Presented at MassTLC's April 4, 2014 Growth Hacking Summit (http://www.masstlc.org/event/id/400995/Sales--Marketing-Summit-Building-a-Lean-Self-Perpetuating-Marketing-Ma.htm ) - Jonathan Burg and Alan Belniak walk through some of the steps to create a content marketing strategy that aligns with the objectives of a B2B marketing funnel. In the session, they describe some of the pitfalls to avoid, and give practical, hands-on advice (via three break-out sessions) toward creating that strategy.

1. WORKSHOP: CREATING A
CONTENT STRATEGY TO ALIGN
WITH THE B2B FUNNEL
Jonathan Burg
@jonmburg
Alan Belniak
@abelniak
@MassTLC #MassTLC #B2BContent

2. INTRODUCTIONS
Jonathan Burg (@jonmburg)
 Director of Demand Generation at Apperian
 Led demand generation teams at three
leading Boston technology companies
 Focused on using content to drive
significant increases in sales pipeline
Alan Belniak (@abelniak)
 Led content and social initiatives at three
companies over past five years (two B2B)
 From social networking to launching a blog to
brand journalism to standing up and
implementing a content strategy

3. AGENDA
 Level-setting: what „is‟ content, why it matters for the B2B funnel, and
the state of the union
 WHAT is holding some of us back from crushing it?
 WHO are your buyers? Do you really know them?
 WHAT content do you need? WHAT content you already have?
 WHERE does (or will) your content live? HOW will it get read? HOW
often will you produce it?

4. B2B AND CONTENT MARKETING
of a buyer’s
decision is done
digitally
67%
The real message behind the 67 percent
statistic is that every marketing
organization must view its inbound efforts
as absolutely critical to success at all
stages of the buyer’s journey. Do not ignore
the role of inbound marketing at later
stages of the buyer’s journey, […]
-- Sirius Decisions – B2B marketing experts

5. WHY „CONTENT‟?
 Paid media is important, but once it gets turned off, it goes away
1. The first ranking position in the search results receives 42% of all
click-through traffic
2. The second position: 12%
3. Third position: 8%
4. The fourth placed position on page one: 6%
5. The others on the first page are under 5% of click through traffic
 Focus on useful and helpful… instead of sales-y
 … because your competition is

6. PAID VS. ORGANIC
6%
94%
click on paid
search results
click on organic
search results

7. WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE
OF CONTENT MARKETING?
How many of
you are here?

8. BIGGEST CONTENT MARKETING
HURDLES
 To produce content
that engages, that
can be
integrated, the right
amount, the right
variety…
 You need to ask the
right questions
 There are a lot of
excuses, but also
ways to overcome
these challenges

9. WHO IS YOUR BUYER?
DO YOU REALLY KNOW THEM?
 Who are you talking about?
 Why?
 Do you fundamentally understand?
 Let‟s talk personas
• not the same as “buyer profiles”
• understanding who your buyer really is

10. “IT‟S NOT YOU, IT‟S ME.”

11. IF CREDIBILITY IS THE GOAL…

12. ALIGNING CONTENT TO WHAT
YOUR BUYERS NEED
SiriusDecisions 2014

13. PERSONA DEVELOPMENT
 “Are you marketing to buildings or people (SiriusDecisions 2014)?”
 What is their industry?
 Who is the company?
 Where are they located?
 Who are the buyers and who are the users?
 What are their goals?
 What are their challenges?
 How do they solve their challenges?
 What is their day-in-the-life?
 Who are their team members?
 Where do they get their information?
 What is their commute like?
 What do they do for fun?
 What do they like to eat?
 Write, design, and create for your personas

14. GROUP DISCUSSION
What keeps your audience up at night (honestly)?
Not “how you want to speak to your market” but instead “these are
the issues that they really have; that our sales team hears; that we
see on Twitter”…
Focus on each different influencer, buyer, and user.
Do you know how your audience currently solve these pains? If
so, how? If not, why not?
What pains do you currently talk about solving for your audience (once
you know their pains)?
Do they care? Vitamin or medicine?

15. KEY TAKE-AWAY
 Listen to your customers
 Shadow prospecting calls
 Go on customer visits
 Create team goals to generate a culture of customer
orientation
 Create + use personas
 Segment, segment, segment
 Know who your buyers, users, and influencers in your
segments are
 Use personas to drive your campaign messaging framework

16. WHAT CONTENT DO I NEED?
 What content do I need to fuel my go-to-market plan?
 How do I make order out of the current content I have?

17. Early Stage
 Little or no brand recognition – many competitors
 A new problem or new solution or both
Marketing Mix
High quantity High quality
Events Sponsorships Direct MailSEO/SEMAdvertising
Surveys
3rd Party
Research
SeminarsWebinarsWhitepapers VIP Events
OutreachOffers
Credibility Trial ChampionAwareness Interest
Demos
Case
Studies
ALIGNING CONTENT AND
CHANNELS TO THE BUSINESS

18. Even Distribution
 Some brand recognition – a few competitors
 A new solution to an existing challenge
Marketing Mix
High quantity High quality
Events Sponsorships Direct MailSEO/SEMAdvertising
Surveys
3rd Party
Research
SeminarsWebinarsWhitepapers VIP Events
OutreachOffers
Credibility Trial ChampionAwareness Interest
Demos
Case
Studies
ALIGNING CONTENT AND
CHANNELS TO THE BUSINESS

19. Late Stage
 Strong brand recognition – consolidated
 An accepted solution
Marketing Mix
High quantity High quality
Events Sponsorships Direct MailSEO/SEMAdvertising
Surveys
3rd Party
Research
SeminarsWebinarsWhitepapers VIP Events
OutreachOffers
Credibility Trial ChampionAwareness Interest
Demos
Case
Studies
ALIGNING CONTENT AND
CHANNELS TO THE BUSINESS

20. AUDIT YOUR CONTENT
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1 2 3 4 5
AssetCount
Buying Stage
Demo/Video
Research/Sur
vey
Webinar
Whitepaper
Product Info
Case Study

21. GROUP DISCUSSION
Describe the current state of your content.
Do you have content now that speaks to your audiences?
Based on what you‟ve heard so far, and understanding your buyers
and markets, decide on which areas/facets you should be auditing your
content.
What gaps do you have (or have had)?
How are you going to fill these gaps?
Or, how have you solved these in the past?

22. KEY TAKE-AWAY
 Align your content to your go-to-market and industry
 Audit what you already have
 Audit everything, and on all relevant criteria
 Ensure or work toward having enough content for all stages
of the buy cycle

23. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR
CONTENT?

24. INBOUND TACTICS (FOR
TODAY, JUST SOCIAL MEDIA)
 You need to activate that
content
 Let people know it‟s there
 Promote, smartly, via
 LinkedIn
 Twitter
 Google+
 Facebook
 (notice the order)
 Be where your customers are
 Know that social networks are rented land
 The goal is to get them back to your site – you own + control that

25. OUTBOUND TACTICS
 Early
 Content syndication / advertising
 Partnering with top publications
 Integrated programs to subscribers
 Middle
 Digital and Live events
 Integrated programs of subscriber
base
 Late
 Appointment setting
 Target account acceleration tactics
and programs
All tactics and programs bound by messaging framework

26. ANOTHER TYPE OF AUDIT
 Where do your buyers go?
 Need to populate with the publisher audit

27. THEY SUBSCRIBED … NOW
MAKE IT EASY

28. TAKE AN INTEGRATED
APPROACH WITH CONTENT
 Start with buyer persona/s
 Develop content aligned to the
different stages
 Think about the optimal channels for
disseminating that content
 Have inbound, outbound, and
nurturing tactics / programs all align
with your core message
 Your inbound, outbound, and
nurturing programs will all rise
MESSAGING FRAMEWORK &
CONTENT STRATEGY
= PERPETUAL CONTENT
MARKETING
INBOUND
+
OUTBOUND
+
NURTURING
+
QUALIFICATION

29. GROUP DISCUSSION
Does all of your content go to all of your channels? Does it all work
equally well at driving traffic back to your site?
Where do your customers do their research?
Is it different for different personas?
Are some more valuable than others,per stage of the buy cycle?
Do you have a good relationship with a media partner? What does it look
like and how did you build it?
How do you make this work all together at your organization?

30. KEY TAKE-AWAY
 Don’t think of inbound and outbound separately
 All tactics and programs must be bound by messaging framework
and content strategy
 Think big, start small. Compartmentalize it:
 Quarter by quarter, month by month, week by week
 ID topics, products, services
 One to three times a week
 Mix of creation and curation
 Vary the formats
 Start to build relationships with the three most impactful places to start
disseminating your content
 Look at the results

31. WHEN DO I CREATE CONTENT?
HOW OFTEN? HOW MUCH?
 Often enough, but not too often

32. WRAPPING UP
 Start with understanding who you are going after
 Understand what makes them tick and what they want
 Understand that content that is helpful and less pitchy gets
shared
 Start with some value, quid pro quo (registration) for more
content (conversion)
 Re-purpose some existing time to focus on new content
 Re-use some of what you already have
 Get it in front of them in the right places, with a goal to drive
them back to your site

33. QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, STORI
ES
 Ask us anything*
 Share what you thought
 Tell us one of your stories
* almost anything

34. SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitfall!
http://www.siriusdecisions.com/blog/three-myths-of-the-67-percent-statistic/
http://www.siriusdecisions.com/blog/are-you-marketing-to-buildings-or-people/
http://www.leadformix.com/blog/2013/03/how-to-handle-the-bottom-of-the-funnel/
http://www.siriusdecisions.com/live/home/document.php?dA=CSRBuildingaContentStrategy
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/07/14/10-facts-reveal-the-importance-of-ranking-high-in-google/
http://digitalsynopsis.com/tools/google-serp-design/
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2200730/Organic-vs.-Paid-Search-Results-Organic-Wins-94-of-Time
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/
http://www.slideshare.net/CMI/b2b-content-marketing-2014-benchmarks-budgets-trends-north-america-by-
content-marketing-institute-and-marketingprofs
http://www.recourseresource.com/blog/employee-engagement/its-not-youits-me/
http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/online/what-b2b-buyers-want-to-see-on-vendor-websites-
41272/attachment/komarketinghuff-top-b2b-vendor-site-content-establishing-credibility-mar2014/
http://benstroup.com/2013/08/22/the-who-what-and-why-of-brand-journalism/
http://gapingvoid.com/2008/06/13/now-what/
http://www.brassmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CU-content.png
http://www.slideshare.net/KevinCain1/0-to-60

35. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
http://www.copyblogger.com/archives
http://moz.com/pages/search_results?q=content%20marketing
http://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/library/102/content
http://www.contentrulesbook.com/
http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/03/why-we-shouldnt-drop-the-
phrase-content-marketing/ (scroll down to „Schneider Electric)

36. HANDOUTS

37. WORKSHOP HANDOUTS:
CREATING A CONTENT
STRATEGY TO ALIGN WITH THE
B2B FUNNEL
Jonathan Burg
@jonmburg
Alan Belniak
@abelniak
@MassTLC #MassTLC #B2BContent

38. GROUP DISCUSSION #1
What keeps your audience up at
night (honestly)?
Answer “these are the issues
that they really have; that our
sales team hears; that we see on
Twitter”…
Focus on each different
influencer, buyer, and user.
How does your audience
currently solve these pains?
What pains do you currently talk
about solving for your audience
(once you know their pains)?
Do they care?
 What is their industry?
 Where are they located?
 Who is the company?
 Who are the buyers and who are
the users?
 What are their goals?
 What are their challenges?
 How do they solve their
challenges?
 What is their day-in-the-life?
 Who are their team members?
 Where do they get their
information?
 What is their commute like?
 What do they do for fun?
 What do they like to eat?

39. WORKSHEET #1
This Pains My Customer We Have This as a
Feature….
… that Translates into This
as a Benefit
1.
2.
3.
4.
Influencers Buyers Users
1.
2.
3.
4.

40. GROUP DISCUSSION #2
Describe the current state of
your content.
Do you have content now that
speaks to your audiences?
On which areas/facets do you
think you should be auditing your
content?
What gaps do you have (or have
had)? How are you going to fill
these gaps (or, how have you
solved these in the past)?
What Are Your Audit Variables?

41. WORKSHEET #2A
Asset/fo
rmat Awareness Consideration Close
List + plot your “go-to” assets
A nice guide
Where are you deep? Shallow?

42. WORKSHEET #2B
Q1 Q2
January February March April May June
Line of
Business 1
Product/Serv
ice 1
Product/Serv
ice 2
Product/Serv
ice 3
Line of
Business 2
Product/Serv
ice 1

43. GROUP DISCUSSION #3
Does all of your content go to all of your channels? Does it all work
equally well at driving traffic back to your site?
Where do your customers do research?
Do you have a good relationship with a media partner? What does it look
like and how did you build it?
How do you integrate these efforts at your organization?
Media Partner / Publication Audit
Media Partner /
Channel
Readership Subscription size Media Channels
Topics /
Reputation
Value per Program
Weight 30% 20% 15% 25% 10%