Producing Engaging Content

Producing engaging content
Differentiate. Engage. Scale. Measure.
© i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com

What’s Inside
• Content marketing challenges
• Scaling your existing content
• How interactive content can help
• Types of interactive content

Marketers are facing some
content challenges.

B2B Content
Marketing Challenges
Producing engaging content 54%
Measuring content effectiveness 49%
Producing a variety of content 42%
2015 B2B content marketing trends, Content Marketing Institute

B2C Content
Marketing Challenges
Measuring content effectiveness 51%
Producing engaging content 50%
Producing a variety of content 40%
2015 B2c content marketing trends, Content Marketing Institute

A recent Demand Metric report showed:
Many marketers
are observing
growing signs of
content fatigue.
Demand Metric, Enhancing the Buyer’s Journey,
“
” © i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com

% 37
B2C 38 %
B2B Marketers Marketers
say their content marketing
is effective
2015 B2C content marketing trends, Content Marketing Institute
Only

58 A whopping
%
say their content doesn’t create enough
opportunity for engagement
Demand Metric, Enhancing the Buyer’s Journey,

The Year Of Content Overload
Our audience is literally
drowning in content.

Sirius Decisions says one of the most critical
mistakes a company can make is having…
“Too much content.” Sirius Decisions

70 %
of all marketing content
goes unused
Sirius Decisions © i-on interactive, inc. All rights reserved • www.ioninteractive.com

This stark statistic
underscores the urgent need
for a content revolution…
Sirius Decisions
“
”

Houston...
we have a problem

Content Marketing Challenges…
Spending is up
Effort is up
Low scores for effectiveness
Not engaging
Drowning in content

The trick is to figure out how
you can scale your content
across the buyer’s journey &
transform static content into
interactive experiences.

Take your average white paper, for example.

Great for lead gen. Great for buyer education. You hope.

But that doesn’t have to be the end of it…

interactive infographic
interactive white paper
assessment
early buyer journey
content
early & mid buyer journey
content
mid & late buyer journey
content
Transform that
white paper into…
…3 interactive
experiences for
each stage of the
buyer’s journey.

Interactive content experiences are:
Great for audience engagement.
Great for buyer education.
Great for lead gen & demand gen.
Great for content scaling.
Great for measurement.

Types of existing content you can scale…
White Papers
Solution Briefs
Product Brochures
& Spec Sheets
Research Reports
Pricing Spreadsheets
Infographics

This content scales into….
ASSESSMENTS
CONFIGURATORS
CALCULATORS
INTERACTIVE
WHITE PAPERS
LOOKBOOKS
QUIZZES
GAMES
INTERACTIVE
INFOGRAPHICS

Your White Paper Becomes
Interactive White Paper
Interactive Infographic
Interactive Assessment

Your Research Becomes
Quiz
Assessment

Your Infographic becomes
Quiz

Your Solution Brief Becomes
Solution Builder
Calculator

Your Product Brochure
Becomes
Interactive Lookbook
Product Configurator

We call these types of
interactive experiences
marketing apps

Marketing Apps
are useful browser-based digital content experiences
designed for visitor participation
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Feedback Loop
©© i- oi-no nin itnetrearcatcivtiev,e i,n icn.c A. lAl lrli grihgthst sre rseesrevrevde d • • w wwwww.io.inoinnitnetrearcatcivtiev.ec.ocmom
A marketing app typically
includes some sort of
feedback loop where
the outcome is directly
impacted by the
interaction of the visitor.

70 %
VS
%
INTERACTIVE CONTENT 36 PASSIVE CONTENT
Percentage of respondents
that indicated their content
performed moderately or
very well…

Comparing interactive to passive content, interactive
content is somewhat or very effective at...
educating the buyer 93 %
VS 70 %
INTERACTIVE CONTENT PASSIVE CONTENT

differentiating from competitors
88 VS %
55 %

being shared
38 VS %
17 %

Clearly,
interactive content
just works better
than static content

Why Marketing Apps Work So Well:
ENGAGING
USEFUL
DIFFERENTIATED
SCALABLE
EFFECTIVE
MEASURABLE

Types of
Marketing Apps

Quizzes
Quizzes are addictive little buckets of fun that can generate leads and social shares
at pretty amazing rates. People like to compete to win recognition almost as much as
they love to compete for more tangible prizes. Use early in the buyer’s journey.

Lookbook
Lookbooks slice straight through the verbal clutter with powerful, attention-grabbing visuals.
Early in the journey, they provide visually-driven products or concepts with an engaging,
simple canvas. They can also result in strong social sharing and lead-gen performance. Use
at all stages of the buyer’s journey

Interactive infographics turn facts and soundbites into engaging and entertaining fun. Using
them early in the buyer’s journey generates social sharing. They are also highly measurable
— revealing which factoids are most compelling for people.
Use early & mid in the buyer’s journey.

Assessments
When it’s time to truly engage in a useful dialog, it’s time to put assessments to
work. They’re strategically designed to identify pains and opportunities while
providing genuine value and recommendations to buyers. Assessments are great
for engagement for early stage buyers and for education of a middle stage buyer.

Calculators
When you want to illustrate potential quantifiable outcomes, calculators are the go-to
marketing app. They can provide compelling, hard evidence that builds credible
need in the critical nurture period between attention and action.

Solution Builders
Solution builders answer the question — what is right for me? The help the buyer
understand conceptually what they need. This makes solution builders invaluable in
mid-journey qualification.

Configurators
Configurators are a specific version of solution builders — enabling buyers to match
their needs to your product, service or solution. This provides immediate feedback to
marketing and sales to qualify and surface the most qualified prospects. Use late in
the buyer’s journey.

eBooks
Great for longer format content. It’s especially effective as a 'create your own story'
version where the behavioral feedback loop to sales and marketing illuminates
pains, opportunities and qualification.

Interactive White Papers
The ‘snackable’ version of eBooks, can provide snippets of expandable content allowing
the visitor to determine how deep they want to go. Highly visual, typically including
several engaging elements including content quizzes, very effective at allowing visitors to
step through your story. Can surface great behavioral insights to sales.

Conversion Path
How to Use
Marketing Apps Across
the Buyer’s Journey

Early Stage
Begin the dialog. Design
for content engagement.
Seek to educate.
EBOOKS INTERACTIVE
WHITE PAPERS
INTERACTIVE LOOKBOOKS QUIZZES SURVEYS ASSESSMENTS
INFOGRAPHICS

Mid Funnel
Continue the relationship.
Increasing specificity of
education. Transform
general concepts into
more concrete ones.
EBOOKS INTERACTIVE
WHITE PAPERS
SURVEYS ASSESSMENTS CONFIGURATORS CALCULATORS

Late Stage
ASSESSMENTS SOLUTION
BUILDERS
CONFIGURATORS CALCULATORS
Create a ready buyer.
Emphasis on buyer self
education. Surface deep
insights to sales.

Marketers must produce
content that adds value in order to
engage customers. The true measure
of content is the experience the
person has with it.
Mathew Sweezey, Director of Thought Leadership at Pardot
“
”

Content Marketing Can:
BE EFFECTIVE
BE SCALABLE
DRIVE ENGAGEMENT
DRIVE DEMAND
BE MEASURABLE

ion can help!
We help customers concept, create and launch
differentiated digital experiences.
www.ioninteractive.com
@ioninteractive
info@ioninteractive.com

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