Which technology vendors are doing a great job with their marketing and why?

Super interesting to see Microsoft on some lists. Just goes to show that marketing can not focus on everyone - you find your target user and pursue that persona. I would say I am firmly OUT of Microsoft's realm. I also thought Comcast was a strange choice, they have perhaps one of the largest hate rings on the web centering around their stance on corporate web usage and the like. I'd love to see what their online reputation management budget is!

I would say firmly that Apple has been the brand of the last two decades, they not only have loyal users but they have disciples. Twitter, Facebook, all the online mega success stories have a place in there too. PayPal is always one of my favorites, as they move more to mobile they will become their own currency. Their payment rails touch more of peoples money then most will ever be aware. I tend to like the smaller orgs doing big things, Dropbox or 37 signals for example. Simple is better.

Here's a link to a PDF from ITSMA - The 2011 ITSMA Marketing Excellence Award Winners - that goes beyond identifying the tech marketing winners to describe their entries with challenges/marketing program/results mini case studies...a really good read:

http://www.itsma.com/ezine/2011-itsma-marketing-excellence-award-winners/

Jeff

IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple. They have a lot of money, resources, experience, and can afford to hire armies of talented marketers.

Classic left-handed compliment, Pete! Funny stuff. Thanks for the laugh. Enjoy your holidays, my friend. That was a good one. -Joe / @jchernov / Eloqua

The first thing that came to mind when I read this question was, "which tech vendors are providing value with their marketing?"

I agree that there are some clever campaigns out there this year from IBM, Cisco and others. But I continue to be more impressed with brands that earn their reputation by creating great content, and constantly giving back to their customers, prospects and followers.

The two examples that usually come to mind for me with that filter are Marketo and Hubspot. Both constantly feed their followers with great content.

I agree with Matt, Hubspot has both useful and comprehensive material. I also have come to depend on Awareness and VisibleGains for related marketing information.

I'd say Comcast. Why? Their Business Services has grown by 40-50% since they launched it in 2006. They're operating in a highly commoditized, highly competitive market and they've been able to capture this kind of explosive growth in a downturn economy. So my vote goes to them! (BTW, I do not work for Comcast, so this is not a plug, just an objective business observation from someone who has worked in the high tech markets for the past 15 years).

I judge this on the gap between customer perception and quality of product. It is easy to sell and market a good product - the skill is making a bad one look good.

On those scores Eloqua has to be the winner.

Its technology is ancient and limited - effectively an old email product with add-ons designed only to get ticks in the review boxes, not to work well. A whole industry of consultants has sprung up to try to help make the product work. Things which most companies take a couple of clicks to achieve have 16 page manuals to accomplish in Eloqua.

Yet it has:
Turned the required army of consultants into ambassadors for the brand - brilliant.
Turned "hard to use" into "Ah you aren't clever enough to understand it".
Created a top tier of partners who aren't allowed to work with any competing company - so they never get to know first hand how much better the competitors are.

Brilliant marketing by Eloqua.

Disclosure: I have no connection with any Marketing Automation or RPM company.