There is a "big gap" between what firms are communicating to an audience and what people actually need, it is warned.

Businesses need to be credible and relevant when marketing to potential and current customers, explains Laura Nurzynski, group vice-president of IDC's global go-to-market and sales enablement service.

As bosses work hard to ensure business continuity in the difficult economic climate they must explore the use of investments in sales and marketing efforts to discover best practices, IDC explains.

It believes that tactical marketing campaigns will be one of the largest programme allocations in 2010 as budgets and investment priorities continue to change.

"Understanding the roles and needs of your myriad target audiences, and adjusting your messaging, offers, and programmes to better serve each audience and to become a trusted advisor to your prospects and customers is critical," adds Ms Nurzynski.

IDC has been in operation for more than 44 years and has 1,000 analysts worldwide providing expertise on technology and industry trends.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).