Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

I helped host an ITSMA round table this week and a near universal complaint from our B2B technology clients was how difficult it is to launch new services in a fast, efficient way. Get help in determining the need in the market and pla around with options before going ahead. Concurrent) Customer research and employee/partner research.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 16, 2010

The report is a combination of the reporting I’ve done here on this blog, case studies of social media that I’ve done for ITSMA, and two surveys that we’ve done at ITSMA over the past three years. This week, we released my ITSMA Special Report: “How to Fit Social Media into your Overall Marketing Strategy and Make it Stick.”.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

Most magazines do annual reader surveys to ask subscribers what they think of the magazine and what could be improved. Through these surveys, they construct archetypes of the typical reader. Marketers can replace offers with survey questions once in awhile to help build an understanding of timely issues to drive future content.

Planning 100

Planning B2B Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

Most magazines do annual reader surveys to ask subscribers what they think of the magazine and what could be improved. Through these surveys, they construct archetypes of the typical reader. Marketers can replace offers with survey questions once in awhile to help build an understanding of timely issues to drive future content.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Planning Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The same web analytics that have destroyed publishing are now getting marketers fired because nobody’s clicking on their white papers and surveys. They think up all the different things that magazines offer to readers and then make a list: Surveys? But from the ashes of publishing, subtle association is making a comeback.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 19, 2010

I want to do something ambitious and I’m hoping you’ll help. Monitoring tools help determine how much impact these smart things are having on our target audiences. Search tools can help you mine that data. This is helpful during important periods like new offering launches or in the aftermath of a crisis. Gather research.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Media 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

JULY 24, 2009

Only 50% of marketers in our survey said they had analytics programs, and of these, few were focused on predicting behavior; most were simply reporting past behavior. I’ve said before that this isn’t just a problem with the issues that come back to us in the surveys: lack of budget, clean data, and unified IT systems.

Top of Funnel 100

Top of Funnel Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

JULY 24, 2009

Only 50% of marketers in our survey said they had analytics programs, and of these, few were focused on predicting behavior; most were simply reporting past behavior. I’ve said before that this isn’t just a problem with the issues that come back to us in the surveys: lack of budget, clean data, and unified IT systems.

Lead Qualification 100

Lead Qualification Marketing Automation Services Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 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). We need to create an idea engine within the organization to help SMEs come up with things to Twitter and blog about. 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 16, 2009

Earlier this year I surveyed B2B marketers about their approaches to corporate blogging. These marketers take a direct role in finding and supporting internal bloggers and in helping them develop content. They encourage subject matter experts to blog, track what they write about, and offer blogging guidelines and help when needed.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Blogger Thought Leadership Word of Mouth 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Recently, I was asked by a former ITSMA client to help put together a plan for a thought leadership program for a B2B technology company that sells both products and services. Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing Paper 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Recently, I was asked by a former ITSMA client to help put together a plan for a thought leadership program for a B2B technology company that sells both products and services. Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing B2B Sales 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

Writing style guides can also help, but who has time to plow through them? In ITSMA’s social media survey, 68% said that marketing is the catalyst for social media. Gaining a reputation as the first with the latest news in your chosen subject area increases your relevance among others in your network and helps attract new followers.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer 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. At ITSMA, we’re seeing four main reasons for doing it: Help. Is there a reason for you to offer whatever help you give to customers through mobile?

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing Mobile Advertising Paid Search Agency Wiki 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

Writing style guides can also help, but who has time to plow through them? In ITSMA’s social media survey, 68% said that marketing is the catalyst for social media. Our helpful deeds in social media are often seen by many others who spread the help farther and enhance our reputation. Everybody loves a scoop.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

And in Gartner’s defense, sometimes IT can be so complex and confusing that it really does help to have an acronym for talking about things. So I’d like to try, with your help, to nip TLM in the bud before it gains the power to make us all miserable. Marketing is potentially great at the latter, but it needs help with the former.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Gartner Planning 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

If the vendors can’t help with the integration, IT can. This is where social media tools are helpful. PR people meanwhile should use their thick skins and relationship skills to help build the conversation in social media. You don’t even need to involve IT anymore. Marketing needs a better relationship with IT.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

The recent growth of permission-based groups on these sites helps a little bit, but so much of what gets posted on group pages is noise—blatant advertising, desperate job seeking—that it can be difficult for marketers to cut through all that crap and establish trusting relationships based solely on being in the same group as someone else.

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

The recent growth of permission-based groups on these sites helps a little bit, but so much of what gets posted on group pages is noise—blatant advertising, desperate job seeking—that it can be difficult for marketers to cut through all that crap and establish trusting relationships based solely on being in the same group as someone else.

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100