Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) June 22, 2006
KnowledgeStorm, Inc., the Internet’s top-ranked search resource for technology solutions and information, and SiriusDecisions, a leading sales and marketing operational intelligence firm, today announced findings from a recent study, Demand Creation: The Prospect’s View.
The study revealed that marketing through brute force, by increasing campaign numbers, will not work over time. Instead, marketers need to be smarter about tailoring their marketing messages to a smaller, targeted audience to get the best results. The study also uncovered that how a campaign is delivered is not as important as the underlying message — the timing, the content and the application of the campaign are key for maximum return on investment.
“Our goal with this research was to establish the tactics that prospective clients are most likely to take action on, to understand the willingness of prospects to be marketed to and to create criteria marketing should consider when determining campaign tactics,” said Matt Lohman, director of market research, KnowledgeStorm. “More than 1,000 survey responses were analyzed for the report, and all of the respondents claimed to have key involvement in their company’s buying cycle.”
Overall, respondents believe marketing does an average job at creating and implementing effective campaigns. According to the survey, the average IT executive receives more than 15 campaigns per week. That only includes campaigns that the respondents recalled receiving, and campaigns not caught in company spam filters. CXOs, executives who in most cased are only involved very late in the buying process, claimed that they receive more than 17 campaigns in a week. Fifty percent of respondents claimed to receive one to ten campaigns per week. Twenty-eight percent of respondents receive 11 to 25 campaigns per week.
“Marketers need to understand what noise they need to break through in order to gain prospect’s attention and spur them to take action,” said Tony Jaros, vice president of research, SiriusDecisions. “Too many marketers are marketing to a broad audience in order to get a high raw response rate to their campaigns, but fewer and fewer of these responses are truly of any quality.
“Marketers need to narrowly define their target market, and then market specifically to that audience,” says Jaros. “The response rates may be smaller, but only prospects genuinely interested in the campaign will respond, increasingly the likelihood that the response will lead to a sale. This study proves that demand creation is about being smarter with marketing tactics, not doing more.”
The study discovered that prospects have a variety of reasons why they respond to marketing campaigns. Respondents ranked the most frequent reasons why they will respond to a campaign:
Have a defined need for the product/service being offered
Research for a possible future purchase
Interesting marketing message that resonates with business needs
Campaign comes from a company that they know and trust
Previously read about the product/service in another source they find reputable
Campaign forwarded by boss
Campaign forwarded by a trusted colleague/friend
According to the study findings, how the campaign is delivered is not as significant as the message itself, the method of delivery can significantly influence a prospect’s willingness to engage in a campaign.
“Cold calling/teleprospecting proved to be the riskiest message delivery mechanism — more than 45% of respondents said that they never respond to a cold call,” said Lohman. “And, over 61% said that cold calling is the delivery method that most marketers get wrong.” Twenty-four percent claimed that they will never respond to direct mail.
Email ranked the highest among respondents as a preferred delivery method — 90% of prospects said they would respond to an email campaign, given that the campaign sent the right message at a proper time in their buying cycle.
“No matter what marketers do, certain prospects will never respond to certain message delivery mechanisms or tactics,” says Jaros. “Part of systematic demand creation is learning about prospects at an individual level, and then matching the proper approach to them. Marketers need to be more sensitive to the audiences’ needs in order to be successful.”
To learn more about the Demand Creation: The Prospect’s View study findings, please click on the following link: Executive Summary.
About KnowledgeStorm
KnowledgeStorm is the Internet’s top-ranked search resource for technology solutions and information. Leveraging the KnowledgeStorm Network of premier partners and its extensive search expertise, KnowledgeStorm is able to reach technology buyers and deliver the information they need no matter where their search begins. KnowledgeStorm, with its network, search expertise and performance tools and services, is a powerful resource for technology vendors, providing them the most opportunities to reach buyers on the Internet and convert them into Web leads. For more information, call (877) 340-9274 or visit www.knowledgestorm.com.
About SiriusDecisions
SiriusDecisions is the world’s first provider of Executive Management Services focused exclusively on the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Sales Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. SiriusDecisions’ information and consulting solutions are delivered through the use of its SiriusDatabase, the company’s proprietary assessment tools, an unparalleled peer-to-peer network and its experience as sales and marketing practitioners. SiriusDecisions’ focus is on the customers’ top line, showing companies how to create predictable, accelerating revenues. Additional information can be found on the company’s Web site at www.siriusdecisions.com or can be obtained from the company at (450) 965-7391.
KnowledgeStorm and the KnowledgeStorm logo are trademarks of KnowledgeStorm, Inc.
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