The document discusses the necessity of integrated sales and marketing strategies for B2B tech brands to effectively navigate digital transformation and enhance customer experiences. It emphasizes understanding buyer personas, delivering unique insights, and employing a customer-centric approach to create meaningful interactions and drive growth. Additionally, it highlights the importance of consistent messaging across multiple channels to build brand differentiation in a competitive marketplace.

1. @HelenMcI
uk.linkedin.com/in/helenmcinnesMarch 2015
How to digitally transform
your B2B tech brand & end-customers
…with truly integrated sales & marketing content campaigns

2. 2
The…
1.Why?
2.What?
3.Who? &
4.How?
…of B2B tech content marketing
Agenda
Big ideas
Credibility
Timing

3. 3
We need to “feed the sales funnel” by driving brand
differentiation and preference amongst
B2B buyers
…but also create new growth
opportunities through thought leadership
(driving higher and wider into our customer accounts)
…with truly integrated sales, marketing &
communication content campaigns
The key to success…

4. 4
of B2B buying decisions are made
before consultation with a
vendor
The end of solution sales
Why?
60%

5. 5
Life is becoming more challenging in
the era of convergence…
“Digital transformation”
Convergence of content and communication channels
(e.g. TV Anywhere or software as a service + mobile + broadband
connectivity in the consumer & enterprise multi-play markets)
Move to open, programmable, software-defined everything (SDx), all-IP,
cloud-based networks
Greater competition between mobile & IT network vendors;
Communication Service Providers & OTT (Over The Top) providers
“Virtual showdown”

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 Business driver – profitability:
The margins in “dumb pipes are poor” (for Communication Service Providers)
and “hardware tin are thin” (for networking vendors):
- Everyone wants to be a solution provider (services-led, software-driven and
hardware-enabled) and deliver a better overall “consumer experience”
 Structural changes in the industry – convergence to deliver a better,
omni-channel consumer/enterprise experience:
- Multi-play services in the residential sector: broadcast-broadband-mobile
(content + communications):
- Digital transformation services in the enterprise sector: VPN/WAN/LTE+/Wi-
Fi/SaaS etc./mobility apps/IoT/big data solutions that boost mobile workers’
productivity and the end-consumers’ omni-channel service experience (mobile-
online-physical/fixed)
 Enabling technologies - multi-vendor, open, programmable networks:
- The move to all-IP networks; virtualisation (SDN/NFV); Open Linked Data + cloud
service provision & analytics mean networking and computing vendors are now
competing against each other
Perfect storm…

7. 7
of senior executives believe that the
salesperson doesn’t know enough
about their buyer’s business to bring
any value to a meeting...
…just 25% will take a second meeting
(Forrester)
We need to deliver deeper insights
64%

8. 8
1. Identify the
big issues
2. Anticipate the
need for
change
3. Have a unique
point of view
4. Innovate to
create business
opportunity5. Guide your
customers
to success
What?...

9. 9
Relevant Deals with big issues buyers face
Provocative Challenges conventional thinking
Forward-looking Anticipates what’s coming over the horizon
Distinct Different from what everyone else is saying
Inspiring Energizes people about this way of thinking
Actionable Provides actionable advise on what customers can do now
Results-driven Using the ideas can produce break-through results
Conversational The tone encourages a dialogue and feedback
Credible Your company can help people get there
Independent Makes no reference to your product names/services
Source: Laura Ramos, Forrester
Content checklist….

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 “Buying personas” - understand
B2B buyer motivations:
i) Job title ii) pain points iii)
motivation to buy iv) influencers
(events, media, analysts, groups,
social sites, influencers, peers,
forums etc.) v) where in buying
journey?
Risk #1: Can results in a product-
centric focus on known immediate
needs & budgets
- This is what the competition is
doing so it can be hard to
differentiate
- Often a customer has problems &
they don’t yet know the solution
Risk #2: Can ignore the “end-user”
- We’re living in a C2B2B world
where consumers and enterprise
workers are increasingly calling the
shots (BYOD, CYOD, COPE,
consumerisation & democratization
of IT knowledge)
Risk #3: B2B buying journeys tend
to be long & involve many
functions (e.g. increasingly LOB-led
+ CMO/CXO, procurement etc.)
Risk #4: This approach can ignore
customers returning to the buying
funnel (e.g. with EoL – End of Life
solutions)
Who?...

11. 11
“If I asked the
customer what they
wanted, they would
have said a faster
horse.”
Henry Ford
Undefined needs

12. 12
“The purpose of a business it to create
[and keep] a customer. [Marketing-
led innovation is the key].”
Adapted from Peter Drucker
Increasing the sales funnel…

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Slicing the market…
 Solutions: Services, software, hardware, middleware, consulting,
outsourcing (IT and business process), cloud, analytics, mobile,
security, video networks, UC etc.
 Buying personas: CEO, CTO, CIO, CISO, CFO, CMO, CXO, CPO, IT
Director, Network Engineer, “ops” directors - application/storage
owners, VP sales, Line of Business (LOB) or Business Unit (BU), etc…
 Verticals: Media/entertainment, retail, transport & logistics,
energy/utilities, healthcare, pharma, Communication Service
Provider (CSP), manufacturing, government, consumer etc…
 Brand ecosystem: Media, analysts, influencers, bloggers,
consultants, government officials, partners, prospective/current
employees, students, prospective/current customers
 Geographies: countries & regions & global
Decision-maker & influencer mapping

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1. Create an integrated sales-marketing-comms
team drawing on the strengths of each group
2. Define who: Buyer personas, end-user trends
(enterprise worker/consumer), macro industry
issues, influencer mapping (top 10 per market)
and “voice of the customer” feedback
3. Create an over-arching corporate messaging
platform and related LOB/BU campaigns
4. Measure and manage outcomes, not just
outputs
5. Look for short-term wins, but also think long-
term
How?...
Big ideas
Credibility
Timing

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 Understand the external agenda:
- Use insight to lead to your products’ capabilities,
mapped to the customers’ needs, rather than leading
with the product
- Outside-in communications (rather than inside out) -
3rd party studies, survey results, industry analysis to
identify the macro trends
- Story telling (connecting in the “why” and “how”,
triple sourcing a story, proof points, news jacking)
 More customer context in the content:
- Voice of the customer programme (e.g. Walker)
- Make sure your customers’ corporate objectives are
in press releases, case studies etc.
 Ownership:
- Consistent execution across multiple channels (sales cheat sheets,
playbooks, decks, digital training + assets (incl. LinkedIn groups or forums),
events, PR, government influencer programme, reports, YouTube etc.)
- Competitor tracking and sales/PR opportunity alerts
- eCRM segmentation
- Measurement dashboard (Google Analytics, Radian 6,
share price, media coverage, bitly, SlideShare, Scribd, Eloqua digital journey
tracking, Salesforce.com opportunity tracking + anecdotal feedback)
An integrated team…
Corp comms (PR/AR):
used to leading with
the issues &
“creating
conversations”
Sales
Marketing

16. 16
Voice of the customer & influencer mapping…
Interviews with buyer reps for deals won, lost and “stalled”
Customer:
Influencers:
- Map your top 10 influencer in target domains & geographies
- Ensure alignment with sales targets/priorities

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360⁰ degree listening:
 Customer satisfaction survey (e.g. Walker)
 Customer/prospect surveys for bids won, lost and stalled
 Employee satisfaction survey (e.g. Aon Hewitt or Towers Watson) and
informal feedback
 Analyst input (magic quadrants, SWOT assessments + informal feedback)
 Media coverage + informal feedback (journalists talk to your competitors
all the time)
Understand your brand essence…
Emphasis strengths…look at if/how you address
perceived weaknesses

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 B2B buyers say they feel a sense of information over-load
…yet they can struggle to define what each vendor stands for
What?...
Saying less, but communicating more substance is vital

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With repetition comes awareness &
understanding…
…then trust & truth…
...that a vision of the future can turned into
a reality.
The importance of a simple message

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1 2 3 4 5
Messaging platform…
Top of
mind
issue
Single , simple over-arching corporate theme
2-3
macro-
economic
drivers
uPOV
(unique point
of view –
expressed in 1-
2 sentences
Content IP
(Triple-
source:
research,
end-user
examples
and 3rd party
advocates)
Timing
A “news trigger”
(research, company
event, “news
jacking” a
government,
industry or
competitor
announcement
that creates a
moment of
sales/marketing
opportunity)
LOB campaigns
“Keyphrases” (4+
words) for use
consistently across all
on-page and off-page
channels)

21. 21
On- and off-line,
including
print/digital
campaigns, events,
SEO, Twitter cards
Digital landscape
(microsites,
YouTube, LinkedIn,
Twitter, email
marketing)
Broadcast &
print media
Social & word-of-
mouth – organic
Measure the short-term hits and longer-term brand shift
Distribute across the ecosystem…
PaidPaid Owned Earned

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 Amplify: use paid to make
your best performing
content work harder
 Algorithmic content
serving:
- Organic reach is reducing.
– The pressure to deploy
suite of paid products to
support branded content is
increasing (e.g. Twitter
cards and Outbrain)
 Outbrain - content
discovery platform to get
your content into 100,000
publishers,
including 800 premium
sites.
- The more interesting your
content and the more
traffic you drive, the more
it will be recommended
around the web
Paid-owned-earned – increasingly blurred lines

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It takes time to build or reinvent a B2B brand.
Your brand is your key differentiator in a
converging and more competitive B2B world.
Integratedsales, marketing & comms
content campaigns will enable you to feed the sales funnel & create
new areas of profitable growth
— driving higher and wider into your customer base.
Final thoughts…

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 Buyer persona templates: http://www.buyerpersona.com/buyer-
persona-template
 Customer satisfaction surveys: www.walkerinfo.com
 Outbrain:
http://www.outbrain.com/amplify
 Twitter cards:
https://dev.twitter.com/cards/overview
 Radian
https://login.radian6.com
 Google Analytics Academy:
https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com
 David Meerman Scott, Hubspot, Elektron, eConsultancy and more
Resources…

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@HelenMcI
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