Trends in B2B Marketing: Rebooting your Strategic Content and Communications - A Formula for an Evolved Enterprise

Rebooting your Strategic Content
and Communications: A Formula
for an Evolved Enterprise
Mat Zucker Hannah Flynn
With: Moderated by:
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About Mat Zucker
Partner, Digital, Prophet
Mat Zucker is a Partner at Prophet, a global growth consultancy. Mat manages the firm's Digital Discipline, and Communications
and Content Strategy offerings. Prior to Prophet, Mat was Global Executive Creative Director at Razorfish, Chief Creative Officer
at OgilvyOneNew York and Executive Creative Director at R/GA and Agency.com. Mat has served on multiple creative and
marketing juries, including Caples, Cannes Lions, Effie, and as a member of the American Express Digital Advisory Board. A
graduate of Cornell University, he started as a copywriter in advertising, speaks and writes regularly in the industry, including
Forbes.com, Content Management Institute, eContent and MarketingProfs. Mat is co-author of Altimeter’s report Key Elements
of Building a Unified Content Strategy.
About Hannah Flynn
Site editor, B2B Marketing Zone
Hannah went to The University of Chicago, where she majored in Environmental Studies with a concentration in
Economics and Policy. She now works with Aggregage on social media strategy and webinar production on sites such
as Product Management Today, B2B Marketing Zone, and Customer Experience Update.

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Hello.
Rebooting your Strategic Content and Communications:
A Formula for an Evolved Enterprise
@matzucker
@matzucker

5
Prophet believes there is
a better way to grow
Our expertise spans three key areas
BRAND + CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
How can we revitalize our brand?
How can we reposition our brand
relative to emerging competitors?
How can we leverage customer
experience as a growth lever?
DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
How do we leverage digital
disruption to win?
How do we create the right digital
experiences for our customers?
What new and improved products
and services can we create with
digital tools and data?
GROWTH
ACCELERATION
Where should we look for our
next wave of growth?
Who are my most valuable customers
today and in the future?
What is the right set of moves to drive
growth quickly and profitably?

6
What might your
enterprise look like
if it had been
designed in the last
20 years?
BEFORE 1995 DIGITAL AGE
Operations
Physical access
Broadcast
Service
Differentiation
Loyalty
Hierarchy
Big bang
Customers
Digital touchpoints
Interaction
Experience
Relevance
Engagement
Flat
Iteration

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Articulate the brand
Brand promise, purpose & principles
Brand manifesto
Brand narrative
FOUNDATIONAL EXPERIENTIAL
Define the expression
Messaging themes
Brand voice
Names & nomenclature
Portfolio thread
Engage through content
Content strategy
Thought leadership
Signature Stories
Brand Acts
Content marketing & campaigns
Engagement strategies
Operationalize
Data
Training
People
Process
Platforms & tools
This is forcing a shift in how companies need to
evolve their Strategic Communications

8
Brand manifesto
Brand narrative
Messaging themes
Brand voice
Portfolio thread
Content strategy
Thought leadership
Signature Stories
Brand Acts
Operationalize
Data
Training
People
Process
Platforms & tools
Poll 1: The biggest
challenge you’re seeing?

9
Articulate the brand story
Brand manifesto
Brand narrative
Messaging themes
Brand voice
Portfolio thread
Content strategy
Thought leadership
Signature Stories
Brand Acts
Operationalize
Data
Training
People
Process
Platforms & tools
1. Let’s start with building
your Brand Story

10
A brand manifesto is a short, emotive rallying cry that articulates the spirit,
intention and vision encapsulated by the strategy
COMMONKEYCOMPONTENTS

11
A brand narrative is a longer,
more detailed tool that grounds
the strategy or vision in business
capabilities and proof points
HOW(PROOF)WHERE

12
Where your brand story lives
Internal: Signage and Environments; Employee materials – recruiting and onboarding
External: Creative Briefs for Execution, Collateral, Social, PR, Web

13
Video to enhance storytelling of
the new brand
High level infographic to
showcase company scale
& impact
Additional call to action
driving to the “About Us” page
New company Mission clearly
called out

14
Rebooting your Strategic Content and Communications: A
Formula for an Evolved Enterprise
Poll 2: How well do you think you are using
your About section on your web site?

15
3M Citigroup Guardian Life MetLife Starbucks
Abbott Coca-Cola Home Depot Microsoft Swiffer (P&G)
Accenture Colgate (brand) Honda Motor Nestle Target
Adidas Colgate-Palmolive HP Netflix The Clorox Company
Alphabet Costco IBM Nike TIAA
Amazon Cushman & Wakefield Intel Nordstrom Tide
American Express CVS Health Johnson & Johnson Patagonia Toyota Motor
Anthem Deere JP Morgan Chase Pepsico Unilever
Apple Delta Kroger Procter & Gamble United Health Group
AT&T Disney Lockheed Martin Salesforce.com UPS
Bank of America Exxon Mobil Lowe's Samsung USAA
Ben and Jerry's Facebook LVMH SAP Verizon
Berkshire Hathaway FedEx Maersk Schneider Electric VISA
BMW GE Marriott Shire Walmart
Boeing Genentech (Roche) Mayo Clinic Singapore Airlines Warby Parker
Caterpiller General Mills McDonald's SONY Wells Fargo
Charmin (P&G) General Motors McKesson Southwest Airlines Whole Foods Market
Chevron Gilette (P&G) McKinsey St. Jude Medical (Abbott) Zurich Financial
Chick-Fil-A Goldman Sachs Merck

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19

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21

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Brand manifesto
Brand narrative
Messaging themes
Brand voice
Portfolio thread
Content strategy
Thought leadership
Signature Stories
Brand Acts
Operationalize
Data
Training
People
Process
Platforms & tools
2. Define the expression

23
Messaging themes are the middleware between your strategy and your content experiences, balancing
what you want to say with what your audience wants to hear. The biggest ideas driving the brand
converted into actionable guidance that flexes across topics and audiences.

24
Voice principle and tactics
Before and after examples
Brand voice helps to guide the creative, stylistic aspect of how a brand writes and
speaks, translating an organization’s personality or DNA into actionable guidance

25
Brand manifesto
Brand narrative
Messaging themes
Brand voice
Portfolio thread
Content strategy
Thought leadership
Signature Stories
Brand Acts
Operationalize
Data
Training
People
Process
Platforms & tools
3. Engage through (Signature) Content

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A framework for Content Strategy

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Start with your vision for content
“We are going to be the
Red Bull of travel and
hospitality content”
“We will help current and
prospective customers make
investment decisions by providing
thought leadership & expertise,
leveraging content as a currency
for engaging with them”
“We will use our stories to
earn the trust of our
customers, inspire loyalty and
activate brand preference”

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Shire: Content Strategy Foundation 17Proprietary and confidential. Do not distribute.
ERIC
HEDGE FUND MANAGER
WITH A HIGH VOLUME
INVESTMENT INTEREST IN
SHIRE
OVERVIEW
Eric is a manager at a large hedge fund
that evaluates companies like Shire with
a long-term, high volume investment
focus. Eric is busy with high demands
on his time, so he’s always looking for
ways to learn what he needs to know as
quickly and effectively as possible.
As an investor with a longer term focus,
Eric and his team of analysts are
extremely dedicated to conducting a
great deal of research up-front.
However, they also continuously
engage with content from companies
like Shire to monitor the stability and
forward-looking projections of the firms
they invest in.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
“Why should I trust you
with my money?” MEETING CONTENT DESIRES
What types of content does/could Shire
produce to meet this audience’s key
content desires?
KEY QUESTIONS FOR CONTENT STRATEGY
KEY CONTENT DESIRES
• Comprehensive: Eric knows the types of data he
needs—he wants performance reports that are easy to
find and digest, with key data all in one place
• Honest and Transparent: Eric wants to trust all
reporting—even if a trial didn’t go as expected, he
prefers a company be open and forthcoming about it
• Contextually Relevant: Eric is concerned with the
bigger picture—companies should address news,
legislative, or contextual issues to avoid “headline risk”
PEOPLE HE TURNS TO
WHERE HE LOOKS
PAINPOINTS AND OPPORTUNITY AREAS
HOW HE ENGAGES WITH CONTENT
WHAT HE WANTS TO KNOW
PERFORMANCE & TARGETS
Eric wants to know how a company like
Shire performs currently, historically
and with trajectory—from its ability to
meet current sales targets to forward-
looking projections
PIPELINE & DEVELOPMENT
Eric will thoroughly investigate Shire’s
pipeline and ability to bring it to market;
he will also look at competitors with
similar drugs in development
NEWS & MARKET DYNAMICS
Eric is acutely aware of broader market
dynamics, legislative news, and overall
trends that may shape his opinion of a
company’s future stability
Eric uses Shire’s investor data
and reporting as a key primary
source for performance and
projections. However, he also
examines a significant amount of
third party content, including
other analyst/investor reports,
industry-specific newsletters,
and general news/media
coverage.
• Focusing on What’s Changed: Eric doesn’t like sifting
through the same information twice—especially in
performance reports—and wants companies to instead
focus on key changes, what’s different from the last
report, or any new trends
• Getting Past the “Sugar Coating”: Eric believes the
numbers are what hold the ultimate truth, and hates
having to sift through “sugar coated” company reports if
something didn’t go as expectedDAILY DAILY INFREQUENTLY
OTHER
ANALYSTS
BUY-SIDE
CLIENTS
SHIRE
LEADERSHIP
ALLEVIATING PAINPOINTS
produce to alleviate key painpoints for
this audience?
CREATING INTERNAL VALUE
How might the content we produce for
this audience be used to create value
for internal audiences as well?
BUY-SIDE
INVESTOR
JILL
LAB TECHNICIAN FROM A
MID-SIZED BIOTECH
COMPETITOR
OVERVIEW
Jill is a lab technician at a mid-sized
biotech firm. She has 10 years of
experience through different firms in
biotech and biopharma, but she is
considering new opportunities because
she is looking for a place where she can
both grow in her career and actually see
the impact of her work.
As a job seeker with experience, Jill
knows what she is looking for in a new
job and doesn’t want to risk a bad
choice. She is willing to tap every
resource at her disposal to ensure she
makes the right choice.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
“Would working at Shire
be better than my current
situation?”
KEY CONTENT DESIRES
• Authentic: Jill wants to know that she is not absorbing
“company-speak.” She needs an authentic view into the
company and is willing to verify sources to ensure it
• Multifaceted: Jill wants to know what she is getting out
of the company—not just what she is adding—from its
reputation to technological expertise
• Broadly Accessible: As a candidate busy with a job and
family, Jill wants to access career resources seamlessly
in a variety of situations on her different devices
PEOPLE SHE TURNS TO
WHERE SHE LOOKS
HOW SHE ENGAGES WITH CONTENT
WHAT SHE WANTS TO KNOW
CAREER GROWTH & REWARDS
Jill wants to fuel her success, and is
concerned with her immediate and
long-term growth as well as the holistic
benefits at her new potential new firm
COMPANY CULTURE
Jill knows that she wants a firm with a
mission and values that she aligns
with; she also wants to be around
others who share those values
JOB CONTENT & ROLE
Jill wants to know that her day-to-day
experience will be a good fit for her
goals and skills, and she wants clarity
in the structure of who she would be
working with
Jill takes an exhaustive
approach to content. While she
turns to Shire as a primary
source, she looks to validate any
information she finds through
“real employee” accounts on
Glassdoor, LinkedIn, or through
her personal network.
• Identifying the Right Job Fit: When looking at firm with
an unfamiliar organization structure, it can be hard for Jill
to find the correct job postings or even departments to
get the most accurate view of where she would fit
• Gaining an Inside Perspective: As a job seeker, it is
difficult for Jill to know if firm created content is a reliable
source of information so she cross verifies research—but
even then she knows that it is hard to see an actual
employee’s point of viewCONSISTENT
CONSULTATION
MOMENTS OF
DECISION
MOMENTS OF
OUTREACH
FAMILY AND
FRIENDS
PROFESSIONAL
NETWORK
RECRUITERS
EXPERIENCED
HIRE
MEETING CONTENT DESIRES
content desires?
produce alleviate key painpoints for this
audience?
m
KATE
WRITER AT A PUBLICATION
COVERING SCIENCE,
INNOVATION, AND TECH
OVERVIEW
Kate is a journalist at a magazine that
covers science, innovation, and
technology. They produce primarily
online content and publish a selection of
pieces daily. The rigorous schedule
means that Kate is constantly on a tight
deadline and leans on known resources
to get reputable content quickly.
Kate is most interested in getting an
exclusive or unique angle that she
knows her readers will dig into. Her
editor tracks her articles’ performance
statistics so she knows what will go
over well with her readers. That being
said, Kate is first and foremost a writer
because she loves the job so she
always prefers stories that interest her
personally.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
“What would be
interesting and fresh for
my audience?”
KEY CONTENT DESIRES
• Shareable and Interesting: Kate balances her interests
with the interests of her readers—she seeks content that
is both shareable for them and interesting for herself
• New or Exclusive: Kate wants to have some kind of new
angle into her stories—nothing that has been overdone
and no old news unless she has an interesting angle
• Open and Direct: Kate wants content to feel transparent
and comprehensive—she’s willing to dig for more, but
doesn’t want to feel like there is too much red tape
PEER INTERACTIONS
WHERE SHE LOOKS
HOW SHE ENGAGES WITH CONTENT
WHAT SHE WANTS TO KNOW
STUDY RESULTS & DISCOVERIES
As a science, innovation, and tech
journalist, Kate is interested in stories that
are at the forefront of what’s happening—
that are breakthrough or first of its kind
IMPACT & SOCIETAL APPLICATION
Kate wants to write pieces that resonate
with her readers so she is interested in
knowing how it effects the general public
and why they should care
EXPERT AVAILABILITY & OPINION
Kate prefers direct access to expert
sources who would know details of the
studies. She wants to know who they
might be and if she can access them
Kate is on a time crunch with her
publication cycle but is still
exhaustive in the sources of
information she explores—micro-
blogs, industry experts, news
wires, and PR reps among others.
She also taps into her network,
leaning on industry friends, other
journalists, or conferences.
• Seeing All Sides: Kate writes stories that resonate with
her readers and needs the information to enable her to
do that—details of both the failures and successes
• Finding the Right Person: Once Kate has a story in
mind she has to find the right trustworthy sources to lend
appropriate detail, and sometimes, the people that are
most accessible are not the ones she trusts the most
such as PR representatives
SCIENCE
JOURNALIST
DAILY DAILY INFREQUENTLY
EDITOR
OTHER
JOURNALISTS
PR AGENCIES
MEETING CONTENT DESIRES
content desires?
produce alleviate key painpoints for this
audience?
Understand your audience content needs

29
Content as Presence: Content that entertains and engages a broad audience while promoting
brand awareness and brand health
Content as Window: Inward focused content that highlights the brand’s employees, practices and
culture to promote transparency and trust with the customer. Creates transparency and trust
Content as Currency: High-value, high-investment content that helps the customer make a decision
in their personal or professional lives and promotes the brand as a subject matter expert.
Content as Support: Product-focused content that educate customers about specific features and
helps them operate, repair and best utilize the brand’s products. Keeps brand engaged post-purchase
Content as Community: Content that promotes and serves a niche
community of customers that is supported by the brand. Connects customers with each other.
Source: Altimeter @ Prophet: Key Elements of Building a Content Strategy, March 2016
5 Content Strategy Archetypes

30
Engaging through Signature Content
Signature
Stories
Thought
Leadership
Content Marketing
& Campaigns

31
What are Signature Stories?
A Signature Story is a “once about a time”
account of an event or experience.
It is not a set of facts.
It breaks out of clutter and disinterest
with some “Wow!” element.
It has a strategic message delivered with
authenticity, not perceived as phony
or selling.
It activates the brand. It isn’t a brand story.

32
What do they contain?
A punchy problem, solution, or outcome
Being exceptionally entertaining, unusual,
or informative
An emotional connection
Characters that connect
A tension or surprise

33
Founder Story: ZOOM
Husband frustrated by long distance relationship
founded $1B company
Many of us know the frustrations of long distance
relationships, but we don’t all turn that frustration into a $1B
company like Eric Yuan, founder of Zoom.
Yuan founded the video conferencing company after
experiencing the discomfort of the 10-hour train rides to visit
his now-wife when they were in college.
He joined WebEx early in 1997, staying through its acquisition
by Cisco in 2007. Convincing engineers to leave Cisco to
start Zoom with him, he built a new team around the idea for
a video experience so strong it would allow him to take no
more than two business trips per year, or so he promised his
wife.
Yuan succeeded, creating a product used by companies
worldwide, and keeping his promise to his wife.
From “Zoom CEO's Promise To His Wife Helped Inspire A $1B Company”, Forbes

34
Client Story: SKYPE
Personal trainer keeping her client base
after moving
After 12 years teaching Pilates in Georgia, Denise Posnak
moved to New York, but she wanted to keep training her
Georgia clients.
What to do? Skype was the answer.
Using it, she could teach those clients from her New York
base or wherever she was traveling. In fact, the clients’
experience improved. They no longer needed to drive to the
sessions or wear fancy workout attire, and their comfortable
home environment engendered amore efficient workout.
Clients who traveled could tap in from wherever they
happened to be. (One was in a different place each week.)
With this new operating method, Posnak is now teaching
people around the world.

35
Growth move story: UPS
Logistics expert UPS did research into its supply chain
and found that prioritizing right turns in the U.S. (vs.
waiting at lights for left turns) was more efficient in
both speed and fuel usage.
The strategy has paid off, shaving 20m+ miles off
routes and delivering 350,000
more packages.
This Signature Story reinforces their logistics promise,
and is great for PR, talent attraction not to mention
cocktail parties.

36
About Thought Leadership
Source: Edelman and Linkedin, 2017
16% of CMOs spend at least four hours per week
engaging with thought leadership content.
9 out of 10 business decision-makers find
thought leadership content important or critical
What it is: Content that establishes an
authority on a set of thought-provoking
topics through research and a deep
understanding of your customers, their
needs, and the overall market.
Brand’s authority
in market
Customer-driven
content
Research-based
insights
THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP

37
Building out a Thought Leadership strategy
1 OVERARCHING POV
ANCHORED IN POSITIONING
3-4 TERRITORIES THAT LADDER
UP TO THE POV
~15 CURATED TOPICS &
RESEARCH-BACKED INSIGHTS
TO GUIDE CONTENT
DEVELOPMENT

38
Ebooks, White papers Proprietary ResearchSuccess Stories

39
Interactive formats work well
96% believe that
content interactivity
impacts buyers’
decisions as they go
through their journey.
(2018 Benchmark Report,
DemandGen and iON Interactive)

40
Thought leadership > Advertising

41
Content marketing beyond the infographic
Improving customer relationships through
social media
HubSpot Mean Tweets
Content hub to help customers work
faster, smarter and more efficiently
Zendesk’s Relate Dell Trailblazers
Building brand expertise through
influencer marketing via Podcast

42
Channel engagement strategies

43
4. Operationalize for the Digital Age
You can’t be strategic on the outside without being intentional on the inside.
This step is more than adding tools; it’s up-skilling people and rethinking processes.
People
Defining the right roles
and responsibilities
across modern strategic
communications
affecting departments
such as corporate
communications
and marketing
Process
Establishing clear
processes that enable
agile and iterative
execution on strategies
and content, including
transliteration for
different markets and
flexing to new and
evolving channels
Platforms & Tools
Investing in the right
technologies and tools that
will enable effective
execution and management,
especially to enable agile
iteration in messaging,
content development and
measurement of efforts
Data
Integrating and
activating data as part of
formation of strategies,
naming, messaging,
content, and continuous
iteration
Training
Using interactive
sessions and digital
experiences to teach
writers, marketers,
agencies, legal
stakeholders and sales
teams how to deliver
aspects of the strategic
communications
strategy

44
Process - Document it
CONTENT
PLANNING AND
TOPIC
DEVELOPMENT
Fueled by research
and data
GOVERNING BOARD
& WORKING TEAM
COLLABORATION
QA &
APPROVAL
DISTRIBUTION
AND
AMPLIFICATION
Internal & in-market
CONTENT
DEVELOPMENT
Process reflecting core
content asset
KEY ACTIVITIES WITHIN CONTENT: PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND LAUNCH
(1)
Out-
source
(2)
Co-
create
(3)
In-house
XXX
XXX
XXX
MEASUREMENT
Identifying new
content needs or
changes
XXX

45
Detail roles and responsibilities

46
Create custom tools
Example: Content prioritization tool

47
Brand manifesto
Brand narrative
Messaging themes
Brand voice
Portfolio thread
Content strategy
Thought leadership
Signature Stories
Brand Acts
Operationalize
Data
Training
People
Process
Platforms & tools
Start on the left, start in the middle, just start

48
Q&A
Partner, Digital, Prophet
Linkedin page: in/matzucker
Twitter ID: @matzucker
Website: prophet.com
Site Editor, B2B Marketing Zone
Linkedin page: in/hannahmichaelflynn/
Twitter ID: @b2bmarketingz
Website: b2bmarketingzone.com
Mat Zucker
With:
Hannah Flynn
Moderated by:
www.b2bmarketingzone.com/webinar-series/trends-in-b2b-marketing

Trends in B2B Marketing: Rebooting your Strategic Content and Communications - A Formula for an Evolved Enterprise

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