Study Reveals Growing Trend of High-Techs Outsourcing Marketing

September 19, 2006 | 11:41 am

SARATOGA, Calif., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Outsourcing among high-tech companies has spread to the marketing realm and is ripe for expansion, according to a study released today from Stage 4 Solutions.

The study predicts that marketing outsourcing will jump 14% in 2006, from 29% last year to 33% this year in annual marketing expenditures at high-tech companies. It also found that executives who outsourced marketing domestically did so primarily to gain bandwidth and access to expertise.

"We wanted outside experts to provide a fresh and unbiased view to defining future service and support strategy," said Mike Smith, Vice President, Customer Experience and Technology Division, Business Critical Servers, Hewlett-Packard Company. "That's why we made the decision to bring in consultants to provide an industry-wide perspective to our analysis."

"In the late 80's, high-tech companies began outsourcing their manufacturing," said Niti Agrawal, president of Stage 4 Solutions. "In the 90's outsourcing of software development and support was the new trend. Now, we're starting to see marketing being outsourced among high-tech companies. That trend will grow."

"It was only a matter of time before this caught fire," said Niti Agrawal, president of Stage 4 Solutions, Inc. "The findings are clear that high-techs are reaping huge benefits from strategically outsourcing marketing."

Some of the other findings from the survey:

-- While less than 25% of high-tech companies directly use international marketing partners, 35% of high-tech companies outsource their marketing to domestic partners with international resources.

-- Less than 10% of total marketing outsourcing expenditures are allocated to international partners.

-- High-techs gave a "thumbs up" to their domestic outsourcing partners, and even higher satisfaction ratings to their international ones.

-- Marketing activities that are outsourced most often include public relations, advertising, website development, marketing program management, market research, and sales tool development.

The study, entitled "Marketing -- the Next Growth Phase for Outsourcing in High-Tech Companies," analyzed the business practices of senior marketing executives from a broad spectrum of hi-tech companies, from Fortune 500 to smaller firms. Data was collected in Dec. 2005 and Jan. 2006 on companies' marketing practices for 2005 and plans for 2006.

Stage 4 Solutions, Inc. (stage4solutions.com) is a product marketing firm with four consecutive years of double-digit growth. The firm specializes in maximizing marketing investments for Fortune 500 high-techs and emerging high- tech leaders by providing strategic business and product plans, focused sales tools, competitive analyses, new product launches, and interim marketing staffing solutions. Stage 4 Solutions is staffed by senior-level consultants in the Silicon Valley and India.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Annamarie Dunn

408-893-8979 or annamarie@stage4solutions.com