Budget forecasters are predicting that spending on large events will be down this year. But that's not an umbrella forecast for all types of events. Instead, marketers intend to increase financing for smaller, more targeted meetings such as executive breakfasts and roundtables.

According to a recent study, "B2B Marketers' 2008 Budget Trends," by Forrester Research, which surveyed 369 marketing professionals online during September and October 2007, almost 50% of those surveyed said they would increase spending on executive seminars and events. That represents the largest projected increase among all marketing and advertising budget categories, including public relations, print advertising, direct mail and sponsorships.

Assessing intangibles

"These marketers understand that business decision-makers rely on peer testimonial, face-to-face gatherings and outside authorities to help them assess intangibles like legitimacy, credibility and trustworthiness—factors difficult to convey in both online and traditional activities," according to the report.

Although 27% said they would increase spending on trade shows while 22% said they would decrease trade show spending, survey respondents did admit to spending more on large, trade-sponsored events then any other budget category.

However, according to the study, "Client conversations and other anecdotal stories show that b-to-b marketers waste money when they scurry around last minute to staff the booth and expect show-related traffic, or a favorable booth placement, to produce leads. B-to-b marketers who fail to build interactive campaigns that preview show-specific offers, invite attendees to on-site executive briefings and continue booth conversations via e-mail should look to spend their money elsewhere."

Analyst Laura Ramos, a VP at Forrester and the principal author of the report, explained that marketers are moving away from large events, but added, "they told us that one-to-one contact is still very important in the negotiated sales process that [is going on] in b-to-b marketing and selling." Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

A new study by the Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA) found that 82.8% of small businesses do not track ROI on lead generation programs. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could figure out today what your marketing plan should look like in six months? Crystal balls don’t exactly grow on trees, so we’ve asked two industry experts—Jordan Ayan, president of SubscriberMail, and Joel Book, director of eMarketing Education at ExactTarget—to weigh in on what’s coming in 2008. Here’s what they said.

1) More CRM integration, especially with software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings.
2) Increased use of automated tools.
3) Closer alignment of marketing elements.
4) Using rich video with e-mail marketing.

Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

Event marketers are increasingly turning to the virtual world for staging large- and small-scale events. A recent white paper released by FactPoint Group, a market research firm, studied events created by Unisfair, a virtual event provider, and found that moving events to the virtual world can reduce spending and boost attendance, lead generation and attendee interest.

The study examined more than 200 Unisfair virtual events that totaled nearly 3,000 sponsors and 500,000 attendees. The results found that the average virtual event has a registration of 3,102 people with an attendance of 1,587. Leads generated for each sponsor totaled 348 per event, and attendees spent an average of two-and-a-half hours at each event while visiting an average 16 locations and completing at least five downloads.

Aside from convenience, event marketers have found that the reason virtual events have proven so successful is because they can mimic nearly every aspect of live events. "We do events on a real-world scale," said John Jainschigg, executive director of CMP Metaverse at CMP Media, a media and marketing solutions company that holds its virtual events inside Second Life. "[Our events are] six days long, [with] 50 presenters, a weekend of tutorials, a full convention center show floor, social events, networking events—it's a comprehensive thing." Read the complete article on BtoBOnline. Contact John Jainschigg, Executive Director, CMP Metaverse for more information about creating a virtual event for your company.

Understanding the effectiveness of a particular marketing campaign in the b-to-b space isn't easy. The sales cycle can be lengthy, and tying revenue and incremental sales to any particular program is difficult.

At best, measuring overall promotion effectiveness may come down to the sophistication of internal screening processes that produce quality leads.

"Any of the current measurements of marketing ROI are actually a measure of organizational effectiveness, not promotional efficiency," said Erik Madsen, director of marketing and strategic planning at Adtrack. Pricing, follow-up, competition, sales training, new channel partners and many other factors determine the effectiveness of any campaign. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

The vendor and solution provider communities are jointly responsible for creating a strong and viable channel which is mutually beneficial for both parties. Vendors and partners do, however, often have
contrasting view on what they currently derive from the channel and where they would like to see improvements in the future.

In this exclusive whitepaper Monty Cornell, Senior Analyst/Group Director of Channel Group at CMP Technologies and Rod Baptie, Managing Director of Baptie & Company, presents fresh research into vendor and partner attitudes on key channel issues. Download this document…

Summary results of nearly 600 business-to-business technology marketing executives. Highlights the lead-generation challenges that marketers across the board experience and delves into the strategies employed to improve lead-gen results. This document presents only a summary of the available research. Please contact us for complete details. Download this document…

CMP executives share highlights of the 2007 Technology Marketing Study and the 2006 Purchase Process Study. Viewers will learn about: indelible trends in technology marketing, and the dynamics that shape them, integration -- how online, print, and events work together to accomplish marketing goals, the importance of managing, not just generating, qualified leads, and the influence of new media types including video, in the marketing mix of the future. Moderated by BtoB’s Senior Reporter, Kate Maddox, this webinar gives the viewer research-based insights on how to successfully market to B2B technology customers. View the webcast archive...

Webcasting provides a unique way to communicate more effectively with widespread software architects, developers, and managers, system administrators, IT professionals, prospects and partners. Webinars incorporate live streaming video, audio and interactive chat technologies to create informative and stimulating presentations at a fraction of the cost associated with in-person meetings and presentations. Beyond cost and time savings, the true value of the Webinar is when the viewer gains valuable insight that contributes to the success of their business or career.

For technology marketers, Webinars have grown into a proven lead-generation vehicle. You can cost-effectively broadcast in-depth messages and interact with a targeted, highly qualified audience in real time. The data gathered through registration, polling, and feedback surveys can build a powerful audience profile. Marketers can use this intelligence to measure the effectiveness of the campaign and build relationships with customers, partners and prospects. Download this document?

Branded Response moves integrated marketing to another level. It is not about simply coordinating print, online, event and direct marketing, nor is it simply about executing multiple touches to a targeted audience. Branded Response is about lowering cost-per-qualified lead by leveraging all relevant brand interaction points to capture the interest and attention of targeted individuals and serving them the information they need in an interactive, relationship building manner. Download this document…