The Amazingly Effective White Paper
One of the most difficult things marketers must do is convince their superiors of the effectiveness of their marketing vehicles. Sure, it’s easy to convince that CFO of the eye appeal of some fancy website attribute, video, or print campaign, but measuring that medium in terms of its contribution to bottom-line business success is as they say, a whole different beast.
Now industry-leading IT Marketer, TechTarget, has the proof that I have been saying all along, namely that white papers are the most effective business communications medium. According to TechTarget’s annual 2008 Benchmark Report on Media consumption among IT Buyers and Marketers entitled, “Perception Versus Reality of the IT Pro and IT Marketer“, white papers are:
- The most frequently downloaded media type (by 88.5% of IT Buyer respondents)
- The highest rated information source utilized to evaluate new technology information (by 59% of IT Buyer respondents)
- The most effective information source used to make enterprise technology purchase decisions (by 80.5% of IT Buyers, and 71.5% of IT Marketers)
- The most effective medium in delivering superior ROI (rated 61.2% as either “very” or “somewhat” effective)
- The second most effective online medium (rated 71.5% as either “very” or “somewhat” effective)
In these difficult economic times, convincing executive decision-makers of the effectiveness of each marketing medium in delivering bottom-line lead generation and results, has now become an essential part of the marketing communications process.
This report from TechTarget shows that white papers continue to be your most effective business communications medium in either good or bad economic times.
This is certainly something to consider when evaluating your marketing budget for 2009.
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