How Businesses Discover and Purchase Marketing Technologies | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

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%).


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%)....