IT Services Marketing Association » Research

ITSMA’s 2012 State of the Marketing Profession Address

ITSMA Research — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:29:16 +0000

Overview

Marketers face increasingly complex challenges due to the data explosion, channel proliferation, new marketing technologies, geographic expansion and the rise of the social buyer. 2012 will be the year of mastering marketing complexity. But first, marketing must overcome six barriers:

Invisible marketing
Ineffective sales enablement
Obsolete marketing structures
Dated marketing skills
Budget limitations
Over-emphasis on ROI

In this Online Briefing, Dave Munn and Julie Schwartz give the lowdown what marketers need to do overcome the barriers and master
marketing complexity. Dave and Julie also share trends and highlights from ITSMA’s 2012 Marketing Budgets & Trends Survey:

What are the top priorities for marketers in 2012 and how do they compare with 2011?
What new marketing models, structures, practices, and skills are emerging?
How is the marketing mix changing?
How are marketers addressing the rise of the B2B Social Buyer and balancing marketing programs aimed at traditional buyers and the
new social buyer?
What are leading companies doing to take advantage of the next wave of opportunity and get ahead of competitors?

ITSMA’s Top Ten B2B Marketing Ideas of 2011

ITSMA Admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:55:37 +0000

In 2011, we posted nearly 70 pieces of research, articles, and commentaries on our website. Based on the number of clickthroughs, downloads, retweets, and mentions, the ideas that resonated most with our readers centered on thought leadership, connecting with the buyer, marketing planning and strategy, lead generation, using data, and building brands.

A special report with excerpts. Download it for free.

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Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

ITSMA Research — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:48:02 +0000

Strong brands are getting stronger; the rest are stagnating. Yet, there remains plenty of opportunity for services and solutions providers in the middle of the pack to gain ground in terms of brand equity and market positioning. It just takes consistent and persistent marketing.

ITSMA’s Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study helps services providers understand buyer attitudes and beliefs, their company’s brand equity, current and/or aspired market positions, and buyers’ perceptions of performance.

ITSMA has been of conducting the Professional Services Brand Tracking study for more than a decade, and continues to see strong brands get stronger. While the 2011 study results reinforced the dominance of a few leading brands, it also revealed plenty of opportunities in the market.

Study Scope

ITSMA’s 2011 Professional Services and Solutions Brand Tracking Study provides a balanced look at measures of:

Brand equity. Awareness, familiarity, preference
Market positioning. Brand attribute perception and message relevance

The study also provides data and analysis on key areas of buyers’ behavior, including:

Outsourcing and Consulting trends. What has been the impact of the fluctuating economy on investing in outsourcing or
consulting? What are their future buying intentions?
Services decision influences. When there are a number of qualified providers, what is needed to stand out?
Perceived areas of competitive differentiation. Is what’s different really different? Does it matter?
Market knowledge. Who are the leaders and followers? Are providers recognized for their services capabilities?

In addition, the study explores buyers’ definitions and perceptions of services provider attributes, including:

The buyers’ journey. How are buyers making decisions and what information do they need at each stage of the process?
Use of social media. How are buyers using social media and other online sources as part of the buying process?
Partnering with service providers. What does it mean to buyers to partner with a service provider? How important is this?
Client advisory boards. Do buyers participate on client advisory boards or councils? What do they get out of it?

This study delivers the data study sponsors need to validate internal assumptions, improve marketing strategies and tactics, and hone their brand communication.

Study Methodology

Between August and October 2011, ITSMA completed telephone-based interviews in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Australia with 460 IT and business executives who either provide input into or authorize the purchase of IT professional services and solutions.

The interviews were designed to assess the brand awareness and market positioning of the major industry services providers and explore key market drivers.

In addition, ITSMA conducted 25 qualitative interviews with buyers.

For the purposes of this study, ITSMA defines professional services as:

Technology and/or related business services (such as consulting, systems integration or implementation, or outsourcing) valued at $100,000 or more.

Study respondents all held director, vice president, or C-level positions and represented organizations in seven major industries with revenue or operating budgets ranging from $100 million to over $20 billion.

This sponsored research initiative represents the 11th iteration of ITSMA’s flagship brand awareness and tracking study focusing on IT professional services and solutions.

Respondent Characteristics

Respondent Title

Source: ITSMA, Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

Role in Purchasing IT Professional Services

Source: ITSMA, Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

Respondent Perspective

Source: ITSMA, Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

Respondent Industry Sector

Source: ITSMA, Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

Organization Size

Source: ITSMA, Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

Pricing

This report is available for sale at member and nonmember prices.

Download the Report Datasheet (PDF 380KB)

Download the European version of the Report Datasheet (Coming Soon!)

See if your company is an ITSMA member

Download an Abbreviated Summary

Purchase the report online

Learn about other ITSMA Market Positioning and Brand Awareness Studies

Email ITSMA for more information

IBM’s Institute for Business Value: How to Convert Thought Leadership Research Into Revenue

ITSMA Research — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:52:40 +0000

Thought leadership marketing strategy must be built around research. Without it, thought leadership is little more than opinions.

IBM’s Global Business Services division has created the Institute for Business Value (IBV), an in-house research group that gathers the data proof for IBM’s thought leadership assertions. However, success in thought leadership requires more than experienced researchers. You must involve the rest of the organization—especially salespeople.

How do you get them to support your thought leadership research efforts? For the IBV, the answer is to involve them in the survey development and interviews.

For example, in its biennial Global CEO Study, the IBV has consultants around the world conduct face-to-face interviews with customers. It is a great way for IBM employees to hear what the most important stakeholders within their client accounts have to say regarding their industries, regions, business priorities, current challenges, and their opportunities.

In this ITSMA Case Study, we look at 10 ways that the IBV makes thought leadership research come alive for customers—and for employees.

Four Stages to Full ABM Adoption

ITSMA Research — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:48 +0000

Buyers want solution providers to do one thing above all else: Know me. Know my industry, my business, my role, my situation.

Marketers have segmented their most important accounts and begun creating highly targeted marketing programs that demonstrate a full understanding of those select customers’ business and technology issues. We call this approach Account Based Marketing (ABM), (also known as Key Account Marketing or One-to-One Marketing).

ABM requires a strong partnership between sales and marketing, a commitment to building new levels of relationships with customers, and strong support from sales and marketing leadership. That kind of change takes time.

Yet if companies know what steps to take going in, success can happen faster. In this ITSMA Update, we identify four steps for ABM adoption, based on ITSMA research and consulting and the experience of ITSMA’s ABM Council, a best practice sharing group from some of B2B’s top ABM practitioner companies.

How to Successfully Navigate the Four Stages of Lead Management Maturity

ITSMA Research — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:50:11 +0000

In this web briefing, ITSMA’s Dave Munn and Senior Associate Kathy Macchi will discuss ITSMA’s new Lead Management Roadmap, which outlines best practices through four stages of lead management:

Defining the Process
Building the Infrastructure
Transforming Marketing Lead Management
Optimizing Lead Management Processes

We will go into details for each of these phases and highlight examples at each stage. Results from ITSMA’s latest survey, B2B Services and Solutions Lead Management Benchmarks, which includes insights on the fundamental lead management practices underpinning the most successful providers, will also be shared. You will come away from this briefing with the ideas, benchmarks and best practices you need to improve your lead management operations and activities.

The Rise of the B2B Social Buyer: Results from the ITSMA How Buyers Consume Information Survey, 2011

ITSMA Research — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:23:35 +0000

Where do buyers of large B2B solutions get information on solution providers? For years, the answer was “my peers.” However, according to ITSMA’s “How Buyers Consume Information Survey,” peers are no longer the most influential source of information for buyers of large B2B solutions. We are seeing the rise of the B2B social buyer, who consumes information voraciously and from a variety of sources, including solution provider sites, online communities and social media. Yet, traditional buyers still look to their peers and even to print-based marketing materials first.

What’s a marketer to do? Read this report to find out how to most effectively reach and engage with today’s buyer.

ITSMA conducted the 2011 version of its acclaimed How Customers Choose research across four continents. Specifically, the study answers questions such as:

How are buyers using social media during the purchase process?
When creating a short list of providers, what sources of information do they use?
What is the most important criteria used to select solution providers?

Study Methodology

In Fall 2011, ITSMA surveyed, via the Web, 465 business and IT executives from companies that purchase business or technology solutions for individual contracts over $500,000. These respondents represented larger enterprises, with 60% having $1 billion or more in annual revenue from seven different countries: US, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and India.

Respondents were interviewed in the following vertical markets:

Manufacturing (Consumer/Industrial, process/discrete)
Financial Services (Banking, Insurance (except healthcare), and investments)
Communications (Telecom, media, entertainment)
Energy/Utilities/Oil/Mining/Gas
Government/Public Sector (Federal/State; no local or education)
Healthcare (Payer, provider, and benefits)

Respondent Characteristics

Purchase Involvement

Which of the following best describes your involvement with your organization’s purchase of major technology solutions for contracts over $500,000? % of Respondents (N=465)