Podcasting, Blogging Are Top Marketing Tools
Jul 31st, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Audio Podcasting, Podcasting ResearchPodcasting and blogging are two of the most effective tools for generating sales leads in the technology industry, according to a survey of technology marketing executives.
When asked, “Which offers are ‘very effective’ for generating high-quality leads?” marketers in all three areas studied – technology services firms, and business software and hardware – put Blog and the Podcast in the top five.
About a quarter of those surveyed considered podcasts “very effective” tools for generating leads.
The information comes from Marketing Sherpa’s annual survey of business technology marketing executives. About 1,900 responded to the survey.
Top 5 Tools For Generating Sales Leads
- 1. Free Trials — Business software marketers ranked free trials extremely highly, with 54% calling trials very effective.
- 2. Webcast — At 41% this was another favorite for software marketers, however technology services and related hardware firms also ranked webinars at 33% and 31% respectively.
- 3. White paper — All business technology marketers rated white papers fairly evenly, giving white paper offers ratings ranging from 31-36% ‘very effective.’
- 4. Blog — 35% of software and ASP marketers rated their blog as very effective, as did 33% of technology services firms. However, just 19% of hardware companies felt that a corporate blog was effective. This may be because general business executives are more likely to read a blog, while IT staffers may not.
- 5. Podcast — Last year the concept of a podcast was barely on the technology marketing map. By June 2006, 22% of software marketers who’d given a podcast called them ‘very effective’ lead generation tools. Perhaps IT professionals are more likely to be in an early adopter community that might listen to a podcast.
Source: Marketing Sherpa (PDF)
