FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – A newly released report series from International Data Corporation (IDC) finds that small and medium business (SMB) spending on security technology continues to show strong growth and will exceed $5.6 billion in 2015. While overall SMB IT spending is forecast to grow at a rate of 5-6% per year over the forecast period, SMB spending on security products and solutions is expected to grow almost twice as fast.

For the full press release click here

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As 2011 drew to a close, Arketi Group hosted the fifth annual Atlanta High-Tech CMO Roundtable, as well as the first such Roundtable for High-Tech CMOs in the Raleigh-Durham area. In all, some 60 marketing executives from leading technology companies across the Southeast gathered to discuss the current and future state of marketing within the business-to-business, technology sector.

The roundtables were divided into two sessions. In the first, participants discussed the outlook for their industries in general, and their organizations in particular; how they saw their marketing budgets, goals and priorities for 2012; and what they viewed as the challenges facing us the rest of this year.

While opinions varied, occasionally quite widely, some consistent themes emerged…

IDC, Rich Vancil

The last two years have been hard times for tech marketers: there has been major pressure to transform execution, coupled with a significant reduction in the rate of budget growth. This is truly the “We are being asked to do more, with less” situation that marketers casually complain about. But this time, it is reality.

Despite the headwinds, I have been very impressed with the major brand campaigns that Dell and Xerox have been able to execute.

Both Dell and Xerox have spent billions for a major make-over of their product portfolios: acquiring and developing significant Services and Software capabilities. So much has changed at these companies that the brand perception no longer matches the product reality.

Brand perception simplified is: “What do you think of, when you think of Dell?” And, “What do you think of, when you think of Xerox?”. When I think “Dell”, I think of several cardboard boxes of new PC gear lying in my driveway, fresh off the UPS truck. When I think “Xerox”, I of course think “copiers”.

Changing a company’s brand perception is extremely difficult if not impossible. For how many years has our US auto industry been trying to change the negative brand perception for a now vastly improved product line? It has been, arguably, two decades. And still today, the brand perception does not yet square with the product reality.

If it doesn’t square up, you have to make a big move. The CMO’s of Dell and Xerox really had no choice but to undertake a major brand re-fresh and re-vamp. They needed to have brand perception start to match the product reality.

I am impressed by several factors in their execution:

1) The Dell and Xerox CMO’s were successful because they presented their case as not a marketing issue, but a company issue.

2) These marketers created the budgets necessary to start the Big job. Major shifts require major monies. Having studied marketing budgets for so long I am convinced there is just no way to do this by shifting around the marketing mix of the run-rate budget envelope.

3) They were able to do this during the time of a recession. With 20/20 hindsight: they get extra points for having a lot more marketplace “voice”, during a time when so many other vendors were hunkered down, scared and quiet.

The era of the Big Tech Brand is coming.

Going forward, our IT Industry will be one of consolidation and scale. It will be a slower growth industry and so the marketing challenge will be one of competitive share gains in addition to new market growth. And perhaps most importantly, the merging of our Business IT with our Personal IT will favor the biggest and best brands — as the power of consumer “pull” will become a major factor in the IT decision equation.

Think deeply about your brand!

Does it square with product reality?

The overwhelming number of agencies and brands who responded to DIGIDAY’s State of the Industry Survey on Digital Video sponsored by adap.tv expect their 2011 online video budgets to increase by an average of 27 percent. As to the pockets that most likely will be picked to fund this increase, agencies expect Broadcast TV to give the most ground, followed by Online Display and Print, while brands most often cite Online Display and Print as those categories that will give ground.

Publisher polled see the greatest increases coming from CPG – Food & Beverage, but the overwhelming number of brands and agencies report the gratest spending levels will derive from Entertainment, followed by Automotive, then Food & Beverage. Jason Shulman, adap.tv VP of sales who presented the study Thursday at DIGIDAY:ONVIDEO said he was surprised to see publishers’ technology budgets at zero, but the category was higher for the other two, and the exchange itself sees a rise in this category heading into the holidays.

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Rich Vancil

IDC, November 2010

IDC projects tech marketing budgets will close this year almost four percent higher compared to depressed levels last year. The estimate comes from a survey of 87 marketers at major tech vendors this past summer. The 8th year of this research also uncovered a dramatic shift in spending on digital programs. IDG Strategic Marketing Services Director Howard Sholkin asked IDC’s Rich Vancil to explain what marketers told him about 2010 compared to 2009. http://youtu.be/ovtkTrgLj3g

The technology industry is bouncing back from the recession, with tech marketers projected to increase their marketing budgets 3.7% this year over last year, according to research company IDC.

That’s a healthy change from last year, when technology companies slashed their marketing budgets 8.3%.

The findings are part of IDC’s recently released “2010 Tech Marketing Benchmark” study, which was based on an online and telephone survey of 87 senior technology marketers, conducted between May and July.

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Karsten Weide

IDC, September 2010

As a new year approaches in an uncertain economy, budgets may be squeezed. With that in mind, IDG Strategic Marketing Services Director Howard Sholkin asked IDC’s Karsten Weide for his guidance as you draw up budgets for 2011.

WATCH HERE

The technology industry is bouncing back from the recession, with tech marketers projected to increase their marketing budgets 3.7% this year over last year, according to research company IDC.

That’s a healthy change from last year, when technology companies slashed their marketing budgets 8.3%.

The findings are part of IDC’s recently released 2010 Tech Marketing Benchmark study, which was based on an online and telephone survey of 87 senior technology marketers, conducted between May and July.

Read more

Next year’s budgets for mobile apps are poised to grow 58.7 percent over the course of the upcoming year, accelerating from 2010 growth of 45.1 percent, making it look like apps are the fastest growing category of mobile advertising.

So says an advisory released today by Internet analysts Stifel Nicolaus, a partner with Millennial Media in the DIGIDAY Q3 Apps State of the Industry Survey. The comparative budget figures were derived from a separate study on the Mobile State of the Industry, also done with Stifel Nicolaus, with collaboration by Mojiva. DIGIDAY’s prior-year Apps survey partner was Quattro Wireless, since acquired by Apple, meaning that the data presented in these trending studies over the past year represent industry trends as seen by three of the largest mobile ad networks in the country, and one of Wall Street’s leading Internet analysts, Jordan Rohan.

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Mobile marketing is rushing toward normalcy. Not normalcy in a bad way, mind you. Most of the speakers at yesterday’s DIGIDAY: Mobile conference in NYC positioned mobile as an accessible, affordable, measureable media easily worked into every media plan. The positioning was a far cry from recent mobile conferences where the focus was on complicated iAd executions and expensive apps.

The new focus on normal centered around three main issues:

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