How do marketers discover, research, and evaluate marketing technologies?
To find out, in June 2015 Walker Sands Communications surveyed 313 marketers based in the United States. Respondents work for a range of company sizes (29% at businesses with fewer than 50 employees; 17% at enterprises with 5000+ employees) and hold titles at all levels (31% coordinator/specialist, 28% manager, 21% vice-president, 5% CMO, 16% other).
Below, key findings from the report.
Discovery
Some 30% of respondents say they learn about marketing technology from peers; 20% discover new technologies via media outlets/blogs.
Forbes is the most popular media outlet for learning about marketing technologies and industry news (44% of respondents read); Wired is next (37% read), followed by the Wall Street Journal (35%).
Research
Most respondents (91%) say they begin researching marketing tech vendors on their desktop or laptop computer; 6% begin on a smartphone, and 3% on a tablet.
Peer recommendations are the most influential sources of information about marketing technology solutions (63% of respondents rate them as very influential), followed by online reviews (44%) and analyst reports (33%).
Product demos are the most influential content type (52% of respondents say they have an impact), followed by case studies (47%) and online reviews (43%).
Purchase Decision
Some 59% of respondents say they prefer to engage with a marketing tech company's sales representatives during the research phase; 28% prefer to engage during the decision phase, and 8% at purchase.
More than half of marketers (57%) say 3-5 people are typically involved in marketing tech purchasing decisions at their company.
About the research: The report was based on data from a June 2015 survey of 313 marketers located in the United States.
