A study conducted by Bitpipe, Inc. concludes that lead generation will dominate the tech marketing agenda in 2004, and online generation of sales leads is stronger than ever.

Bitpipe’s 2004 IT Marketing Trends Study and Sam Whitmore's Media Survey (SWMS) measured the spending plans for more than 350 technology advertisers. It found that 2004 expenditures for online lead generation will rise to 45 percent of the total IT marketing budget, up from 40 percent last year. Online advertising's share of the budget will rise from 14 to 16 percent, while online sales lead generation will increase from 26 to 28 percent.

In fact, marketing expenditures for online now rival those spent offline in the tech sector. In 2003, 59 percent of the marketing budget was allocated to offline marketing, including print advertising (16 percent) and direct mail or telemarketing (43 percent). That combined total will drop to 56 percent in 2004, the survey says.

The survey also shows that Webcasts and email newsletters registered the biggest jump in popularity during 2003 among lead generation tools and are poised to become even more important next year as the use of online lead generation tools grows.

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they'll use webcasts in 2004; only 55 percent said they'd use them in 2003. That represents a 25 percent increase year-to-year. Similarly, advertising in email newsletters is set to grow 27 percent within the companies surveyed. In 2003, only 44 percent of respondents planned to advertise in email newsletters, while in 2004, 60 percent expected to utilize email promotions.

"The data on 2004 spending plans for technology companies indicates a strong trend toward online sales lead generation; 73 percent of the companies surveyed are planning to do more online sales lead generation programs in 2004 than in 2003," says Jay Habegger, CEO, Bitpipe, Inc.

Tried-and-true lead generation tools also should grow. Email promotion was the number one lead generation tool, and 85 percent of the respondents (up from 83 percent in 2003) saying they'll rely on it again next year. Eighty-two percent said white papers were critical to their lead generation plans, up from 75 percent in 2003.