A few weeks back, I mentioned that I was joining with The Bloom Group to launch a major study on how to improve the impact of thought leadership marketing in the IT market. I'm please to announce that we have now officially begun to recruit sponsors for the study -- you can see the details and download the prospectus here.
The impetus for the study comes from our concern that marketing in the B2B technology sector too often gets in the way of buyers actually finding what they need to know about new services and solutions. Rather than helping buyers understand the potential value of their offerings, too many technology and IT services companies get caught up in over-hyping their products, talking past the audience, and failing to connect with buyers who are legitimately interested in new approaches to urgent business challenges.
Given the strong possibility of a major slowdown in tech in the coming months, it seems more important than ever that marketers put their energies into programs that connect with recession-wary buyers on the issues that matter most. Simply put, this means programs that make a credible case for technology solutions that helps companies cut costs and generate new revenue.
Our new study will look ahead in part by looking back. We will explore how some of the biggest management concepts of the last 20 years, such as reengineering and customer loyalty management, were developed and marketed in ways that massively fueled the market for new technology, IT services, and management consulting. In fact, corporate investments in technology to support reengineering initiatives played an important role in helping tech companies get out of the recession in the early 1990s.
As important, we will look at what's working and not working right now in marketing some of today's hot button business technology issues, such as unified communications, green IT, service-oriented architecture, and the extended enterprise. If technology companies are to escape the worst of the coming recession, they will need to do a better job showing customers that investments in these types of initiatives are urgently needed as ways to control spending and/or build near-term growth.
Overall, the study is designed to answer some urgent questions facing technology and consulting marketers as they look at a very difficult market in 2009:
- How are big ideas that drive technology markets created, and how do they gain prominence and credibility in ways that drive sales?
- How can technology and IT services companies collaborate more effectively with outside experts to develop, adapt, and promote new ideas that move the market?
- How can technology and IT services companies organize themselves more effectively for thought leadership research and promotion?
- How can marketers work more effectively across their own organizations to maximize sales related to new business ideas?
If you're interested in finding out more, check out the prospectus or let me know
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