For Technology Marketing Professionals

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1 Top-Performing Tech Marketers Use Webinars As A Portal To The Buyer s Journey Webinars Can Impact The Awareness Phase Even More Than Product Selection by Peter O Neill with Peter Burris and Sophia I. Vargas Executive Summary Webinars are now a favored communications vehicle for tech marketers. The most successful tech marketers do more than just create webinars and demonstrate products; they position these events in the optimal phase of the buyer s journey. They also target the key players in buying decisions, taking into account how customers prefer to consume webinars. Webinars are becoming a successful vehicle for thought leadership and helping prospects find top-performing vendors as they research their business problems and outcomes. Webinar content can also be reused in other forms as part of tech marketers overall content management strategy. Tech Marketers routinely run Webinars for lead generation Although a relatively recent technology, the webinar is now one of the most common digital marketing tactics leveraged by tech marketers (see Figure 1). 1 A webinar provides a cheaper communications vehicle compared to sales calls or customer events, and the broadcast can be offered up as a downloadable archive for further attendees on an on-demand basis. Other advantages of webinars that tech marketers cite include: It s a great way to tell the product story. Webinar content is often a combination of slide presentations and product demonstrations. While it may be difficult to take valuable and scarce product experts on the road to present demos at customer events, these resources can be used economically in a webinar. They can be effective lead generators for the marketing funnel. Webinars have now become the classical lead-generation event for vendors. Tech marketers talk eagerly about running a two touch campaign : an campaign to promote the event and the webinar itself. Interested prospects must register for the event, providing valuable lead data to the vendor in the process, and effective follow-up programs after the webinar can ensure that highly qualified leads are passed to sales or channel partners. 2 They fit into the traditional offer-respond-fulfill marketing process. Out of habit, tech marketers have mostly positioned webinars as an online version of white paper marketing. They like to follow the classical sequential process of offer-respond-fulfill, which is vendor controlled and webinars add a scalability aspect of marketing one-to-many. 3 Forrester s Q survey of marketing decision-makers at North American tech vendors also revealed Headquarters Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA, USA Tel: Fax:

2 2 a similarly high frequency of usage of webinars: Around 73% of the tech vendors deploy webinars during the lead-origination phase. 4 When that survey is segmented to compare the behavior of those firms that claimed to have a revenue growth rate of 10% or higher than direct competitors (the top performers ) with those that have at par or lower growth rates, if at all, the data shows that top performers invest significantly more in webinars: 74% of them compared to 58%, respectively. Figure 1 Tech Vendors Love To Run Webinars Which of the following marketing tactics do you use? Website 100% Trade shows, conferences (in person) 99% Public relations 95% Sales enablement 95% marketing (campaigns) 93% Webinars, webcasts 93% Content marketing (white papers, podcasts, etc.) 92% Seminars and other events 92% Search engine optimization 92% Channel enablement 85% Industry group sponsorships and support 84% Video marketing (i.e., YouTube, website) 82% Telesales-telemarketing (internal or external) 80% Newsletters 80% Analyst relations 79% Twitter 74% Other, please specify 74% Blogging 72% Community marketing (includes discussion forums) 71% Online advertising (banner ads, pop-ups, etc.) 71% Paid search (sponsored-paid placement) 68% Facebook 66% LinkedIn 66% Print advertising 61% Embedding social bookmarks and links 48% Virtual events or virtual trade shows 40% Mobile marketing 22% Base: 136 marketing decision-makers at North American high-tech B2B companies with 100 or more employees Source: Q North American B2B Technology Marketing Tactics And Benchmarks Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

3 3 But Top Performers Use them even more for awareness The survey revealed another aspect of webinars though. When asked if they invest in webinars in the earlier awareness phase, responses from the decision-makers we surveyed reveal that there is an even greater disparity between top performers and the average mass (see Figure 2). Forty-three percent more of the top performers are using webinars as an awareness tactic than the average vendors. The top performers have realized that webinars will also support their goals to be involved in the more modern need-match-engage customer buyer journey. 5 Figure 2 Top Performers Use Social Media And Webinars To Set The Scene For Awareness For what stage of marketing do you use these tactics? (Awareness) Webinars, webcasts Trade shows, conferences (in person) 56% 80% 77% 87% 10% or more growth rate (than our peers) (N = 30) At par with peers or a lower growth rate (than our peers) (N = 45) Blogging 49% 70% Community marketing (includes discussion forums) 36% 70% Base: 75 marketing decision-makers at North American high-tech B2B companies with 100 or more employees Source: Q North American B2B Technology Marketing Tactics And Benchmarks Online Survey Source: Forrester Research, Inc. To Be Found By Prospects Who Are Researching The top performers recognize that many prospects do their own research before contacting any vendors at all. The earlier that they can be found in the buyer s journey, the more chance vendors have to provide good content and steer the prospect to their own solution. The challenge that tech marketers face here is that the prospects research the Web and social media discussion forums and communities based on their (the customer s) taxonomy. So they search and discuss using terms that are business outcome oriented as opposed to vendor product terms. The top performers have absorbed that webinars with product or vendor-solution-based titles, abstracts, and scripts will not be as effective as awareness tools.

4 4 Establishing Thought Leadership Credentials The top performers also realize that they now differentiate themselves by demonstrating thought leadership not product featuritis. 6 Successful thought leadership marketing now focuses more on business outcome and pays scant attention to the products that would eventually be offered. It is a way to stand out from the competition, create interest, and earn the trust of potential buyers early in their problem-solving process. 7 This makes them more likely to seek that firm when they enter the actual buying cycle. Forrester defines thought leadership marketing as: The process of formulating big ideas and insightful points of view on the issues your buyers face, capturing those ideas in multiple content vehicles and sharing the ideas with prospects and customers to enlighten them, engage them in a dialogue, and position your company as a trusted resource. The challenge for tech marketers is to understand the business challenges their prospective customers face and then develop a considered thought leadership platform that promotes a significant big idea that will impact this target audience. A webinar is just one of several content vehicles required to establish effective thought leadership. Are Buyers that interested in webinars? Results from Forrester s Q online survey of business technology buyers show that they have a differentiated interest level in webinars. The greatest resonance is in their awareness phase, which is in line with top performers investments; but webinars continue to be a low-priority information source compared to other vehicles (see Figure 3). Also, the same survey shows that it is primarily IT staff that has interest in information delivered through webinars. This presents a paradox for tech marketers as that audience is more technology focused than businesspeople, whereas it is the businesspeople who usually lead the decision process and are the most active in the awareness phase.

5 5 Figure 3 Media Sources Of Influence Vary Through The Buyer s Journey 70% Across each stage of the adoption process, which of the following sources of information influence your decision-making? 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Printed publications In-person events Electronic newsletters ( ) Webinars, webcasts 0% Awareness (N = 617) Scope (N = 686) Plan (N = 722) Selection (N = 667) Implementation (N = 702) Rollout (N = 599) Base: 1,001 US and European business technology decision-makers at companies with 100 or more employees Source: Q US And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey For Business Technology Buyers Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Recommendations Make Your webinars a portal to the buyer s journey The awareness phase, for buyers, is when they are starting their initial research into how to solve a particular business problem or achieve a better business outcome. The buyers tend to search by their keywords on the Web and review discussion forums or communities. So tech marketers must offer their webinars to this audience by: Using customer and/or business taxonomy in webinar titles and abstracts. Deploy the right language and leverage search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to ensure that researching prospects find your webinar. These prospects are much more valuable leads than your standard contact lists.

6 6 Developing compelling business-oriented content. Focus the presentation on the customer issues you can address with your technologies, not the products you offer. Include external speakers as much as possible journalists, customers, even analysts. This is also a component of SEO as the search engines rate external speakers higher than vendor-delivered content. INCORPORATE WEBINARS INTO YOUR CONTENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY The information that you include in your webinar presentations and discussions should become an invaluable component of your marketing assets. Tech marketers can enrich their collateral library by: Transcribing and reusing the webinar commentaries. The audio content from a webinar can usually be easily adapted into a blog publication it has a similar tone. Reusing the content will enable you reach other audiences (and be found again by prospects). Produce webinars in smaller consumptions sizes. Many researching prospects will not be able to invest 45 to 60 minutes during their awareness phase. So if you build the webinar so that it can be offered, downloaded and consumed in smaller units. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Methodology Forrester s Q US And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey For Business Technology Buyers was fielded to 1,001 executives and decision-makers at companies with 100 or more employees who influence technology purchases and adoption. The survey included 353 respondents at companies with 100 to 999 employees, and 648 respondents were at companies with 1,000 or more employees. This included 645 respondents in their company s IT department and 356 respondents in other departments or business units who influence IT decision-making. The survey included 694 respondents in the US, 98 in France, 97 in Germany, and 112 in the UK. e-rewards fielded this survey online on behalf of Forrester in Q Survey respondent incentives included gift certificates and research summaries. We have provided exact sample sizes in this report on a question-by-question basis. Forrester s Q North American B2B Technology Marketing Tactics And Benchmarks Online Survey was fielded to 136 business-to-business (B2B) high-tech marketing executives located in the US from small and medium-size business (SMB) and enterprise companies with 100 or more employees. This survey was fielded in Q LinkedIn Research Network fielded this survey online on behalf of Forrester. Survey respondent incentives include a choice of cash, gift certificates, or a summary of the research results. We have provided exact sample sizes in this report on a question-by-question basis. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that the practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls. Other possible sources of

7 7 error in polls are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. These other potential sources of error include question wording, question ordering, and nonresponse. As with all survey research, it is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors without an experimental control group, so we strongly caution against using the words margin of error in reporting any survey data. These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. We have illustrated only a portion of survey results in this document. For further access to the data results, please contact inquiry@forrester.com. Endnotes 1 Webinars have been possible since the late 1990s, and a trademark for the term webinar was first registered in 1998 by Eric R. Korb (serial number , USPTO) but was difficult to defend; it is currently assigned to InterCall. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office ( uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&sno= ). 2 As technology and business-to-business (B2B) marketers replace traditional offer-response strategies with community marketing practices to embrace adopter community issues and values, webinars will become a key plank in the B2B marketing platform. See the August 25, 2008, How To Make B2B Webinars Deliver Better Leads report. 3 Buyers who are concerned with using technology to exploit new business opportunities, not staying in sync with vendors IT visions, are dominating technology markets; adoption of business capabilities is their objective, not product selection. These business technologists use Web 2.0 technologies to advance adoption goals. See the May 7, 2008, Community Marketing: A New Discipline For Business Technology Marketers report. 4 Source: Q North American B2B Technology Marketing Tactics And Benchmarks Online Survey. 5 Technology marketers must change their product-focused marketing habits if they want to win in the business technology marketplace. Product-based differentiation has lost competitive potency because buyers now focus on business outcomes, which are facilitated by products but dependent on the transformational work of people technology pros, end users, channel partners, and vendor experts for success. See the March 24, 2011, Differentiate With The Five C s Of Community Marketing report. 6 The term itself has changed in the tech industry. It used to signify technology adoption and thought leadership collateral were usually white papers that explain what benefits could potentially accrue from a technology implementation. 7 From medical devices to heavy equipment, business-to-business (B2B) marketers need to position their firms as thought leaders on the issues their buyers face. But most firms don t have a process or framework for managing thought leadership marketing initiatives, so they push out product brochures and white papers disguised as thought leadership content. See the June 7, 2011, Thought Leadership: The Next Wave Of Differentiation In B2B Marketing report. Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 19 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 28 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester, Forrester Wave, RoleView, Technographics, TechRankings, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Reproduction or sharing of this content in any form without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. To purchase reprints of this document, please clientsupport@forrester.com. For additional reproduction and usage information, see Forrester s Citation Policy located at Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change