June 5, 2002 CONTENTS Results: Unisys, NetIQ improve lead return with TechTarget's webcasts Today's News: PeopleSoft selects Porter Novelli; Blanc & Otus absorbs Socket Has someone forwarded this newsletter to you? Sign up for your own free subscription by sending your name, title, company and email address to kdennis@technologymarketing.com. If you want to receive the daily newsletter in its plain-text format rather than in HTML, please send a note to kdennis@technologymarketing.com. RESULTS NetIQ, Unisys Find Leads with Webcasts TechTarget's webcast service delivers qualified leads By Andrew Gordon When it comes to saving time and money, tech marketers are singing the praises of webcasts. Not only do they help those marketers spread the gospel for pennies compared to putting together a costly road show, they also allow viewers to watch from the comfort of their own office whenever they find it convenient. "Webcasts are very, very targeted," says Greg Strakosch, CEO of TechTarget, the Needham, Mass., online media outfit that's found good business in webcasts. "The exact right people are coming to watch. If an enterprise IT professional shows up, then they are interested. They are engaged. And at the end of the day, it's about ROI. This generates leads in way that is cost-effective, and gets the right people to come and watch." NetIQ and Unisys have had success with TechTarget's webcast service. Called LeadCast, the service offers everything from promoting upcoming webcasts to providing information on those who attended them. "It's the fastest growing part of our business," says Strakosch. "We've had 500 webcasts in the past year." A provider of systems management, security and web analytic services, Net IQ was looking for an efficient demand generation channel, says Rick Pleczko, svp of worldwide marketing for the San Jose company. "For each of our business areas, we use the webcasts to promote an educational topic, from common hacker methodology to migrating to [Microsoft] Exchange 2000. We'll have one or more speakers. And people are coming because we provide something of value. Education is what attracts them to the webcasts. And that allows us to position our solutions." People wouldn't watch the webcasts if it was just a hard sell for NetIQ's services, admits Pleczko. He finds the softer sell works just fine. In the year and half he has used webcasts, Pleczko has seen 10 to 15 percent of the audience become qualified leads. Those results compare well those of a typical email newsletter, which on average only provide about 2 percent lead generation. "It's the best ROI vehicle we have for lead demand generation," says Pleczko. "And I credit TechTarget, because they focus on promoting our webcasts to an audience that is qualified to begin with. And when we get them in the door, they are interested in what we have to say." IT services firm Unisys, meanwhile, has only been using LeadCast for a few weeks. So the Blue Bell, Pa.-based company hasn't seen concrete ROI yet. Still, the company has seen TechTarget provide a larger than anticipated qualified audience, says Baker Egerton, director of demand generation for Unisys. "Our primary consideration with webcasts was making sure our message was getting to the right people," says Egerton. "We wanted to reach users of SAP software. We sell high-end performance servers. When they use an intensive application, they will need more processing power." And much like NetIQ, Unisys offers speakers and educational information to draw an audience, followed by a soft sell of its own services. For one recent webcast, TechTarget projected an audience of 450 viewers for Unisys' webcast featuring experts from SAP. Instead, about 900 people showed up to watch. "Compared to other kinds of webcasts, [TechTarget's] marketing made it successful," says Egerton. "They found the speaker for us. They promoted it. It wasn't just a webcast, but a whole campaign. And I feel it was very effective. It gets over a big barrier of travel and cost, as well as the time needed to put an event together. And it's more convenient for viewers." Andrew Gordon is a staff writer of Adweek Magazines' TECHNOLOGY MARKETING, working out of our San Francisco office. Reach him via email at agordon@technologymarketing.com. TODAY'S NEWS: Agency Watch PEOPLESOFT SELECTS PORTER NOVELLI Enterprise application software firm PeopleSoft has selected Porter Novelli as its PR agency of record. The selection of Porter Novelli signals the Pleasanton, Calif., company's move to the next phase of its expansion into more markets, says Steve Swasey, PeopleSoft's director of corporate public relations. Read Full Story Agency Watch BLANC & OTUS ABSORBS SOCKET PR In yet another consolidation move among public relations agencies, Hill and Knowlton reports that it has merged Socket Public Relations into San Francisco's Blanc & Otus, strengthening the latter PR firm's reach into the tech industry. Socket Public Relations' clients and 20 employees now go to B&O. The Socket brand will also disappear, and the agency's offices in Austin and Atlanta will be re-branded as Blanc & Otus. Read Full Story Edited by Kathryn Dennis For advertising information, contact Hanna Shin To subscribe by email, send a blank message to join-technologymarketing@listserv.vnuemedia.com (c) 2002 Adweek Magazines' TECHNOLOGY MARKETING and VNU BUSINESS MEDIA. All rights reserved.

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