digital habits in b2b it:10 tips for marketers

8/7/2019 Digital Habits in B2B IT:10 TIps for Marketers

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Answering Your Technology Needs.

Digital habits in B2B IT

10 tips for Marketers


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2010 Softchoice Corporation twitter.com/softchoice | www.softchoice.com | [email protected]

About this reportSoftchoice provides technology solutions to thousands oforganizations across North America. We combine the efficiency of anational IT supplier with the touch and technical expertise of a localsolutions provider.

With the digital media landscape changing so quickly, we started makingassumptions about how our customers wanted to use these tools.

When we couldnt find any research that focused specifically on B2B IT, wedid it ourselves. In August 2010 we surveyed over 5,000 of our customersto understand how they use digital media to perform their jobs.

Over 1,400 people responded to our survey from across North America.The research is now helping us connect more effectively with our

customers, and we thought other organizations may benefit from our work- particularly businesses looking to leverage digital media when marketingto B2B IT professionals.

We divide this report into 4 areas of interest:1. Big browser research (What happens at the desktop)2. The mobile experience (Smart phone usage)3. The email experience (What happens in the inbox)4. The social experience (Social media adoption)

Respondent highlights:

1,444 individual responses from over 1,200 companies

50% USA / 50% Canada 47% individual contributors

71% work in IT

Individual Contributor (IC)

Manager (MGR)

Director (DIR)

Executive (EXEC)

Role type:

IT

Procurement

Operations

Other

Administrative

Finance

Department:

SMB (50-150)

Mid-Market (151-2,000)

Upper Mid-Market (2,000-5,000)

Enterprise (5,000+)

Unknown

Organization size: (PC count)
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Report summary

Almost half of respondents specifiedonline forums, communities and blogs asthe most useful sources of information.

Almost 50 percent of respondents specifyonline forums, communities and blogs asthe most useful sources of information with25 percent preferring traditional IT media.

IT research companies, vendor and VAR andService provider websites comprised theremaining 27 percent.

Take-away:Be community-minded.

Beyond corporate websites and blogs, B2B ITmarketers should consider how best toengage their prospects.

Do you have a presence in the places whereclients are discussing issues or seekinginformation? How are you leveraging yourown subject matter experts to add toconversations in the blogosphere? Answeringquestions like these is critical to bolsteringyour visibility online.

With the digital media landscape changing so quickly, we wanted to understand how best to focus our digital marketing activities. The keyfinding seems to be that as B2B IT marketers, we need to think hard about how and where IT decision makers consume content to makebuying decisions.

SMBs were more likely to have accessand use social media & video for researchcompared to larger enterprises.

Small and medium-size organizations aremore likely to have access to social mediasites like Facebook and Twitter and to usevideo for research and learning compared to

larger enterprises. Similarly, Directors andExecutives are more likely to have access tosocial media compared to Managers andIndividual Contributors.

Take-away:Never assume access is ubiquitous.

Access and use of digital media variessignificantly by organization size and role-type. Think about your audience.

If youre looking to appeal to people in theSMB space, or senior level decision makers,you have a number of avenues to promoteyour message. But this might not necessarilybe the case for large enterprise organizations.

Research on the go is a go. Blackberrysand iPhones are playing an increasinglyimportant role in IT decision-making.

Forty three percent of respondents said theyhave researched an IT solution from theirsmart phone, and almost one in five say theydo so frequently. This is especially true for

Directors and Executives. Forty two percent ofrecipients indicated they use a Blackberry,with 17 percent indicating they use aniPhone to do their job.

Take-away:How is your business addressing mobile?

Optimizing email messages for mobiledevices is key. Also, if you arent already, lookat your website metrics to determine howpeople are viewing your digital properties.

If you can identify key areas where mobileviews are significant, consider creatingoptimized versions that focus on those areas.
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Big browser research.In this section:When searching for an IT solution using a desktop browser, what arethe most useful sources of information, and the best ways to learn?

> 1 in 4 primarily rely on IT communities for research> 1 in 5 primarily rely on industry blogs

Frequently

Occasionally

Rarely

Never - I don't care to

Never - IT policy prohibits video

User Forums/Communities

IT Media

IT Blogs

IT Research Companies

Vendors Websites

VARs & Service Provider websites

Q: What are your most usefulsources of information? Q: How often do you watch video

related to your job?

> 57% of respondents regularly watch work-related video> 64% of Directors regularly watch work-related video

> Online guides/eBooks are within top three for every role type> IT Blogs are most popular amongst ICs within SMB & Mid-sized companies

IT Media Articles

Online Guides & eBooks

Webinars/Pre-recorded Demos

Forums/Communities

Whitepapers

Blog Posts

IT Research Resources

Videos

Audio/Podcasts

Case Studies

PowerPoint

Q: What are your preferred ways oflearning?

Breakout: Video usage by role type & size of organization

0

18

35

53

70

IC MGR DIR EXEC

0

18

35

53

70

SMB MM UMM ENT

By Role By Business Size

Frequently Occasionally

> Executives represent the largest group who frequently watch video> SMB represents the biggest audience of regular video watchers


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The mobile experience.In this section:How are individuals and organizations leveraging smart phones formobile browsing and reading marketing email?

> 60% of smart phone owners use their device for IT research> 55% of Executives and Directors research IT on their mobile device

> 42% of respondents use Blackberrys, 17% use iPhones> iPhone users are twice as likely to frequently browse mobile sites

> 40% of Executives/Directors read marketing emails on their phone> Executives/Directors are twice as likely than Managers and ICs to

frequently read marketing emails on their phones

Q: How often do you read marketingemail on your mobile device?

Frequently

Occasionally

Rarely

Never

Q: Have you ever researched anIT solution from your smart phone?

Yes

No

Q: How often do you visit websitesfrom your mobile device?

Frequently

Occasionally

Rarely

Never

0

25

50

75

100

IC MGR DIR EXEC

0

25

50

75

100

SMB MM UMM ENT


Breakout: mobile research by role type & organization size

Yes No

> The more senior the role, the more likely phones will be used for research> The smaller the organization, the more likely phones will be used for research


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The email experience.In this section:What makes a marketing email worth reading? What do peoplereally think, and how can we improve the value of what we send?

> 38% of respondents indicated that relevance to their job orcurrent project is the deciding factor when deciding to read amarketing email

Q: What makes a marketing emailworth reading?

Relevance

Message

Learning

TimelinessOffers

Nothing/Spam

Other

This wordle showsthe most commonterms from over1,400 uniqueanswers.

What really makes amarketing emailworth reading?

You have about 2 sentencesto catch my attention.

I enjoy reading articles from thosethat have applied their topic in the

field and is not product biased.

If it's a new feature or version ofsomething i've purchased in the past.

I already receive too many e-mails.If I am interested in a product, I will

research it myself.

Only when it proposes to solve a

problem currently on my plate.

Being direct. What are you selling,and what is in it for me.

I am more interested in technologiesthan specific products.

Asking for candid feedback from your constituents can yield some powerfulinsights. When answering why people read marketing emails, these wereseven of our favourite responses:
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7/8 2010 Softchoice Corporation twitter.com/softchoice | www.softchoice.com | [email protected]

The social experience.In this section:Is your organization a have or have not?How available are socialnetworking platforms within organizations? Whos most likely to usethem?

> 65% of respondents have some access to social media sites

Q: Does your organization give youaccess to social networking sites?

> 1 in 4 respondents already follow an IT brand via social media> 17% of respondents use Facebook for business

Yes - unlimited access

Yes - limited access

No

0

25

50

75

100

IC MGR DIR EXEC

0

25

50

75

100

SMB MM UMM ENT


Breakout: access by role type & organization size

Yes - unlimited access Yes - limited access No

> Executives and Directors have the highest level of access (>80%)> The larger the business the more likely access is restricted

Q: Do you follow an IT brand viaTwitter or Facebook?

Yes

No

0

25

50

75

100

IC MGR DIR EXEC

0

25

50

75

100

SMB MM UMM ENT


Breakout: social following by role type & organization size

Yes No

> Executives and Directors follow the most IT Brands> The smaller the business the more likely users are using social media


8/8 2010 Softchoice Corporation twitter.com/softchoice | www.softchoice.com | [email protected]

Additional resources

This report represents the summary of our findings. If you have specific questions or would like to see the datarepresented differently, please let us know. We would be happy to help!

Joel MaransManager, Design & Delivery

[email protected]/schnitzelboy

Ways to connect with the authors:

Jonathan AlgeMarketing Automation Lead

[email protected]/the_mensch

Phone:1-800-268-7638A live, knowledgeable response every time.

Ways to connect with Softchoice:

Web:http://blogs.softchoice.comhttp://twitter.com/softchoicehttp://www.softchoice.com

In person:We have over 40+ locations acrossNorth America. Find a local office here >>

Eric GardinerManager, Corporate Communications

[email protected]/e_gardiner

For media enquiries:
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