Research
IDC, May 2010
In a recent survey, IDC found that more than a third of a company’s marketing budget goes to outsourced programs. With such a significant percentage, IDC has identified a handful of key considerations from agency selection to ongoing performance measurement and compensation.
IDC, May 2010
As the economy continues to recover and so do marketing budgets, most of the increased funding will flow into digital marketing. According to IDC CMO research, company websites, digital events, search, and email are expected to do well.
To learn more and download the full abstract, click here.
IDC, April 2010
More than 200 tech buyers responded to an IDC survey about vendor sales and marketing people and practices. Your prospects weighed in on what they like and do not like about sales and marketing and how they spend their day.
To listen to the findings, click here.
CIO, April 2010
Coming out of the economic slump last year, many executives tell CIO that they’re looking to spend more in 2010. The spending increase began last May following a dramatic decline in 2008 and earlier last year. In December 2009, 4 out of 10 CIOs said they’ll spend more this year and more than a third of them are focused on top line growth.
Industry Insights
Trends
Ads Online Gaining Acceptance
According to research conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates with Magid Media Futures 2010 study, half of respondents now watch online video weekly or more often, an increase from 43% in 2009. Viewers aged 18 to 24 accounted for the greatest increase in weekly online video viewership. Consumers also said they expect to watch more video online over the coming year.
B-to-B Event Marketers Anticipate Better Times Ahead
In 2008, $13 billion, which was 34.5 percent of U.S. business-to-business companies’ overall budgets, was spent on marketing events, according to research firm AMR International.
By 2009, as the economy took a nosedive and marketing budgets were slashed, that event marketing spend considerably shrunk to $11.1 billion, which was a drop off of 15.5-percent, compared with the same time period the year before.
The ROI of Social Media Marketing: More than Dollars and Cents
Brands are making plenty of money in social media: Dell Outlet’s Twitter account has generated millions for Dell, the Intel Channel Voice community has decreased costs by eliminating the need for expensive in-person events, and P&G used media mix modeling to demonstrate that the BeingGirl.com community is several times more effective at driving sales than the brands' television ads.
Study: iPhone Has Active, Affluent Users
Apple's latest earnings report showed the iPhone continues to power the company's growth, with profit up 78% from a year ago and revenue up 61% to $15.7 billion. And that's including only two days of iPhone 4 sales before the end of Apple's fiscal third quarter. The company has said it has sold 3 million of the devices so far, despite the controversy surrounding its antenna reception problem.
Tech Spheres Blog 
Rise of the Sales Operations Function
// Michael Gerard 7/27/10 Sales costs are outpacing revenue growth, sales organizations are increasing in complexity, and IT buyers continue to indicate that sales reps are out of touch with their needs. What actions should sales executives take in response to this difficult environment? One of your first steps should be to expand the roles and [...] Read the full post
Innovations
PCworld/Macworld Launch Custom ‘Content Works’
IDG’s PCWorld and Macworld tech magazine brands have launched a new custom publishing division that will design, produce and distribute content on behalf of publishing partners. PCWorld/Macworld Content Works is being led by former senior editor at Wired Ted Greenwald, content director. Custom products will include white papers, catalogs, training materials, marketing assets, Web sites, mobile media, events and vendor marketing. Read more.
IDG Hits ‘Play’ On Syndicated Video Network
Online video continues to be a key growth driver in the Internet economy with double digit increases in ad revenue and a near-tripling in the number of videos streamed online over the past year. This insatiable appetite for video content is as true in the b2b space as it is in the consumer publishing segment. And so IDG TechNetwork is introducing a syndication program for the hours of video that IDG creates across its many properties. Read more.
Research for Market Insights and Marketing Advantage
Do you want to know what IT buyers think of your products or your competitors’? What your prospects think are most important product capabilities? How often do you check the web to see what’s being said about you and your competitors and plan a response. IDG Research Services helps companies survey, analyze, and respond to what is happening in their marketplaces. Learn more.
Twitter
IDGKnowledgeHub: RT @IDC: Worldwide mobile phone market continued to show signs of improvement in the 2nd quarter up 14.5% yr over yr http://bit.ly/bg9noM
IDGKnowledgeHub: Research: half of respondents now watch online video weekly or more, an increase from 43% in '09 - read more http://bit.ly/cmTXj4
IDGKnowledgeHub: Great tips - #4 resonates with me RT @pgillin: Five Ways To Get More Retweets on Twitter http://bit.ly/dsbMO1
