When asked about the effectiveness of their marketing vehicles, only vertical events generated any enthusiastic response. Most other marketing vehicles hover around 3 (“OK” in our survey), with vertical shows approaching the 4 (“Good”) level. This would seem to speak negatively about the recent glut of compliance-focused marketing designed to reach a horizontal audience. However, we have heard over and over again that compliance will often bring prospects in the door, only the ability to address specific business processes (often unique to specific vertical markets) will close the deal. In other words, the groundwork laid by the “less effective” vertical marketing efforts may actually be setting up the success being attributed to vertical events.
-- 2005 AIIM State of the Document Management Service Provider Industry Report
