Articulo

July 26, 2011 | Updated: July 28, 2011

Are Events Dead? Not If You’re A Tech Buyer
by Kim Celestre for Technology Marketing Professionals

Making Leaders Successful Every Day

For Technology Marketing Professionals

July 26, 2011 | Updated: July 28, 2011

Marketers Should look To Combine Them with New Social Media Marketing Tactics, Including Hybrid or virtual Events
by Kim Celestrewith Peter Burris, Zachary reiss-Davis, and Eric Hsieh

Are Events Dead? Not If You’re A Tech Buyer

ExECUT I v E S U M MA rY
Physical in-person events historically have been a crucial way for high-tech companies to communicate the value of products and services to customers and prospects. Forrester’s Q1 2011 US And European B2B Social Technographics® Online Survey For Business TechnologyBuyers reveals the continuing power of events to influence business technology (BT) purchasing. Even with the advent of a myriad of new social and online marketing tactics, traditional events should remain a component of your marketing mix, potentially combined with a virtual event component.

TABl E o F Co NTE NTS
2 Physical Events Matter To Your Audience In-Person Events Are More Important ToBuyers Than Any Social Media Tactics B2B Marketers Are Cutting Event Spending, Creating A Market opportunity 7 Consider Hybrid Events
rECoMMENDATIoNS

N oT E S & rE S o U rCE S
Forrester analyzed data from the Q1 2011 US And European B2B Social Technographics online Survey For Business Technology Buyers and the Q1 2011 North American B2B Technology Marketing Tactics And Benchmarks onlineSurvey, along with interviews and inquiries.

8 Keep Doing In-Person Events; Leverage Them To Add Value To Online Initiatives
AlTErNATIvE vIEw

Related Research Documents “2011 Social Technographics® For Business Technology Buyers” July 18, 2011
“Investing In Tech Marketing, 2011” February 1, 2011 “reach real Global B2B Tech Audiences with virtual Events” october 6, 2009

9 Tune Your MarketingMix To Include A Variety Of New Sources 9 Supplemental Material

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Are Events Dead? Not If You’re A Tech Buyer
ForTechnology Marketing Professionals

PHYSICAL EVENTS MATTER TO YOuR AuDIENCE High-tech marketers must reach an audience that has become increasingly sophisticated and more interested in solutions to complex business problems, not just in a new product for its own sake. Increasingly, customers recognize that the real challenge is how to transform techrelated investment into business outcomes.1 Yourmarketing must be about more than features and functions and extend through to the business value that offerings can unlock for customers. Moreover, you must engage with your prospects more fully. Events are a great opportunity to do so with many prospects in one gathering. In-Person Events Are More Important To Buyers Than Any Social Media Tactics In our Q1 2011 US And European B2B SocialTechnographics® Online Survey For Business Technology Buyers, we asked BT buyers what sources of information were most important to their decision-making across the entire adoption life cycle. After websites, in-person events influence more IT decision-makers overall than any other non-person source (see Figure 1). Fully 38% of respondents believe that in-person events are either their primary source...