www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Content Marketing and the Buyer’s Journey: How They Fit TogetherContent Marketing is the
new face of marketing for
companies selling business-
to-business as well as for
companies selling goods and
services to consumers that are
a considered purchase.
In these two categories – B2B and
considered purchase – the buying
landscape has undergone a seismic
shift. Today’s buyer is in charge of the
buying process. Buyers put in the time
on the web to research, learn, and
acquire the information they need to
make an informed purchase decision.
Social media plays an important role
here as a way for the buyer to seek
out the advice of experts, friends, and
colleagues. As the buyer journeys
towards your company, you will find
that you are coming into contact with
prospective customers earlier than ever.
However, most of this contact happens
online versus face-to-face. As a result,
your sales people are engaging with
prospects later and later in the sales
cycle. Research shows that many
buyers don’t want to engage with a
sales person until the last third of the
buyers’ journey.
This changes how you look at
marketing in a way that is fundamental.
Previously, many companies looked at
the job of marketing as one of creating
awareness and perhaps generating
leads for the sales force. Today, the
role of marketing is to understand the
buyers journey, create the content
needed to take the buyer from one
stage to the next, and to create
campaigns that not only generate
leads but also nurture those leads over
time until they are ready to buy the first
time and buy again so as to create
lifetime value.
In this context, your website continues
to play a role in your marketing, but
the focus is shifting. David Strom, a
respected blogger who writes for the
blog “Read Write Web” had this to say
on this topic:
“It used to be that you created brand
awareness and a destination for your
customers by having your own site. No
longer. Now, there are plenty of others
who will do it for you, and often they will
do so without you having to pay them.
Remember the phrase OPM? It used to
mean other people’s money. Today it means
Other People’s Marketing.”
Source: No Corporate Website? You Don’t Need
One. Welcome to the Post-Web era.
David goes on to talk about the
importance of Twitter to his business
as a technology blogger and the
importance of Pinterest to his wife
Shirley’s business as an interior designer.
Here at Open Marketing, we continue to
believe that your website can be used to
generate leads and drive business. But
we also agree with David. To remain
competitive, you need to market beyond
your website, to leverage your own
content and Other People’s Marketing
(OPM) muscle.
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Here are 10 tips on how to align your content marketing with the buyer’s journey so as to accelerate sales:
10 Tips to Leverage Content Marketing to Accelerate Sales
Go Beyond Your Website
Blog Frequently. Blog Often. Just Blog.
Diversify Your Content Portfolio.
Focus on Findability.
Spread Your Content Around
Make the Content Compelling. Damn It!
Understand Your Buyers’ Pain Points.
Build a Content Map.
Don’t Think the Job is Ever Done.
Close the Loop When you Measure.
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9
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www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Go Beyond Your Website
Tip #1
Today’s buyer spends a lot of time
online. But they aren’t going to spend
a lot of time on your website. You are
lucky if you can get them to spend 3-5
minutes engaging with your website.
Which makes marketing’s job to go
beyond the website, to provide content
that reaches the buyer where they
spend their time online. Studies from
the Comscore and others show that
people – depending on their age group
– spend anywhere from 6-10 hours
online between work and leisure time.
The majority of this time is spent in social
media sites and visiting a handful (<10)
of special-interest sites. What do we
mean by special interest sites? If you
love sports, you are probably going to
rack up a lot of hours on ESPN or sites
similar to that. If you are “into” design,
Design Milk might be just the ticket. Our
point is only that your site is unlikely to
become a “go to” destination for your
customer unless or until you put content
on your site and refresh that content
often.
1 2 3 4
5678
9
10 11
12
13141516
To play, you
need great
content
Social media
integration
works!
My ebook is
better than
your ebook.
No it isn’t.
Content
refresh kicked
butt
Of course,
you have to
do it right
Ooops.
Lose a
turn. Your
content is
boring.
Digital or die
You do a big
campaign
You slack
off on your
content
refresh
You get
some really
good work
done
Are you still
alive?
You barely
make the
deadline
Your
content gets
approved
You are only
as good as
your next
campaign
You get 100
new “likes”
Web traffic is
good today
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Blog Frequently. Blog Often. Just Blog.
It turns out that the single best content
you can create that will help to turn your
website into a customer acquisition tool
is a blog. But this only works to the
Tip #2
Company Blog LinkedIn Facebook Twitter
60%
40%
20%
0%
% of Channel Users Who Acquired a Customer Through a Specific Channel
Customer Acquisition By Channel
57%57% 57%62%
48%52%
42% 44%
2011
2012
Less Than Monthly
Monthly Weekly Daily
100%
50%
0%
% of Blog Users Who Acquired a Customer Through Their Blog
Blog Post Frequency vs. Customer Acquisition
56%43%
66% 70%78% 44%
2-3 Times per Week
Multiple Times per day
92%
extent you update your blog frequently,
syndicate the content, and make your
blog part of a greater community. (Yes,
we can show you how to do that.)
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Diversify Your Content PortfolioIn addition to blogs, there are at least 12 other types of content worth considering:
Tip #3Video
Webinars
Infographics
Q&A content
Case studies
White papers / eBooks
Podcasts
Reviews
Presentations
Apps & tools
Curated Content
eNewsletters
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5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Focus on FindabilityContent alone isn’t enough. You need to make that content
findable in search and sharable through social media. Search.
Studies show that 93% of purchase cycles will start with search:
Tip #4
Source: Marketo: How to Build a Better Inbound Marketing Machine.
colleagues what products are worth
considering or putting on their short list
for evaluation. You can see this type
of activity happening on Quora and
LinkedIn in a structured manner, but
it also just as frequently – albeit less
formally – on Facebook, Twitter, and
Google+. The Word of Mouth Marketing
Association estimates that the typical
American mentions 60 brand names
per day. (Source: http://womma.org/
word/2011/10/16/infographic-the-word-
and-the-world-of-customers/).
And social media is increasingly used as
the conversational tool of choice.
93%
Buyers tend to search first for solutions
to problems they are having – products
and services often come second unless
you compete in a category where
the products and services are well
established.
Social media. Consider this diagram of
the consumer decision process based
on in-depth interviews completed by
McKinsey and Company with over 2,600
consumers. Here there are 4-distinct
phases to the consumers’ journey with
the journey itself looping around in on
itself.
When a consumer creates the initial set
of brands to consider and also when
he or she is in the active evaluation
phase, social media plays a significant
role. The consumer asks friends and
Active EvaluationGather Information
Consumers add or subtract as they evaluate what they want
Post-Purchase ExperienceOn-going Exposure
After purchasing a product or service, the consumer builds expectations based on experience to inform their next decision journey
Loyalty Loop
Moment of PurchaseUltimately, the consumer selects a brand at the moment of purchase
Initial ConsiderationThe consumer considers an initial set of brands, based on brand perceptions and expsure to recent touch points
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Spread Your Content Around
Tip #5
As content is shared and spread through networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, the reach of the content can grow virally. This
can lead to substantial increases in visibility.
Along with improve-ments in search engine
rankings, content marketing can create
massive buzz and consistent referral
traffic, as well as drive sales or leads.
As content is picked up and syndicated from site to site, many links can be built to the company’s blog or home page. These
links can significantly improve the site’s overall visibility in search engines.
What is Content Marketing? Some of
the most effective inbound marketing
tactics include content marketing and
social media participation.
Social media is especially
important when it comes to
getting your content out there
and into the hands of your
buyer as they journey towards
your company. Consider
LinkedIn and Twitter. These are
places people go to share links,
ideally links to your content.
Due to the amplifying effects of social
media, it pays to create content that can
be linked to easily so people who find it
relevant can share it on Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook, and/or Google+
Consider Slideshare. While you could
put your slide presentations on your own
site, presentations are far more likely to
get found, picked up, and shared if you
use “Other People’s Marketing” muscle.
This is why we place your slide presen-
tations on a site like Slideshare that with
60MM uniques can greatly extend your
reach beyond the audience your website
alone can reach.
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Make the Content Compelling. Damn It!Of course, the content you develop can’t do its job if no one
notices it. Today’s buyers are bombarded by many more
advertising messages than ever before. In 1971, we estimate that
people were exposed to 560 messages in a typical day. Today, it’s
more like 3,000 messages a day, a significant difference.
Source: Shenk, in his book Data Smog, as detailed here: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=56750
Tip #6
To break through the clutter, you
must present yourself in a way that is
relevant to your buyer, speaks to them
in language they can relate to, and
compels them to take some sort of
action. No one ever bought a product
or service because they were bored.
Getting this right isn’t easy. You need
to be just brash enough to be noticed,
but not so edgy and out there that it
gets in the way of building a powerful
and meaningful relationship with your
potential customer. Brand credibility
and trust is important, especially if you
are selling a product or service that is
associated with a high price point or
is complex in nature. Today the buyer
has a lot at stake when they make a
purchase decision; a wrong purchasing
decision has significant risk attached.
When it comes to content this
is not a rhetorical question
The answer is always: NO
No one ever bought because
you bored them to death
Boring logo from Boring, Inc at http://boring.com
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Understand Your Buyers Pain Points
Tip #7
To be successful with content marketing,
you need to understand your buyers
problems and pain points. By pain we
don’t mean the literal pain the buyer
feels when they have a backache. We
mean the psychic pain that occurs
because their business or home is not
functioning the way they want and need
it to.
Whether your buyer is considering an
enterprise software solution that sits
“in the cloud” or is a high-net worth
individual looking to build a vacation
home, they go through the same
4-stops along the way to a purchase:
• Defining the problem
• Searching out solutions
• Evaluating a short list of companies
• Validating what they have learned
about your company – and its
competition – by talking with sales
people or the principals of your firm
Some buyers may move very quickly
from stop to stop, perhaps even within
a single meeting. Or, it can take weeks
or months between stops. All buyers
follow much the same cognitive journey.
Buyers don’t skip stops along their
journey. Neither should you or your
company.
Remember a buyer who has not yet
defined the problem isn’t ready to
get a data sheet or cut sheet that
describes your product or service in
glowing detail. What they need is
something that helps them with pattern
recognition … to see that the problem
they are having is one that your
company is adept at solving. The right
content early on in the buyers’ journey
could be a success story video, an
infographic, or a photograph placed on
someone else’s blog showcasing how
you solved the problem for a similar
type of buyer.
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Build a Content Map
Tip #8
Awareness Research Comparison Purchase
Blog Posts,
Social Media
Updates
eBooks
Webinars
Industry
Reports
Case Studies
Demos
Customer
Testimonials
Analyst
Reports
Detailed
Product Info
Buying Cycle
Knowing when a buyer gets to the
tipping point of action and moves from
one stage in their buying journey to
the next and mapping your content to
these different stages lies at the heart of
good content marketing. It’s important
to appreciate and understand that your
content needs to change to suit the
different stages of the journey. Different
stages require content that assists the
buyer with the decisions faced at that
stage of the journey.
Content marketing allows you to
maintain a relevant conversation with
your prospect. Clearly at early stages
in the buying journey a prospect is
not necessarily ready to acknowledge
anything particularly needs to change.
So your efforts need to focus on
awareness around the benefits that
your solution can provide. Later in the
journey, when your buyer is aware of
the benefits, they are more interested in
understanding exactly what your product
or service can do for them.
The process of figuring out what content
to provide when and where in the
buyer’s journey is called building the
content map.
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Nurture Leads Until They Are Sales Ready
Tip #9
Today’s buyers want to take control of
their own journey. They want to talk to
sales but only AFTER they are aware
of their problem, researched potential
solutions, and compared companies.
And the conversations they want to have
with your sales people or the principals
at your firm often takes the form of
validating what they have learned about
your company in their own research.
Which makes it important that you not
hand leads off to sales prematurely. Use
email to nurture leads – to keep you
top-of-mind with your potential buyer –
until they are ready to buy. If you know
the average prospect takes 4 months
before making a buy decision and
typically visits your website 60 times
– as is true for enterprise software
products (Source: Demandbase, 2011)
- set up your lead management system
and the handoffs between marketing
and sales accordingly.
Remember. Most people would rather
have their teeth drilled than talk to
a sales person. Introduce sales into
the equation only when the time is
right and you’ll actually find that your
close rate will go up, resulting in more
revenue.
Site Traffic
Website
Landing Pages,Microsites, Forms
Convert traffic into leads
Leads Database
Lead Scoring
Site Interactions
Sales-Ready LeadsAutomatic routing to the right
sales person at the right time
Customers
Closed-Loop FeedbackMeasure, refine, and repeat
Optimized Lead Generation System
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Don’t Think the Job is Ever Done.
Tip #10
When developing content to align with
the buyers’ journey, we find the job is
never done for two reasons. First, clients
tell us that producing the kind of content
that is engaging and producing enough
content are there two biggest marketing
challenges.
You need to be constantly refreshing
your content, to bring in new buyers with
new problems and also to make yourself
findable in search and social media.
No coincidence then that the Harvard
Business Review
reported that 53% of companies
plan to outsource some or all of their
marketing function.
Second, after the sale, the buyers’
journey continues.
It makes sense to continue to leverage
content marketing to showcase how
your company is delivering value to the
Producing the Kind of Content
that Engages Prospects/
Customers
Producing Enough Content
Budget to Produce Content
Lack of Buy-In/Vision from
Higher-Ups Inside Your Company
Producing a Variety of Content
Budget to License Content
customer. A
deeper understanding of the value you
are delivering will drive your customer
to be more loyal, spend more with you
over time to up lifetime value, and turn
that customer into an evangelist for your
brand. All activities proven to reduce
your overall sales and marketing costs
and up your profitability.
Need we say more?
B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarkts, Budgets and Trends
41%
20%
18%
12%
7%1%
www.openmarketing.com | 415.578.7060© 2012. Open Marketing Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Today buyers’ are in control of their own buying experience, a process we’ve
referred to here as the buyers’ journey. We’ve talked about 10 ways you
can align your content to the buyers’ journey so as to generate leads and
accelerate leads.
To get started with content marketing that aligns with your buyers’ journey,
email us at [email protected]
Next Steps
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San Francisco, 94105
1-415-578-7060
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Open Marketing is made up
of talented professionals
prepared to parachute in to
solve your toughest content
problems. Get the content
you need to accelerate sales
and tangible results you can
measure.
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