marketingprofs b2b forum 2010 - content marketing
DESCRIPTION
MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2010 - Unleash the Power of Content to Engage Your Prospects. Presented by Amy Black, Michele Linn, Pam O'Neal and Stephanie Tilton.TRANSCRIPT
UNLEASH THE POWER OF CONTENT TO ENGAGE YOUR PROSPECTS
May 5, 2010
Agenda
• Content Marketing The Drive to Deliver Relevant Content 8 Steps to a Solid Content Strategy Stephanie Tilton and Michele Linn
• How BreakingPoint Used Content to Increase New Customer Acquisition by 240%Pam O’Neal, VP Marketing, BreakingPoint
• How Kadient Built a Content Library that Maps to the Sales CycleAmy Black, Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Kadient
It’s the End of the (B2B) World As We Know It
Photo credit: zachwass2000 on flickr
The Disconnect…and the Implication
Buyers only find relevant content 42% of the time.
Source: IDG Communications
The lack of relevant content as perceived by buyers is responsible for reducing the vendor's chance of closing the sale by 45%.
Almost 95% of recent purchasers said the solution provider they chose “provided them with ample content to help navigate through each stage of the buying process.”
The Opportunity…
Source: DemandGen and Genius.com - Inside the Mind of the B2B Buyer
66% of respondents indicated the “consistent and relevant communication provided by both the sales and marketing organizations” was a key influence in choosing that company as their solution provider.
Source: DemandGen Report and Genius.com
What Does that Mean to You?
Photo credit: HansKristian on flickr
Deliver Valuable, Relevant Content
“Create the kind of online content that your buyers naturally gravitate to.”
- David Meerman Scott Author of The New Rules of
Marketing & PR
Content Marketing is the Secret
"Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”- Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett, Authors of Get Content. Get Customers.
Creating a Content Strategy
Listen Develop buyer personas Map content to the buying cycle Think like a publisher Commit to remarkable content Extract maximum value from every asset Make your content easy to find, access, and shareMeasure
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Google Alerts
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Google Blog Search
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Understand Your Audience
Forrester: For B2B Tech Companies, Demographics Shape Adoption
Top 5 influences, application developer Top 5 influences, enterprise architect
Peers and colleagues (word of mouth) Peers and colleagues (word of mouth)
Vendor, industry trade, or professional Web sites
Your direct vendor salesperson
Technology or business publications, magazines
Consultants, value-added resellers, or systems integrators
Consultants, value-added resellers, systems integrators
Vendor, industry trade, or professional Web sites
Your direct vendor sales person Technology or business publications, magazines
Base: North American and European technology decision-makers at firms with 100 or more employees
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Understand Your Audience
CIO Archetypes and Focus1. Function head – Achieving IT operational excellence2. Transformational leader – Creating enterprise-wide
change3. Business strategist – Driving business strategy
CIO Magazine: State of the CIO 2009 3 6 87541 2
"a short biography of the typical customer, not just a job description but a person description.”
Develop Buyer Personas
“The buyer persona profile gives you a chance to truly empathize with target buyers, to step out of your role as someone who wants to promote a product and see, through your buyers' eyes, the circumstances that drive their decision process.”
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Bring Your Prospects to Life
CIO Joe, CIOTransformational Leader
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Sample Persona
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Map to the Buying Process
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Understand Content Preferences
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Understand Content Preferences
Source: Aberdeen Source: TechTarget 2009 Media Consumption Report:Mindset of the IT Pro During the Recession 3 6 87541 2
Map to the Buying Cycle
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Map Content
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“We tend to think of intimacy as being personal—something for the salespeople. But we can do it by reliably delivering valuable content. Magazines have been doing it for years. Consistency, relevance, and quality create a very intimate relationship with readers.”- Chris Koch, ITSMA
Think Like a Publisher
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Create an Editorial Calendar
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Keys for the Editorial Calendar
• Be consistent DO: Deliver content on a regular basis DON’T: Publish only when you have something new
• Commit to your content DO: Think about the content your audience prefers DON’T: Try a lot of things but don’t do anything
well• Map out content
DO: Move people through the buying cycle DON’T: String random pieces of content together
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Craft Valuable, Relevant Content
Variables ConsiderationsTarget buyer Who is this for? Stage in buying cycle
Where are they in the cycle?
Topic What are the buyer’s concerns?Key message How can we address these concerns?Content source Who can provide information –
employees, partners, customers, analysts?
Call to action What do we want the prospect to do next?
Remarkable traits What will make this worth sharing?3 6 87541 2
Example: Competitive Comparisons
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Example: Shake Up Your Case Studies
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Extract Maximum Value from Every Asset
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Click to edit Master title style
Don’t . . .• Customize content based on
the channel (e.g. mobile)• Ask “How can give my
readers a new way of understanding a key issue?“
• Include a plan to reuse content from the start
• Customize your content for a certain audience, vertical or place in the buying cycle
Do . . .• Simply put the same
content in different channels
• Ask “What more can I create?”
• Consider content reuse as an afterthought
• Recycle the same content again and again
Repurposing Content
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Make Content Easy to Find, Access, and Share
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Make Content Easy to Find
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Make Content Easy to Access
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Source: Ecollo Media 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report 3 6 87541 2
Make Content Easy to Share
Make Content Easy to Share
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Measure the Impact
Photo credit: Tyrone Shum on flickr 3 6 87541 2
How BreakingPoint Leveraged Technical Content to Increase New Customer Acquisition by 240%
Case Study
Pam O’NealVice President of MarketingBreakingPoint Systems, Inc.
“Do not interrupt what people are interested in;
be what people are interested in.”
Jeff LanctotAvenue A | razorfish
Becoming Interesting
Developing Buyer Personae
Monitoring, Engaging, Prioritizing
• Mine for topics and opportunities (key influencers)
• Capture the conversation• Analyze SEO keyword
volume• Monitor analytics to ID
popular topics• Identify and create content
for buyer needs, issues• Prioritize content by effort• Identify opportunities
Speak to Your Buyers
• Create blog, forum, community• Deliver role-based content• Optimize for search• Build community of interest
• Pull with “conversation” • Pull with SEO, viral content • Push with SEM, email
• Monitor popular content• Maintain with fresh valuable
information
Content Aggregation
Content Distribution
“Forget about your home page. Google is the new home page.”
Seek to be Found - SEO
Spread the Word
Use Case Targeted Sales
PresentationsMembership in BreakingPont
Group and Other Key Groups
Monthly Webcast Promotions
Key Messages and Thought Leadership Content
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Integrate with Drip Marketing
LAUNCH PHASE LEADERSHIP PHASE
Return Visitor Growth
Sustained Growth in
Inbound LeadsContent Testing
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Measure and Optimize Results
Building a Content Library that Maps to the Sales Cycle
Case Study
Amy BlackSenior Marketing Communications ManagerKadient
A Little Background48
1997 2007
2009
Cha-cha-cha-changes49
Mapping Content to the Sales Cycle
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• What’s your key objective for the piece?
• How else can you use it?
Kadient’s Content Library – A Sampling
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Content Library: Top of Funnel /Lead Gen
• “How to” – Impart practical knowledge• Provocative – Challenge and introduce a new way to
think• Fresh format – eBook, conversation style, images,
video
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Content Library: Nurturing
Entertain with relevant, attention-grabbing humor(also great for viral program)
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• Harness customer voices• Highlight third party validation
Content Library: Nurturing
Content Library: Lead to Opportunity
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• Connect prospects with internal expertise
Content Library: Sales – Opportunity to Close• Making the iron clad case• Showing how Kadient is different and better • Getting over the hurdles
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A Few Parting Thoughts
• Remember who you are “talking” to• Keep your key objective front and
center• Break through the clutter – stand out!
Entertainment Provocative POVs Video – short, sweet and interesting
• Create content you can repurpose• Listen to your sales team• Pay attention to what is & isn’t
working
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Staying ConnectedMichele Linn, B2B Content Strategist, Linn
CommunicationsConnect: www.linkedin.com/in/michelelinnFollow: @MicheleLinnContact: [email protected]
Stephanie Tilton, Content Marketing Consultant, Ten Ton Marketing
Connect: www.linkedin.com/in/tentonmarketingFollow: @StephanieTiltonContact: [email protected]
Pam O’Neal, Vice President of Marketing, BreakingPoint
Connect: www.linkedin.com/in/breakingpointFollow: @ponealContact: [email protected]
Amy Black, Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Kadient
Connect: http://www.linkedin.com/in/amyjblackFollow: @amyblackContact: [email protected]