly published an article in early June entitled How US health care reform will affect employee benefits, based on a survey the firm did about what will happen to employer-sponsored health care insurance coverage when the President’s health care law goes into effect in 2014.

Social Media 100

Social Media Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Companies 100