a tale of two journeys: delivering engaging content to your buyers

Deliver Engaging Contentto Your Buyers

© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com

A Tale of Two Journeys

http://www.ioninteractive.com



What’s Inside•The state of content marketing

•The buyer’s journey across your content

•Static versus interactive content

•Surfacing rich content insights to marketing & sales




Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distr ibuting relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.


Content Marketing Institute

“

”





The purpose of content marketing is to

attract, acquire and engage an audience.






What types of content are we creating to attract,

acquire & engage our audience?






Types of ContentSocial Media Content Other Than Blogs

eNewsletters

Articles on Your Website

Blogs

In-Person Events

Case Studies

Videos

Illustrations/Photos

White Papers

Online Presentations

Infographics

Webinars/Webcasts

Research Reports

Microsites




And we’re making a whole lot of it…






marketers who use content marketing

2015 B2C/B2B Content Marketing Trends, Content Marketing Institute

%77 B2C

86%

B2BMarke t e r s Ma r k e t e r s



© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com

Almost half have adedicated content marketing group





of total marketing budgetspend on content marketing


28 %



© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com

more than half say they willincrease spending in the

next 12 months 2015 B2C/B2B Content Marketing Trends, Content Marketing Institute




of B2B marketersare creating more content

than they did a year ago

2015 B2B content marketing trends, Content Marketing Institute

70 %


But Let’s


PauseFor a Moment




Clearly, we’re investing our time, energy and resources

into content marketing.

So how’s it working for us?






We could be doing much better.






marketers who say their content marketingis effective

2015 B2C Content Marketing Trends, Content Marketing Institute

%37 B2C

38 %B2BMarke t e r s Ma r k e t e r s

Only


say their content doesn’t create enough opportunity for engagement

58 %


Demand Metric, Enhancing the Buyer’s Journey,

A whopping



marketers who are challenged measuring content effectiveness


%51B2C

49%

B2BMarke t e r s Ma r k e t e r s


Wait… We’re increasing investments in

content marketing, but we’re struggling with measuring how effective our content

actually is?



We have reporting coming out of our ears. But to be able to connect all those things into

one cohesive view that connects it to business metrics is hard.

It really is.

Gary Van Prooyen

“

”© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com



Let’s

demystify the measurement issue




The Problem with Measurement

We can’t really know more than we already know.

1

2 What we know isn’t all that illuminating.




We have all the data we need to measure

content consumptionand influence




Data isn’t the missing link.

The missing link is the interaction and experience our buyers are

having with our content.




So, let’s take a different view of this

measurement issue.




Static content provides limited opportunity for

engagement, insights & effectiveness.






Interactive content can solve for this.






Interactive content can engage your buyer

in a radically more effective manner while surfacingmuch richer insights.




of buyers go through their buying journey before talking to a sales rep

chiefmarketer.com

70 %

http://chiefmarketer.com


So let’s introduce you to two types of buyer journeys…


The Tale of Two Journeys


A Journey through Static Content• View an infographic• Register to download a white paper• Click through an email to download a best

practices guide• Read a blog post• View product pages• Download a solution

brochure• View the “getting started”

page• Attend a webinar• Watch a video



What Do We Know?• Viewed an infographic• Registered to download a white paper• Clicked through an email and downloaded a best

practices guide• Read a blog post• Viewed product pages• Downloaded a solution

brochure• Viewed the “getting

started”page• Attended a webinar• Watched a video



Not all that illuminating, eh?


But what can a buyer’s journey look like withinteractive content?

Early Stage

A visitor clicks on a tweet and engages with an interactive infographic. We know every element he interacts with.

Early Stage

Marketing places a cookie on the visitor for marketing automation & retargeting.


At This Point We Know…

STATIC INTERACTIVE

VSWe know a visitor viewed the infographic.

We don’t know if there was any specific

infographic content that interested him.

We know which stats the visitor interacted with.


Early Stage

The visitor is retargeted with specific banner ads that pick upwhere his affinity for the infographic left off. He clicks!

Early Stage

He lands and engages with an interactive white paper. We know every element he interacts with.


We Know

STATIC INTERACTIVE

VSWe know a visitor hit a landing page.

He may or may not have converted. If he converted, we know he downloaded the

white paper. We don’t know if he read it.

We know which sections of the white

paper content the visitor interacted with.


Early Stage

He decides he wants the PDF version emailed to him.

Now he converts from an anonymous visitor to Bill.

Early Stage

Bill’s previous interactions are married to his contact information.

Early Stage

+

Bill is added to a nurture campaign.

Early Stage

Bill gets an email offering an assessment.

Early Stage

Mid Stage

Bill completes the assessment.

Mid Stage

Marketing is capturing key behaviors and responses.


We Know

STATIC INTERACTIVE

VSWe know he downloaded an

assessmentdocument.

We don’t know if he read it or if it just sat

on his desk collecting dust.

We know how Bill answered each

assessment question and his ultimate score.

We know his pains!


Mid Stage

Bill shares the insights and results with his boss.

Mid Stage

Marketing’s next nurture email to Bill is triggeredbased on his previous responses.

Mid Stage

Bill clicks through and uses a solution builder.


We Know

STATIC INTERACTIVE

VS We know the solution Bill

configured based on his specific

situation.

We know Bill downloaded a

product brochure & hit a solution page on our

website.


Bill shares the solution builder results with his colleagues.

Mid Stage

Mid Stage

Bill bubbles up to sales as an active lead. Sales sees Bill’s responses in the CRM and reaches out to begin a dialog,

starting at his point of interest.

After their call, sales sends Bill an ROI calculator.

Mid Stage


We Know

STATIC INTERACTIVE

VS We know Bill’s specific ROI case.

1. We know

Sales sent an email.

2. We know Sales captured call

notes in the CRM.


Bill’s data is captured and surfaced to sales.

Mid Stage

Late Stage

Bill calls his sales rep. He’s got buying questions.

Late Stage

Bill & sales discuss set up, using an implementation configurator together.


We Know

STATIC INTERACTIVE

VS All the implementation

details, timelines, stakeholders,

roles input in the implementation

planner.

We know sales and the buyer talked about

implementation details.


Late Stage

Bill shares the results with colleagues.

Late Stage

Bill is thinking and planning.

Late Stage

Bill is talking with his boss about implementation details and program goals.

Late Stage

Bill is talking to procurement and doing legwork.

Late Stage

Bill had a great content experience. He had a relevant experience with sales. Bill gained team agreement. Bill is ready to buy!


The Tale of Two Journeys

• View an infographic • Register to download a white

paper • Click through an email to

download a best practices guide

• Read a blog post • View product pages • Download a solution brochure • View the “getting started”

page • Attend a webinar • Watch a video

PASS/FAIL

• Interact with an interactive infographic

• Interact with an interactive white paper

• Complete a quiz • Register to download a white

paper • Answer a 15-question self

assessment • Configure a solution • Use an ROI calculator • Use an implementation calculator

RICH INSIGHTS TO SURFACE TO SALES

VS


It’s hard to surface buyer insights & meaningful digital

body language without interactions.


What does interactive content mean

for the organization?


Content that is not simply pass/fail




Content that your audience wants to

consume—that they will engage with and use


Better engaged/educated prospects



Sales can meet the buyer at the point

of interest



Better sales and marketing alignment



Moreopportunities



More customers



Content – defined as all information components produced by marketing to

communicate ideas and transfer knowledge to buyer and seller audiences – plays a critical role

in driving demand. But when the type of content created does not align with buyers’

and sellers’ needs, it fails to support the types of conversations that are required to

move the buying process forward.

Sirius Decisions

“

”© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com


Conversion Path


How to Use Interactive Content During

Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey




Early Stage

EBOOKS INTERACTIVEWHITE PAPERS

SURVEYS ASSESSMENTSQUIZZESLOOKBOOKSINTERACTIVEINFOGRAPHICS

Begin the dialog. Design for content engagement. Seek to educate.




Mid Funnel

EBOOKS INTERACTIVEWHITE PAPERS

SURVEYS ASSESSMENTS CONFIGURATORS CALCULATORS

Continue the relationship. Increasing specificity of education. Transform general concepts into more concrete ones.




Late Stage

ASSESSMENTS SOLUTION BUILDERS

CONFIGURATORS CALCULATORS

Create a ready buyer. Emphasis on buyer self education. Surface deep insights to sales.




Your prospects and customers don’t want your content

They want answers to their questions or new information

They want you to be useful and helpful

They want to learn

They want something interesting

The Bottom Line Is…



Interactive content delivers what your buyers want and the

measurement insights you need.


70 %INTERACTIVE CONTENT 36 %

PASSIVE CONTENT

VS


of marketers say that it’s effective at engaging their audience.


Comparing interactive to passive content, interactive content is somewhat or very effective at...

educating the buyer

93 % VS 70 %INTERACTIVE CONTENT PASSIVE CONTENT



differentiating from competitors

VS 88 %INTERACTIVE CONTENT

55 %PASSIVE CONTENT



being shared

VS 38 %INTERACTIVE CONTENT

17 %PASSIVE CONTENT

ENGAGING

USEFUL

DIFFERENTIATED

SCALABLE

EFFECTIVE

MEASURABLE


Why Interactive Content Works So Well:


ion can help!We help customers concept, create and launch interactive content experiences.

www.ioninteractive.com @ioninteractive [email protected]



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