An Inconvenient Truth for Marketers: The Role and Value of Information
An inconvenient truth for IT vendors: The factors least considered by vendors in go-to-market programs are those most valued by technology buyers: IT vendors focus on the ROI of their marketing programs and their sales programs. They might also talk about the ROI a buyer can expect to achieve with their product (i.e., product ROI). Few sufficiently consider the ROI a buyer expects to achieve by spending time with a vendor’s information and people -- the relationship ROI. Technology marketers build marketing mix plans based on format (e.g., advertisement versus conference versus blog) and communications channel (e.g., TV versus Web versus print). But, in making IT purchase decisions, corporate buyers value content relevance and credibility over format and channel. When it comes to mobilizing a sales force, most tech vendors subscribe to one sales methodology or another and institute a sequence of selling stages. Meanwhile, the buying process is far from standard. According to a recent ...