I recently read an annual report from the IT department of a major semiconductor manufacturer. At 30 pages long with a lot of 9-point font, it’s an impressive document—full of information about missions, values, strategies, objectives, organizations, projects, service levels, costs and impact. But what is the value of this tome in a world where the success of communication often hangs on the phrasing of an e-mail subject line?

CIOs have entered the marketing game today, seeking to increase customer loyalty and secure funding. In addition to annual reports, brochures and newsletters, CIOs have marketed IT by showcasing IT awards, publicizing service-level metrics, branding projects, conducting town hall user meetings, publishing a catalog of services and reviewing business unit performance (according to a May 2004 survey by CIO).

Yet marketing veterans caution that these approaches can backfire—particularly in organizations where IT’s credibility is already low. Mass-marketing pitches tend to fall flat if people’s personal experiences counter what is being communicated. External IT awards and service-level metrics can reinforce a positive impression but will not sway those who are negatively disposed toward IT. Branding projects and town hall meetings are helpful in communicating change but have little impact on the approval process or the overall perception of success. Service and product catalogs can make it easier to do business with IT, but they typically are not utilized much by decision-makers in the business.

But if mass-marketing methods can’t help the average CIO, then what’s the alternative? In order to evaluate what works and what doesn’t when it comes to marketing IT, identify your primary targets for persuasion—namely, the people who make decisions about IT and those who influence them. CEOs and their direct reports should not be the primary targets of IT marketing efforts. Successful CIOs market one or two levels further down because they understand that senior executives are heavily influenced by key members of their organizations. These managers have formed their perceptions of IT based on their own personal experiences and the urban legends recounted in the hallways.

IT marketers should learn from the lessons of business-to-business marketing. Harvard Business School professor Das Narayandas, in a Harvard Business Review article titled "Building Loyalty in Business Markets," contrasts B2B efforts with mass marketing. Business markets consist of a relatively small number of customers—"segments of one," Narayandas calls them—that define value in different ways and desire customized products, quality or price. The sales process is typically lengthy due to the complexity of transactions and the large number of decision-makers and staff types involved.