Behold, the Power of Blogs

Following up on their study on the use of podcasts in the B2B space, KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann commissioned a joint study on the emering role of new media specifically on the effect of purchasing decisions in the IT space.

The study concluded that IT purchase decisions are heavily influenced by content found in blogs.

Some top-level results about blogs:

• 80% claim to be blog readers, with 51% reading blogs at least once a week
  
• 53% read blogs weekly for business information, while 57% read blogs on technology topics each week
• 70% of survey respondents recommend or pass along content from blogs at least once a month
• More than 53% of survey respondents felt that content they read in blogs already impacts their work-related purchasing decisions

And some highlights regarding RSS:

• 59% of respondents said they are "somewhat" to "very" familiar with RSS
• 31% subscribe to RSS feeds or readers
• 79% of respondents said they are accessing RSS feeds on specialized news topics, covering specific industry or company information, while only 36% of respondents are accessing blogs via RSS feeds

Worth noting:

"New online media formats, such as blogs, will help companies better address shifting preferences and opinions in the B2B marketplace. Marketing campaigns will achieve even greater results because companies are now able to truly listen to and
come to understand their audiences' needs and wants through these mediums."

Update (9/22/06): the ANA blog notes that B2B blogs are more important than ever.