Chris Koch

MAY 15, 2012

In a recent ITSMA survey, 88% of B2B buyers said that ideas are important or critical for providers that want to make it to their short lists. The big strategy consulting firms have been doing this for decades. But it’s only since the rise of search that buyers have begun to expect this kind of original thinking from all their providers.

FAQ 100

FAQ Custom Publishing B2B Sales Work Management 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

JANUARY 21, 2011

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. At ITSMA , we’ve been busy preparing for our annual State of the Marketing Profession briefing next Tuesday.

Social Media 100

Social Media Budget Programs Paper Stats 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

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

In working with our clients, we’ve found that it’s particularly important to survey both customers and employees when developing an important new service, because it allows you to put the “why” argument to rest using objective data. Get help in determining the need in the market and pla around with options before going ahead.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

In working with our clients, we’ve found that it’s particularly important to survey both customers and employees when developing an important new service, because it allows you to put the “why” argument to rest using objective data. Get help in determining the need in the market and pla around with options before going ahead.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 4, 2011

The number one suggestion for improvement: Focus more specifically on buyers’ particular business segment and needs (which B2B print publications used to be measured on each year in reader surveys). This longing for personalization isn’t just heard in the context of thought leadership, however. When they do, they win business.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies B2B Marketing Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

It’s one of the unstated frustrations in all the recent surveys that show how unhappy most employees are in their jobs. True purpose and meaning implies a degree of selflessness that few of us can afford when considered against rent, mortgages, college funds, or car payments. Companies Must Make Room for Helping.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Work Management Marketing Management Loyalty 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

When I was at CIO, I was very frustrated with the findings from our State of the CIO survey because they were relentlessly identical from year to year. So one year when I ran the State of the CIO survey we decided to take a deeper look at this data. CIOs are not all the same. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

When I was at CIO, I was very frustrated with the findings from our State of the CIO survey because they were relentlessly identical from year to year. So one year when I ran the State of the CIO survey we decided to take a deeper look at this data. CIOs are not all the same. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 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

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

I have a ton of new stuff to share this Fall (a new survey on thought leadership, for example) and I’d really like to get your opinions on it. If you subscribed through the old site and have been bored as hell for some time now and kept meaning to erase me from your life, here’s your chance. But I hope you will stay.

RSS 100

RSS Thought Leadership Opinions Communities 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

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. No, there’s something bigger going on here. And that is a huge change in the buying process.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Marketing Management Automation 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.

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

MARCH 18, 2011

In fact, our most recent thought leadership survey found that few marketers are measuring much besides consumption of their marketing content. Alas, no such magic metric exists. We’re focusing on the wrong things.

Work Management 100

Work Management Thought Leadership Marketing Management Paper 100

Chris Koch

MAY 6, 2011

Through surveys, both qualitative and quantitative, marketers ask their target audiences to tell them how they perceive the company. The two most important components of influence. I see successful marketers getting their companies to set two reference points to measure influence across all their marketing programs: Who we are.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing Work Management Media 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

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. It’s the same in B2B. Ideas can create an emotional connection. Okay, so it’s not big emotion, but it hits some buttons: Gratitude.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 29, 2009

A survey of 1000 consumers by marketing agency Razorfish found that just 3.5% Once again, the answer is they don’t. The research confirms it. of consumers follow a brand on Twitter for “service, support, or product news.”. We don’t follow brands, we follow deals.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Marketing Management 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

DECEMBER 11, 2009

For example, a Forbes survey found that C-suite executives are more likely to make the time for a video than other executives. What does it mean? For B2B marketers, this means that video and interactivity are something we need to be thinking about and doing now. Our target audience is ready. Sure, there are technical issues.

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing B2B Marketing B2B Storytelling 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. These are not the people we imagine Twittering about their need for complex enterprise IT services.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Enterprise Management Media 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). Social media creates the need for marketing to lead within the organization. Now what do we mean when we say that? We think that’s because social media is seen primarily as a tool for marketing.

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. Their strategies take two basic approaches. These marketers take a direct role in finding and supporting internal bloggers and in helping them develop content.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Blogger Thought Leadership Word of Mouth 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 13, 2010

As a researcher, I know that that is a pretty respectable survey sample. In a piece on SiliconValley.com, they interviewed the CEO of Glassdoor, who was able to offer an assessment of Hurd’s reign based on over 1000 reviews of people who work there.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B SME 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch. Marketers need to do the primary and secondary research on markets and customers to lend the depth and objectivity necessary to create information dependency among customers. Bring in the experts.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch. Marketers need to do the primary and secondary research on markets and customers to lend the depth and objectivity necessary to create information dependency among customers. Bring in the experts.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. Doing research first allows you to set goals using reliable, objective data. Then when people start to question your strategy (and they will), you can show them the numbers.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing Paper 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. Doing research first allows you to set goals using reliable, objective data. Then when people start to question your strategy (and they will), you can show them the numbers.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing B2B Sales 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. Mobile is going to become an important part of our marketing, whether we like it or not. The number of smartphones continues to explode.

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing Mobile Advertising Paid Search Agency Wiki 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 15, 2010

We’re going to offer more specific on how marketers should make this transformation backed up by selected data from the 2010 survey at our webcast, The Year of Marketing Transformation: ITSMA’s 2010 State of the Profession Address on January 26. Marketing has to do things differently.”.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

But assuming some of the people you’d like to reach are out there—and ITSMA’s recent survey of 300+ technology buyers says that they are (even senior executives) then the evidence seems to suggest that you should be emphasizing the viral model in your marketing. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

But assuming some of the people you’d like to reach are out there—and ITSMA’s recent survey of 300+ technology buyers says that they are (even senior executives) then the evidence seems to suggest that you should be emphasizing the viral model in your marketing. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100