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Sidebar: Three Ways to Communicate
by Mark D. Lutchen
Book (Excerpt)
Just as a company can have different key messages for different audiences, so too can those messages take different forms, depending on the venue used to deliver them. This article provides a good overview of the differences between using marketing, public relations, and other communications formats such as company meetings to deliver those messages.
Click here for full story.
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Gartner EXP Survey Shows CIOs Are Cautiously Optimistic Regarding Increased IT Spending in 2004
Global Survey Shows How CIOs are Preparing for the Upswing
CIOs look to be cautiously optimistic regarding the prospect of increased IT spending in 2004. Those are the results of a recent survey by Gartner EXP. While there's no sign of a return to the high flying days of 1999, the CIOs say an upturn in business could have a significant impact on spending, releasing a lot of pent-up demand.
[FULL STORY]
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Wi-Fi/Wireless Statistics
More signs that technology is on the rise again. According to research by In-Stat/MDR, wireless hot spots are popping up all over like mushrooms. Soon it seems no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to pop in for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a quick review of your e-mail. Check out these stats.
[FULL STORY]
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Partner Corner
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Worldcom Public Relations Group Names New Group Board Chair
Names Asia/Pacific and European Chairs, and Welcomes New Partner
As many of you know, Tech Image is a member of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s largest network of independent public relations agencies. The Group recently announced some new chairs and inducted a new member at its worldwide meeting in Australia, which Tech Image’s Mike Nikolich attended.
[FULL STORY]
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Survey Results
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Last month we asked how important thought leadership is in your PR mix. Half of the respondents said it is a cornerstone of their programs, while the rest participate occasionally. No one said they didn’t do it at all. For those who answered that they should do it more, Tech Image’s award-winning thought leadership program might be just the thing. Contact Dennis Collins at dennis.collins@techimage.com.
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Tech Marketing Efforts to Increase
by David Myron
Tech marketing is on the rebound, according to a report released today by IDC.
The report, "CMO Tech Marketing Barometer: Are You a Marketing Leader or Laggard?" from the IDC CMO (chief marketing officer) Advisory Service, projects IT vendor marketing budgets to increase by an average of 2.1 percent across the industry during the first six months of 2004. This indicates a turnaround in marketing spending relative to the average 1.7 percent decrease from 2002 to 2003 found in IDC's 2003 CMO research.
According to the 2004 survey, nearly half (49 percent) of the more than 100 respondents from 48 large technology enterprises indicated their intention to increase their overall marketing budget in the first half of 2004, compared to the second half of 2003. The results represent a sharp increase over the 32 percent that expected to increase their overall marketing budget for the second half of 2003.
Rich Vancil, vice president of IDC's CMO Advisory Service, cites two reasons for the uptick in marketing efforts from technology vendors. First, an overall 5 percent growth in the IT industry is freeing up some cash for marketing initiatives. Second, marketers "have done a lot of house cleaning and are better positioned and able to effectively garner more budgets internally after three years of rationalization."
The study shows the average increase of those companies bolstering their marketing efforts is 10.8 percent. After three years of staff reductions and budget cuts, Vancil says, a clearer distinction between leaders and laggards will emerge. Some of the leaders in the IT space include such companies as Cisco Systems, Symantec, Siebel, and Oracle, he adds.
Vancil defines leaders as companies that are most optimistic about growth prospects, are increasing marketing budgets (in some cases by double digits), are effective at communicating and reporting on the results of marketing, and are investing in awareness and demand generation--the full scope of marketing. Laggards, he says, are defined as companies that are less optimistic about overall growth prospects, have flat or declining budgets, are working on internal organizational and cost issues, and primarily have demand generation-oriented efforts--the part most closely aligned with sales. "Eventually, the lack of awareness-building efforts will catch up with these companies," he says.
"We're seeing if companies are putting their money where their mouth is," Vancil says. "A lot of companies think that their growth rate will be at or above the 5 percent overall average growth in the tech industry. But even so, there are a lot of companies that are not willing to invest in marketing."
This can prove harmful, he says: "You don't want to go without a full spectrum of the marketing mix for longer than a year in a tech environment where products and services change so quickly. Marketing needs to be a sustained effort."
Vancil says the growth in IT vendors' marketing efforts will likely sustain itself, but not outpace the IT's growth rate of 5 percent: "It's got the chance to accelerate a little bit as tech spending continues to open up. Over the course of the decade it's not going to outstrip the growth rate of the industry, which is about 5 percent overall. Marketing spending should come up from 2 percent growth rate, but will level off as rate of growth of IT."
Find this article at: http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?articleid=3952
© 2004, CRM Media, LLC.
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