I have just been going from some new research findings from Forrester (the Global IT Research Organisation) on how b2b marketers are starting to dip their toes into emerging tactics using the web.

For us, this is extremely interesting as we are very much positioned as a business that is helping companies to utilise and get value from many of the emerging tactics discussed in the report. Without this sounding like a blatant sales pitch for what we do, we wanted to share some of the most striking areas for me from the research were:

1) More than 75% of CIOs in a recent survey say they visit a company's Web site to learn about and substantiate product decisions - putting it ahead of all other choices.

2) Whilst search marketing and online advertising delivers new visitors to corporate sites, there is a big question over how well marketers engage visitors once they are on the site. In a study conducted last year, only two of 16 major B2B Web sites passed Forrester's Web Site Review. B2B Web sites typically suffer from missing or buried content, inefficient task flow, illegible text or wasted space, poor performance, and hidden privacy and security policies.

3) Forrester surveyed 569 B2B marketers online in May 2006 and found that most B2B marketers cling to traditional tactics like PR and trade shows despite little evidence that those channels are as effective as interactive ones.

4) B2B blog readers aren't used to participating in open forums, and instead of posting comments directly to the blog, they may contact the blog author directly via phone or email to address their questions. The point of a B2B blog is to gather buyer feedback about products and move prospective buyers farther down the funnel.

5) Measuring value can be difficult - setting goals and measuring outcomes of early experimentation helps marketers project the impact these emerging tactics;

6) In terms of encouraging b2b marketers to adopt new channels to market such as Behavioural targeting, blogs and RSS, the most compelling factors identified by the Forrester Survey group would be:

• Proof of customer use;
• Case studies;
• Measurement tools.

7) One of the survey questions was how do you currently measure success and value around these new channels - the main answers were:

• Linking activity to sales
• Increased site traffic
• Increased brand recognition
• Increased loyalty

8) B2B marketers sometimes forget that people, not companies, make product choices, and buyers' personal aspirations, motivations, and needs influence their buying decisions.

For us, this is all about making company information easily accessible and ensuring the language is appropriate for the audience;

The conclusion from Forrester is TAKE THE INTERACTIVE PLUNGE - because interactive marketing is inherently more addressable and measurable, B2B shouldn't wait for further proof that online channels pay off. Marketers who fail to adopt these tactics will fall behind with the online buyer acquisition as competitors move ahead with more engaged prospects. To gear up their interactive marketing plans, B2B marketers should:

Follow the interactive crowd. B2C marketers lead B2B in interactive marketing use and companies like General Motors and IBM offer cutting-edge illustrations of how technologies like blogging, video, and podcasting engage buyers or build community. Avoid  Advergames and virtual worlds that need more time to mature with consumers before business marketing opportunities start to develop.

Integrate online tactics into traditional channel planning. Many B2B marketers ask Forrester if they should start blogging, podcasting, or using other emerging tactics. These questions can't be answered in isolation because most interactive channels help engage buyers after they are aware of a firm's products or services. Instead, B2B marketers should determine how new tactics will support existing campaigns, reach new audiences, or move buyers through the purchase process more quickly.

Use emerging tactics to engage buyers once they visit your Web site

With the Web site becoming the No. 1 place buyers go to find what they need, B2B marketers should use emerging tactics to support online experiences and engage buyers after they visit the site. For example, Change Artists, Hewlett-Packard Development's community site for CIOs, incorporates multiple interactive elements: video, podcasts, RSS, and interactive tools.

Augment, but not replace, demand generation activity with emerging tactics. B2B marketers want to abandon channel experiments that don't generate leads within a quarter. Because "emerging" means "unproven," we believe B2B marketers should set aside a portion of their budget to experiment with emerging interactive channels but cap this amount at 10% or less of program spend. When using a new tactic for the first time, B2B marketers should set expectations and measure results as usual but should not count the tactic's contribution against their compensated objectives until they have at least two-quarters of data collected. This baseline data helps determine where the tactic shows the most potential to influence or support the rest of the marketing mix.

All these sentiments accord with our beliefs and we are developing an increasing number of case studies around how we are helping companies to engage with and extract value from these techniques - if you would like to know about any of these, please let us have your thoughts here or you can contact us directly at Rewarding Dialogue