Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
Q U I C K G U I D E
I NT E R A CT IV E M A R K ET I N G
for IBM Business Partners
Use the Internet to drive business to your company with help from IBM
E X PA N D Y O U R R E A C H
Capture the growing opportunity for interactive marketing by taking
advantage of users moving to the Internet for making purchasing
decisions—consider these points:
“90% of business and
IT execs say that online
content has an impact
on their preference for
tech vendors”
- KnowledgeStorm
G ET
ST A RT E D
T O D AY !
ibm.com/
partnerworld/
imarketing
50 million Americans are online at work, and about 95% of them
are accessing the Internet through some form of broadband
connection (ComScore).
93% of all technology purchasing decisions begin with research on
the Internet (Search Engine Guide) and 72% of at-work users
authorize company spending (Millward Brown Intelliquest and
Online Publishers Association).
52% of executives consider the Internet the most important source
of information on business vs. 21% for newspapers and 9% for
industry trade publications (Harris Interactive and Gartner G2).
It’s easy for clients to get bogged down, seduced, and/or confused
by the enormous array of on-line interactive tactics, techniques and
content available. The power has shifted to the customer—they
are finding offers on their own and not waiting for you to push your
solutions to them. The model to reach customers has become an
interactive/electronic “on demand” model, and your message must be:
• Real—no more old marketing hype!
• Relevant—you can’t interrupt people anymore—you must have
what they want.
• Responsive—marketing is no longer a monologue. You must
answer your customers.
• Reachable—you must reach your audience. How, when, and
where they choose, and their choices, are vast and varied.
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008
Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
Getting your customers’ attention is important, but relationship development is the vital link between awareness
and action, and successful interactive marketing can deliver results! Establishing a mutually beneficial relationship
between your company and your prospects can increase your success across all aspects of the marketing
continuum while providing your prospects and customers with the value they seek.
Interactive marketing consists of two components—Web marketing and e-marketing—and integrating these
components is your key to successful results. IBM can help you distinguish your solutions and give your
customers what they need with IBM Business Partner programs designed to develop and enhance your interactive
marketing strategies.
Expand your reach and turn prospects into buyers by leveraging the IBM resources available exclusively to our
Business Partners—get started now by visiting ibm.com/partnerworld/imarketing.
DRIVE PROSPECTS AND BUYERS TO YOUR SITE
The tactics you choose for driving buyers to your site will be determined by the end result you want from them. At
a minimum you want to get their attention, then engage them by presenting compelling offers and calls-to-action
(e.g., through products, services, solutions, Web casts, white papers, demos, events, etc.) to generate leads that
can grow your company’s revenue.
When designing your interactive marketing plan, think creatively:
•
•
•
•
•
Research—Find other top ranking IBM sites with a similar audience and review their content and links.
Build relationships—Partners, customers, analysts, etc., can link to your site and help drive traffic.
Wikipedia—Find out what related content already exists and see if a link can be added to it, or create a new
entry when relevant.
Take advantage of press and news—Make sure that press and news articles include your site URL
Think “social”—Enlist the help of partners, customers, analysts, etc. to help push your site on social.
bookmarking sites like Digg, Newsvine, and Slashdot. (Caution—pushing your marketing message instead of
adding value on a social bookmarking site is a sure way to the bottom).
Your site should:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Provide good content that informs and, as appropriate, entertains.
Be the authority—provide valuable information searchers cannot get elsewhere.
Use demand generation activities to drive to your permanent site instead of temporary landing pages.
Keep content fresh and timely—develop and maintain a running 6-12 month communication and editorial
plan—and follow it religiously.
Provide tools that perform a valuable service for your audience.
Optimize your pages for search—with assistance from IBM, personalized consultation with optimization.
experts is available at up to 60 percent savings. Details at ibm.com/partnerworld/imarketing.
P L A N I N T E R A C T I V E M A R K E T I N G TA C T I C S
With help from IBM, you can develop your interactive marketing tactics to get the most from your resources.
Including interactive tactics as a key component of an integrated marketing plan will give your customers the
ability to find you 24/7, 365 days a year, in every country.– Increase your marketing reach with these strategies:
1) Turn online prospects into buyers.
•
2
Establish a competitive and compelling online presence—making your Web site a powerful sales tool.
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008
Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
•
Use Web syndication for real-time content—free, no additional resources needed, maintains customer
interest with strong content—showcasing your offerings, thought leadership and technical information
right from within your own web site.
•
Build your own online prospects by turning browsing buyers into viable prospects by leveraging
registration based, compelling site “offers” to capture their contact information and nurture their
interest.
2) Ensure people can find you (inbound marketing).
•
Leverage search engines, banner advertising and online news magazines.
3) Actively seek new opportunities (outbound marketing).
•
Buy e-mail lists, create and execute e-mail campaigns, and hold online Web events and conferences
supported by moderators and telemarketing teams to boost attendance and later qualify leads.
•
Capture registration from prospects who download materials from your site.
•
Build loyalty and community by collaborating with customers, partners, and peers using social
networking.
W E B S Y N D I C AT I O N
Web syndication is simply incorporating Web content from one source into someone else’s Web site. This practice
helps you in two ways:
•
Syndicating your content on sites targeted at an industry, job role, or business process specifically
related to your solution can help you reach prospects who are predisposed to interest in your
messages.
•
Syndicating co-branded IBM content on your own site can help you gain credibility by displaying IBM
product and solution information and offers, kept current automatically.
To syndicate your own content, break through the media clutter with relevant industry news, client references,
podcasts, vertical round tables and online advertising with solutions-daily.com. Tap into a wealth of Web media
and editorial expertise to help you narrowcast your content directly to potential buyers in more than 120 countries
at no charge. This syndicated online news resource is organized around the PartnerWorld Industry Networks and
promoted through search engines such as Google.
To syndicate IBM content, IBM has teamed with WebCollage, Inc. to provide you with Web syndication, a simple
way to augment your Web site with complete, compelling IBM marketing assets designed to help your company
generate leads and drive sales.
Advantages of syndicating IBM content:
•
•
•
•
•
•
3
Web syndication is available at no cost to you!
Leverage IBM’s Web content within your own site with minimal effort
Customized for your Web site to include only the IBM products and services that you carry
Content is updated regularly
Set up is simple and generally takes less than an hour
No ongoing maintenance necessary
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008
Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
Leveraging this content can help you:
• Transform your Web site into a powerful tool your sales team can use in presentations with prospects
and existing clients.
• Enable your team to send prospects to your Web site for in-depth product and service information.
• Free up people and resources for other strategic projects.
• Demonstrate your expertise and the depth of your relationship with IBM Services, Software, and
Systems.
• Retain customers and prospects on your Web site for all the information they need.
To find out more about syndicating IBM content to your Web site, visit ibm.com/partnerworld/software/
syndicate.
S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N
Search engines are the first place decision-makers turn when going online. Nearly 90 percent of IT decision
makers use search engines to locate products and services. This means your Web site should be optimized for
the best results and the most traffic. If it doesn’t appear in the top 10 or 20 positions of a search, prospects may
never find your site.
With search engine optimization, you can drive increased traffic to your site, identify and capture prospects,
and leverage emerging technologies such as RSS and blogs. Help your corporate Web site rise to the top of
the search results list with IBM’s comprehensive search engine optimization services, consisting of a thorough
examination of your Web site and recommendations on how to improve your rankings in search engine results.
You will receive this detailed set of information through an executive presentation, complete with illustrations and
recommendations. Use this information to make changes on your own, or employ our vendor services to take your
site to the next level.
Get started today at a 70% savings over the regular rate. Your rate of US $1500 includes a one hour personalized
consultation with a search engine optimization expert who will perform a complete analysis of your web site. Go to
ibm.com/partnerworld/imarketing for details.
D E M A N D G E N E R AT I O N
IBM offers assistance to IBM Business Partners with a variety of demand generation tools. Full details of these
tactics are available at ibm.com/partnerworld/software/marketing.
•
Connect with prospective buyers through the IBM Business Partner Application Showcase, accessible
from the ibm.com web site.
With an average of 10,000 unique visitors and more than 25,000 click-throughs each month, the IBM
Business Partner Application Showcase can help drive traffic to your company URL and enable prospects to
contact you directly. Available in eight languages and promoted through high-visibility search engines such as
Google, the showcase is a powerful way to reach global audiences—and a great way for them to reach you. If
you have qualified for industry-optimized benefits, you will also be highlighted as an industry expert on all of
your listed solutions
•
The Global Solutions Directory is the IBM repository of Business Partner offering information. Creating a
thorough entry for your solution in the Global Solutions Directory represents a critical step in marketing with
IBM. These entries become an integral part of IBM marketing programs, generating exposure with clients,
other IBM Business Partners and the IBM sales network. This international resource is available worldwide in
ten languages.
4
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008
Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
• The IBM Lotus Business Solutions Catalog and IBM WebSphere Portal Business Solutions Catalog
are online catalogs where Partners can list their solutions and services to generate leads from prospects
worldwide.
Customers, partners, and IBM sales teams search these catalogs for IBM Business Partners and IBM’s
downloadable portlets, tools and templates that integrate with the IBM Lotus and WebSphere Portal family of
products.
• The IBM SOA Business Catalog is a comprehensive on-line directory of reusable SOA content validated
to perform with IBM SOA Foundation products. Clients from more than 70 countries have explored assets
provided by IBM Business Partners in the IBM SOA Community and the IBM SOA Specialty.
Customers have the opportunity to search for your SOA assets, download them and contact you directly. IBM
customers, Business Partners and IBM sales, consulting and service representatives turn to the SOA catalog
for validated SOA solutions and services that can be deployed with confidence. Find out more at ibm.com/
partnerworld/soa.
• IBM Tivoli Open Process Automation Library (OPAL) is an online catalog featuring IT service management
integrated extensions developed by IBM and IBM Business Partners. As an IBM Business Partner you can
include your solution reference in OPAL by participating in the Ready for IBM Tivoli software validation offering.
• Extend your customer reach with IBM Campaign Designer, a Web-based application that allows IBM
Business Partners to customize high-quality brand and solution-specific marketing materials (direct marketing
and e-mail messaging ) that can be customized with your firm’s identity and solution message.
In less than one hour you can develop multi-tactic demand-generation campaigns at no charge and execute
high-quality customized marketing collateral. The use of the application is at no cost to IBM Business Partners;
e-mail execution is free, and printing costs for direct mail are offered at affordable rates .
Later this year, look for new banner ad templates in Campaign Designer. Also, coming soon is Campaign
Builder, which will offer a template enabling prescriptive guidance, enablement and links for executing
compelling integrated marketing campaigns—a cookbook for campaign execution.
• With Easy Web Conferencing Execution, $500 gets you a Web event registration page built by IBM, an IBM
moderator for the event, and a no-charge use of IBM Lotus Sametime Unyte for up to 499 participants.
Currently, this is only available in North America.
• Host a Web Conference at no charge with a trial offer to host a meeting using IBM Lotus Sametime Unyte
Service for up to 15 people, consisting of one named user and 14 participants. This simple and intuitive
conferencing service delivers integrated Web and audio conferencing with an easy-to-use Web browser
interface. At the end of the trial offer, Advanced or Premier members can receive a 20% discount off the
annual subscription price of the Lotus Sametime Unyte Meeting service, and host as many Web conferences
as you need at one great price.
• IBM also offers special packages for Telemarketing (only available in North America at this time) to build
leads and increase pipeline, and Events (client events hosted by IBM, and IBM sponsorship at worldwide
events and tradeshows).
SOCIAL N E T W O R K I N G : V I D E O , B L O G S , F O R U M S , W I K I S
Business is getting serious about the consumer phenomenon known as social networking. The success of Internet
darlings MySpace and YouTube in 2006 made the social networking phenomenon top-of-mind for business, which
5
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008
Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
quickly identified its potential not just as a medium for reaching desirable consumer demographics, but also as a
new model for knowledge sharing and collaboration.
A social network, also referred to as a virtual community, is an online network of people with common interests.
These interests can be of any type, from people who share a common health condition (celiac, diabetic), to people
who own certain makes of antique vehicles (Studebaker cars, J.C. Higgins bicycles), to users of IBM products
(DB2® 9, Rational® Application Developer).
Social Networking uses a set of technologies (blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, mashups, profiles, podcasting, video
hosting, etc.) collectively known as Web 2.0. These enable users to share information easily among themselves
in a variety of formats within a self-defined community. Indeed, workgroups of users soon began using the most
popular and readily available of these technologies to support their work efforts.
Being open for everyone to participate is Web 2.0’s greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. As with
anything new that is worthwhile, there are those who abuse the opportunities that Web 2.0 presents. Contributors
often produce useless and irrelevant material for wikis and blogs; overeager, under informed, and highly
opinionated contributors make submissions that reflect themselves. There will also be those who shamelessly
flood these venues with wiki and blog versions of spam. Others, of course, exploit the resources of Web 2.0
to perpetrate scams of every sort. Many of the social aspects of Web 2.0 result in added dangers if personal
information becomes accessible to predators who target children and others who are vulnerable and naive.
However, the same openness that enables abuses also enables community participation to guard and cleanse the
content that the community has created. And the level of technology that enables the scammers and spammers
also enables the good guys to fight back. For example, Flickr, the photo-sharing site, claims that getting rid of
spam content takes far less time than it takes the spammers to create the content. Also, Wikipedia has only a few
employees, relying on users to identify when something is spammed.
With 70 million blogs currently tracked, and about 120,000 new blogs created daily with 1.5 million posts per day,
blogs are considered important sources of information in the Internet world. A blog maintained by your company
can provide prospects with another way to learn about you and your solutions.
To get the most out of your blog:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Talk to your audience about better ways to do their job—don’t break into a ‘song-and-dance’ sales
pitch.
Be consistent in posting—if you establish expectations of once-a-week, then deliver once each week.
Blogging is a conversation—encourage comments and linking (comments are about 30% of
total Blogosphere content. There is a direct correlation between commenting and a blog’s overall
popularity).
Write about the idiotic stuff you’ve seen people do—just don’t call out names. Write about the smart
stuff as well—not just the IBM smart stuff.
Write about what’s interesting to your target audience and stay on topic.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t get pompous or dictatorial—talk to your audience, not at them.
Spam blogs (Splogs) have been around almost as long as blogs, as spammers realize the potential to exploit
this medium. Automated tools create thousands of these fake blogs loaded with links to certain Web sites so as
to skew search results and artificially boost traffic. Spam is also becoming a huge nuisance for wikis, requiring
constant vigilance to keep it at bay.
The following resources are available from IBM to enhance your social networking tactics:
•
6
IBM TV provides compelling information on the solutions that customers care about most, including
SOA, and in 2008, IBM TV has already drawn over 150,000 views. With this benefit, you can publish
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008
Grow Your Business with IBM Software
Innovate. Grow. Profit.
an audio podcast or video file on IBM TV that highlights a customer that you have featured in one of
your SOA references. Once IBM TV publishes your audio podcast or video file, we will send you the URL
that you can use on your Web site, as well as in your communications to your customers and prospects.
To use this benefit, be sure you have submitted an SOA reference through the IBM Business Partner
Client Reference Program and have it published in the IBM Worldwide Customer Reference Database.
These references enable IBM to showcase qualified SOA customer implementations and are used to
qualify your company for the SOA specialty.
This benefit does not create the audio podcast or video file for you, but you can use this benefit to
publish the audio or video of your customer success on IBM TV and tell your story to prospects
worldwide.
•
The Smart SOA™ Social Network helps to accelerate the understanding, adoption, and progression of
SOA to a diverse set of members, including architects, business analysts and university professors. This
network leverages online and in-person activities.
If you have qualified for the SOA specialty, you can highlight your company to customers, prospects,
Business Partners, and others interested in SOA. Your logo will be showcased periodically on the Smart
SOA Social Network Web pages to build awareness among this worldwide audience. Visitors to the
network can also access a list of all Business Partners who are currently qualified for the SOA specialty.
Get
Started
Today!
Leverage IBM’s Interactive Marketing Resources
available to IBM Business Partners
ibm.com/partnerworld/imarketing
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2008
IBM Global Services
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
U.S.A.
Produced in the United States of America
November 2008
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, DB2, and Rational are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If
these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law
trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
7
© International Business Machines Corporation 2008