[Note: I changed "Localized" to "Localised" in the title after Peter Johnston of Intelligent Technology in the UK pointed out that I used the American spelling. Hear, hear!]
If one thing has become clear,
it’s that IT professionals search online for information to support their
buying decisions. And 
understanding their online preferences and habits is
critical to connecting with these prospects. But it’s a mistake to think that
these patterns are transferable across geographies. Any marketer worth his or
her salt understands the importance of localization in connecting with
prospects and customers around the world.
That’s why marketers should be
eating up this latest research from TechTarget. In it, the media company reveals
global media consumption trends. Based on responses from over 2,400 IT
professionals in companies of all sizes across India, China, Japan, Italy,
France, Germany, South Africa, Australia-New Zealand, the UK, and the US, the
report identifies universal online consumption trends and regional preferences.
In its press release, TechTarget’s
senior vice president of client and corporate marketing,
Marilou Barsam said, “…marketers around the world need to invest in building
diverse content portfolios and placing this content in varied information
sources that IT professionals frequent.”
Any marketer trying to reach IT
buyers across the globe should pay close attention to the findings. Some
highlights and their implications:
Finding: While the Internet is the
primary source of research for most IT professionals, those in Japan and France
prefer print and events.
Implication: Assign ample budget
and resources to magazine publications and conferences in Japan and France.
Finding: IT buying
teams tend to consist of 2 to 7 people with some countries having a larger
concentration of teams with more than 10 members.
Implication: Do your
homework to understand the information needs and preferences of these larger IT
buying teams -- but focus on the ones that play a major role in the process.
Finding: As they are pressured to
conduct research more and more efficiently, IT professionals seek content that
showcases a vendor’s reliability (yet still aren’t that receptive to vendor
phone calls).
Implication: Remember that your
customer’s words trump all other forms of validation for most prospects;
produce case studies in a variety of formats to convey your reliability. (And fight the urge to call every prospect that downloads your content; wait until they show signs of getting close to a decision.)
Finding: IT buyers attach much
weight to the advice available from their peers online.
Implication: Spend time online
where your prospects and customers hang out, join the conversation, and share
relevant information.
Finding: Though white papers
ranked highest for effective content in 7 of the 10 countries surveyed, product literature and trial downloads also made the top
3 list of most effective content type for most countries.
Implication: Be sure
to round out your content assets with the information your prospects seek.
Finding: IT professionals
in the US consume webcasts in large quantities but the same isn’t true for
their counterparts in the other countries surveyed – in fact, podcasts, video,
webcasts, and virtual events ranked fairly low in general.
Implication: Transfer your
webcast content to print and in-person events in other countries.
Finding: Most
countries indicated that eBooks, webcasts, email newsletters, videos, and
podcasts are predominantly effective in early stages of the cycle. In
general, IT buyers seek editorial/educational material during the early stage
of the buying cycle; streaming media during the consideration stage; and vendor
comparisons and downloads during the end stage.
Implication: Map
your content plans to the buying cycle to ensure you don’t miss an opportunity
to connect.
Any marketer selling on a global basis should read the entire
report, which is chock-full of detail about IT research nuances in the
countries surveyed, along with sage recommendations based on the findings. About the Author: Stephanie Tilton is a content marketing consultant who helps B2B companies craft content that nurtures leads and advances the buying cycle. You can follow her on Twitter or read more of her posts on Savvy B2B.
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