Developing Content for the Digital Conversaton

B2B Purchasing Behavior § Prefer to u?lize Web and social media to create a shortlist § Resistant to sales calls/messaging during this phase § Without 1:1 interac?on, seller has no control of the process 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Changes Role of MarkeCng § Marke?ng must take responsibility for early stage selling § Turning to technology to track buyer behaviors and automate interac?ons § U?lizing content to engage prospects and guide them through their buying process 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

What would you say are your greatest challenges in creaCng and opCmizing your demand generaCon efforts? 51% 44.9% 34.7% 24.5% 12.2% 8.2% Insufficient Insufficient Lack of Lack of Insufficient Other staff content processes exper?se technology 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

What campaigns have been the most successful for your department over the past year in driving leads and engaging prospects? 55.1% 42.9% 24.5% 8.2% 8.2% Content-‐based Events Search Telemarke?ng Other oﬀers marke?ng 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

How are you currently measuring the effecCveness of your content campaigns? Number of leads generated 75.5% Number of qualified opportuni?es it drives 73.5% Traffic driven to web site 49% Feedback from sales team 32.7% Ac?vity generated via social media 16.3% Other 8.2% 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Are you currently or are you interested in measuring the impact of specific content pieces on various phases of the sales funnel? We have no current need to measure specific impact 10.2% Yes, we are currently measuring 30.6% and acribu?ng the impact of 59.2% specific content We are not currently measuring, but are interested in tools that will help us measure the impact of specific content campaigns 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

As you evaluate your current content programs, where do you see the greatest opportunity to improve your results? Finding the right partners to 8.2% 28.6% drive content Increasing budget to fund content ini?a?ves 16.3% Iden?fying the right channels to distribute content 24.5% Developing the right mix of oﬀers 22.4% Mapping content to buyer needs 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

As you conduct win/loss analysis of your pipeline, do you currently measure the role content plays in influencing your customer’s purchase decisions? No we do not look at the role of content specifically 24.5% We are planning to include content influence in our win/loss reviews in 49% the next 12 to 24 months 26.5% Yes that is one of the factors we consider 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Please indicate if you have completed any of the following exercises to improve your content effecCves and the value of each step: Rate 1 – 4 with 1 being most value; N/A = Not Completed 1 2 3 4 N/A Conduc?ng an audit of exis?ng offers 23% 23% 15% 8% 31% Developing buyer personas 23% 13% 15% 2% 46% Mapping content to buyer needs and stages 35% 23% 6% 8% 29% Crea?ng assets and offers that align with the lifecycle of a prospect 33% 27% 17% 4% 19% 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

ConducCng A Content Audit 1.  Build a complete list of your current content assets, including web content, sales presenta?ons, case studies, etc. 2.  Try to map out the assets visually to correspond with diﬀerent buyer phases, including awareness, educa?on, considera?on and valida?on.; 3.  Assemble a list of poten?al content contributors, including internal and external op?ons, such as media partners, consultants, analysts, etc. 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Building Buyer Personas 1.  Start by determining your core target audiences. 2.  Avoid being too broad. For example, don’t just build profiles around broad ?tles such as CIOs. 3.  Determine what their pain points are and what is keeping them up at night. 4.  Drill down into common characteris?cs and needs for different buyer segments. 5.  Iden?fy acributes and preferences for these various profiles and segments. 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Mapping Content To Buyer Needs & Stages 1.  Iden?fy gaps in the current menu of assets to determine the buyer phases where you are light on content and build plans to create new assets. 2.  Develop content offers that address the unique needs of prospects at different stages of the buying cycle. 3.  Early stage content should start a conversa?on and address business issues. 4.  Later stage content should be more product specific and focus on purchasing concerns, such as ROI and compe??ve analysis. 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

CreaCng Assets & Oﬀers That Align With The Lifecycle Of A Prospect 1.  Think about mul?ple formats and channels for your messaging; don’t become over-‐ reliant on email messaging alone. 2.  Consider your cadence; you don’t want to contact prospects so oien that you become a burden, but you also don’t want to be forgocen about. 3.  Develop content oﬀers that will help progress and accelerate prospects through the buying cycle. 4.  Don’t jump too quickly to pricing and ROI; start out with research and case studies un?l they are ready to talk terms. 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Some Personas/Phases Lacked Adequate Content §  CXO oriented material for awareness to considera?on phase §  CMO material for closing phase §  Some content in wrong form 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

A Lot of Content Could be Repurposed §  Older white papers could be refreshed with more current examples §  Older content could be reused as current blog posts §  Turned white paper paragraphs into sales-‐ oriented e-‐mails 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Visibility Made Everything Work Be3er §  Pre-‐audit, our content strategy was foggy §  Post-‐audit, we: §  Understood where to focus §  Realized we were in becer shape than we thought §  Developed a baseline by which to measure future eﬀorts 12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Developing Content for the Digital Conversaton

by G3 Communications on Dec 30, 2011

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Developing Content for the Digital Conversaton — Presentation Transcript