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Content Marketing and Social Selling
This document provides an overview of content marketing. It discusses how content marketing can reduce costs per lead compared to other methods like paid search. It also outlines how to develop an effective content marketing strategy, including listening to audiences, understanding their needs at different stages, and sharing relevant and engaging content. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of moderation in content sharing and providing contact information.
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Content Marketing and Social Selling
- 1. Content Marketing Mason Zimbler June 2012 www.mzl.com @masonzimbler
- 2. Agenda • Introduction • Background • How we do it • ROI of content marketing • Wrap up
- 3. Content syndication That makes me look good and helps me close deals . Content syndication should build a credible, expert brand throughout the buyer’s journey
- 4. IT Purchasing Cycle- DMU Involvement * Data source: Computer weekly, June 2012
- 5. Content marketing matrixmayhem Content matrices are all over the place • Design your own • Drive the CTA • Position as a thought leader • Assist in the creation of content – what role will this play • Allows gap identification www.smartinsights.com http://jess3.com/eloqua-content-grid-v2/
- 7. Objection handling Social toocontent-intensive for a lead-gen campaign Content can come from 45% anywhere Prospects wary of being marketed in “commerce-free-zone” Build trust 40% Unable to measure social campaign impact or ROI effectively Track content links and 37% reach metrics Social produces too many unqualified leads Training 29% Social networks not relevant to our core prospects Set listening from relevant 25% channels Too many possible channels to investigate/understand 23% Audit the landscape Source: Chief Marketer, “2012 Prospecting Survey” Feb 10, 2012
- 8. The customer lifecycle and the content portfolio Four key touchpoints along the customer life cycle Research Purchase Use product or Get customer product or product or service service service service 1. Content portfolio to guide customers through their buyer journey 2. Cross-channel pathways of communication have become the norm 3. Controlled sequencing of content streamlines quality customer experience 4. Collaborative selling and marketing optimizes the engagement 5. Calibration that focuses on refinement, not just reporting Source: Forrester “Content Marketing Is A Key Differentiator For Tech Marketers”, Jan 2012
- 9. CIOs’ content needsvary across their buying journey “When investigating, considering, and purchasing application management services, which type of vendor information do you seek?” Awareness Consideration Purchase Integration information Cloud usage, operation, Integration information and integration ROI tools/informational Industry examples Industry examples Awards and third-party Integration information Tech specs/benefits recommendations Base: 50 CIOs at US companies involved in the purchase of application management software Source: Forrester “Content Marketing Is A Key Differentiator For Tech Marketers”, Jan 2012
- 10. The roles ofearned, owned and paid media Media Type Definition Examples The role Benefits Challenges Owned Channel a • Website Build for • Control • No guarantees brand • Mobile site longer-term • Cost • Company media controls • Blog relationships efficiency communication • Twitter with existing • Longevity not trusted account and potential • Versatility • Takes time to customers and • Niche scale earned media audiences Paid Brand pays to • Display ads Shift from a • In demand • Clutter leverage a • Paid search foundation to a • Immediacy • Declining media channel • Sponsorship catalyst that • Scale response rates feeds owned • Control • Poor credibility Social selling and creates earned media sweet spot Earned When • Word of Listen and • Most • No control customers mouth respond – credible • Can be media become the • Buzz earned media • Key role in negative channel • “Viral” is often the most sales • Scale result of well- • Transparent • Hard to executed and and lives on measure well- coordinated owned and paid media Source: Forrester “How To Develop An Interactive Marketing Content Plan”, Aug 2011
- 11. The approach ina nutshell…. Listen Respond To customer questions With topical content What the industry’s talking about With relevant product solutions Which solutions fit the business need With case studies that will resonate
- 12. How we doit…
- 13. Get a goodgrounding • Do your research – Eaves drop on the conversations
- 14. Understand who theaudience is listening to 1. Identify key targets 2. Analyse key targets 3. Develop a tailored strategy Analyst Comparison Years experience 45 600 LinkedIn Connectrions 40 500 35 30 400 25 300 20 15 200 10 100 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Industry Experience (years) LinkedIn Connections
- 15. Support • Support structure: – How to keep up a consistent conversation? Monitor Listen Respond
- 16. Content criteria Some fundamentals: • Engaging • Not overly political • Not negative • Not disparaging towards brand or competitors Coveted content is gateable Example: IBM 2012 Global CEO Study
- 17. Have something toshare • Get organised • Deal with your own content monster • Align with PR/Product roadmaps/events • Have a hero piece • Cover holidays • Get industry weeks booked in and keep it themed • Get the internal/external blend down • Take a day off
- 18. Our social actions:content engagement Sharing Point Nod Interacting Bow Meet Chat Shout Promoting
- 19. Social selling bestpractice quadrant Content Sales focused Tone of Personal Business voice Social selling sweet spot Industry/ 3rd party
- 20. ROI of contentmarketing
- 21. Key advantages ofcontent marketing Content Marketing can... • Reduce your cost per lead by 80% within 5 months • Deliver a greater ROI than paid search • Have a considerable impact on both medium-sized and larger-sized companies: Medium sized ones pay 31% less than if they used paid search while larger-sized companies pay 41% less. Source: Content Marketing ROI reporting; Kapost
- 22. TMI? Everything in moderation……. * Read more: http://www.siriusdecisions.com/blog/thought-leadership-content-how-much-should-you- share/
- 23. If you wantto get in touch agriffiths@mzl.com @alanagriffiths linkedin.com/in/alanacgriffiths
- 24. Thank you foryour time © Mason Zimbler Limited 2012. The contents of this presentation are protected by copyright which belongs to Mason Zimbler Ltd. It should not be copied nor disclosed to any third party without the prior permission of Mason Zimbler Limited, which permission may be withheld at Mason Zimbler's absolute discretion.
Editor's Notes
- #4 Sales and marketing alignment Car industry People powerHave we really changed the way we purchase? People still want to speak to a real human Salesperson at the dealershipFamily, friends and word-of-mouthConsumer and shopping guidesDealer and manufacturer websitesThird-party Web sitesAutomotive magazine reviewsTV adsDealer or manufacturer brochureDealer or manufacturer-sponsored eventNewspaper adsAuto showsDirect mail from dealer and/or manufacturerNewspaper reviewsOnline videosE-mail from dealer and/or manufacturerMagazine advertisementFacebookRadio adsOutdoor adsTwitterChat rooms, blogs, online forumshttp://m.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-fail-study-finds-salespeople-not-social-media-influence-car-buyers-the-most/
- #8 Obstacles to lead generation within social networks according to US Marketers Dec 2011 (% of respondents)Content can come from anywhere - Don’t start selling, build a relationship, the content can come from anywhere, plus you can carve up bits of exiting content and point to relevant sectionsBuild trust - For a trusted relationship don’t link to content that requires data capture Track content links/reach metrics and influence scores to provide compelling stats for the business.Compare the cost of driving traffic to your site via other methods Training - APIs available in automated platforms, train sales people on understanding what a social lead looks like no more BANT/ but could cross reference with Job title dataSet listening to pull purchase behaviours onlyAudit the landscape to understand your relevant channels – fish where the fish are distil based on audience – i.e. value of member
- #14 Alana to mention variety across EMEA/APAC /NA – different rates of adoption maturity differing competitive landscape
- #15 Some highly revered industry analysts, may not be particularly active on social media sites, or may be much more active on particular sites than others.
- #19 SharingPoint: sharing a link to a piece of valuable contentNod: same as above, with acknowledgement of the source influencer.InteractingBow: giving extra recognition/credit to an influencerMeet: connecting and helping others to connectChat: dialogue; responding to others or making general commentsPromotingShout: driving traffic to vendor content and marketing (eg. IBM rep page)
- #20 Business tone is needed to become a thought leader, but still with a personal side – expressing opinions, responding to others etc. People need to know that you’re not automated.Too much sales-oriented content can damage credibility. You’ll look like you’re just trying to flog something. The balance between appearing to be an industry expert/thought leader, whilst still pushing your solution as a vendor is crucial.