This document discusses the results of a survey and interviews about B2B content marketing in 2014. It finds that content marketing is an increasing priority and that lead generation is the primary objective. While most companies have a content marketing strategy, they face challenges of limited budgets, time, and understanding of content marketing. Companies use a mix of in-house and outsourced resources for content creation, distribution, and other elements of their strategies.
MKT 421 EDU Achievement Education--mkt421edu.comkopiko163
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Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels
MKT 421 EDU Education Counseling -- mkt421edu.comkopiko97
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Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of
Studying the Link Between Volume of Media Coverage and Business Outcomes. Udit Joshi
Â
My study is based on exploring the Link between Volume of Media Coverage and Business Outcomes. The main purpose of this study is to gather and classify the varying factors used in marketing mix modeling, and to look at how public relations is represented therein. Only a few studies albeit have actually been published on the topic within industry literature lacking especially in the Indian context. I would also like to bring upon the issue of Online Media an emerging area for marketing mix modeling which is of particular interest to the practitioners for measuring public relations through websites and consumer-generated media.
Understanding how news and advertising interact is important, from two perspectives. From a business management perspective, this understanding would enable a company to develop optimally-effective integrated communications plans and to allocate resources appropriately. From a theoretical perspective, there is the promise of deepening our understanding of how people integrate messages received from different forms of mass
communication.
While this study focused on how the volume of media coverage relates to brand value, reputation in the media is often a greater predictor of brand value and business outcomes such as sales. In industries that involve more research before purchases are made, the editorial content that results from PR can account for nearly half of brand value.
In industries that exhibit a stronger link between media coverage and brand value, managers in these product categories need to pay special attention to the way the brandâs value is impacted by its communications activities.
âEarned mediaâ that results from public relations efforts may be more important than advertising to brand value, especially for companies that sell feature-rich, high-involvement and complicated products such as consumer durables. Findings from the study reveal that industries that sell high involvement products - where a buyer invests time and effort in deciding what to buy than buying by impulse.
Public Relations could be used as a powerful tool to draw customer attention. A timely and topical issue can be news that drives media coverage, getting the companyâs name or brand more visibility.
Objectives
As a researcher I delve into the following spheres:
1. Constituents of Brand identity and role of PR in Brand identity
2. Reaching your direct customer through PR with stress on online PR efforts.
3. Empowering customer to make an informed decision.
4. Helping customer research the product at the information seeking stage of the buying decision model.
5. Trust has become a major issue in the post-bubble business world. Relationship building protects a firmâs long-term competitiveness.
THE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
WORKBOOK GUIDE
1. Introduction: What to expect
The purpose of this workbook guide is to assist you in understanding the role of
marketing communications (MarCom) and to help you plan your strategic MarCom
approach. One of our key assumptions is that you have little or no prior knowledge of
MarCom, but you have a desire to make it one of the underpinnings of your success.
Another key assumption is that the MarCom field is too large and specialized for tech
entrepreneurs to take on by themselves. Therefore, it is critical to identify people and
companies that you can work with when implementing your strategy that match the
size of your company and budget, as well as your aspirations. The final part of this
workbook guide will provide practical advice about how to move forward and who to
work with once you have completed the exercises we have outlined in this document.
In the process of going through this workbook guide, you will be preparing a
documentâyour MarCom strategyâthat will become an essential tool in managing
MarCom and the various service providers that will help you to implement the
strategy. The MarCom strategy includes decisions about target audience(s), key
messages, media, and sales and marketing tools. The process of creating the
MarCom strategy will prompt you to think through some key decisions that are
fundamental to your business.
Happy Juice principles: How to create a marketing organization that informs a...Browne & Mohan
Â
Many companies spend lot of marketing without realizing the expected benefits. This happens because they simply lack a coherent approach. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share a proven empirical approach that makes sure your marketing efforts do perform.
MKT 421 EDU Achievement Education--mkt421edu.comkopiko163
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels
MKT 421 EDU Education Counseling -- mkt421edu.comkopiko97
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of
Studying the Link Between Volume of Media Coverage and Business Outcomes. Udit Joshi
Â
My study is based on exploring the Link between Volume of Media Coverage and Business Outcomes. The main purpose of this study is to gather and classify the varying factors used in marketing mix modeling, and to look at how public relations is represented therein. Only a few studies albeit have actually been published on the topic within industry literature lacking especially in the Indian context. I would also like to bring upon the issue of Online Media an emerging area for marketing mix modeling which is of particular interest to the practitioners for measuring public relations through websites and consumer-generated media.
Understanding how news and advertising interact is important, from two perspectives. From a business management perspective, this understanding would enable a company to develop optimally-effective integrated communications plans and to allocate resources appropriately. From a theoretical perspective, there is the promise of deepening our understanding of how people integrate messages received from different forms of mass
communication.
While this study focused on how the volume of media coverage relates to brand value, reputation in the media is often a greater predictor of brand value and business outcomes such as sales. In industries that involve more research before purchases are made, the editorial content that results from PR can account for nearly half of brand value.
In industries that exhibit a stronger link between media coverage and brand value, managers in these product categories need to pay special attention to the way the brandâs value is impacted by its communications activities.
âEarned mediaâ that results from public relations efforts may be more important than advertising to brand value, especially for companies that sell feature-rich, high-involvement and complicated products such as consumer durables. Findings from the study reveal that industries that sell high involvement products - where a buyer invests time and effort in deciding what to buy than buying by impulse.
Public Relations could be used as a powerful tool to draw customer attention. A timely and topical issue can be news that drives media coverage, getting the companyâs name or brand more visibility.
Objectives
As a researcher I delve into the following spheres:
1. Constituents of Brand identity and role of PR in Brand identity
2. Reaching your direct customer through PR with stress on online PR efforts.
3. Empowering customer to make an informed decision.
4. Helping customer research the product at the information seeking stage of the buying decision model.
5. Trust has become a major issue in the post-bubble business world. Relationship building protects a firmâs long-term competitiveness.
THE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
WORKBOOK GUIDE
1. Introduction: What to expect
The purpose of this workbook guide is to assist you in understanding the role of
marketing communications (MarCom) and to help you plan your strategic MarCom
approach. One of our key assumptions is that you have little or no prior knowledge of
MarCom, but you have a desire to make it one of the underpinnings of your success.
Another key assumption is that the MarCom field is too large and specialized for tech
entrepreneurs to take on by themselves. Therefore, it is critical to identify people and
companies that you can work with when implementing your strategy that match the
size of your company and budget, as well as your aspirations. The final part of this
workbook guide will provide practical advice about how to move forward and who to
work with once you have completed the exercises we have outlined in this document.
In the process of going through this workbook guide, you will be preparing a
documentâyour MarCom strategyâthat will become an essential tool in managing
MarCom and the various service providers that will help you to implement the
strategy. The MarCom strategy includes decisions about target audience(s), key
messages, media, and sales and marketing tools. The process of creating the
MarCom strategy will prompt you to think through some key decisions that are
fundamental to your business.
Happy Juice principles: How to create a marketing organization that informs a...Browne & Mohan
Â
Many companies spend lot of marketing without realizing the expected benefits. This happens because they simply lack a coherent approach. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share a proven empirical approach that makes sure your marketing efforts do perform.
Throughout this report, youâll see how technology marketers have changed their content
marketing practices over the last year and how they compare with the overall sample of B2B
marketers who completed our annual content marketing survey
The prospective paradigm of Marketing Studies: Internet of ThingsYiÄit KalafatoÄlu
Â
A Semi-Academic Journal about #IoT:
Todayâs entry-level technologies are tomorrowâs daily rutine. Especially in urban life cycle, technology driven solutions has been a common, normal expectation of daily lives. When we consider digital natives, we see that they have been living their lives out loud through social media. This is just the beginning. What social media brought to the discipline of marketing is just outdated now. We need to reconsider; what is next?
Strategic Marketing helped to develop an appropriate plan to create communicate with the customers and increase the demand of product. Read this report to know more about strategic marketing.
MKT 421 EDU Become Exceptional--mkt421edu.comannebronte10
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals
MKT 421 EDU Education for Service--mkt421edu.comclaric43
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of distribution have in meeting the needs of consumers in both a brick and mortar and online retail
MKT 421 EDU Inspiring Innovation--mkt421edu.comclaric94
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of distribution have in meeting the needs of consumers
MKT 421 EDU Introduction Education--mkt421edu.comGVlaxmi12
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of distribution have in meeting the needs of consumers in both a brick and mortar and online retail setting.
Throughout this report, youâll see how technology marketers have changed their content
marketing practices over the last year and how they compare with the overall sample of B2B
marketers who completed our annual content marketing survey
The prospective paradigm of Marketing Studies: Internet of ThingsYiÄit KalafatoÄlu
Â
A Semi-Academic Journal about #IoT:
Todayâs entry-level technologies are tomorrowâs daily rutine. Especially in urban life cycle, technology driven solutions has been a common, normal expectation of daily lives. When we consider digital natives, we see that they have been living their lives out loud through social media. This is just the beginning. What social media brought to the discipline of marketing is just outdated now. We need to reconsider; what is next?
Strategic Marketing helped to develop an appropriate plan to create communicate with the customers and increase the demand of product. Read this report to know more about strategic marketing.
MKT 421 EDU Become Exceptional--mkt421edu.comannebronte10
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals
MKT 421 EDU Education for Service--mkt421edu.comclaric43
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of distribution have in meeting the needs of consumers in both a brick and mortar and online retail
MKT 421 EDU Inspiring Innovation--mkt421edu.comclaric94
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of distribution have in meeting the needs of consumers
MKT 421 EDU Introduction Education--mkt421edu.comGVlaxmi12
Â
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.mkt421edu.com
Purpose of Assignment
A well planned distribution channel system is a key component of the marketing mix that helps meet customer demands and achieve company goals. This assignment will analyze the role channels of distribution have in meeting the needs of consumers in both a brick and mortar and online retail setting.
2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends for North AmericaMarketingProfs
Â
This is the fifth year that MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute have put together this report on how marketers use content in their marketing mix. With changes in the industry, the report may look a little different than you remember. Dive in, and enjoy!
B2B Content Marketing 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends - North America
Hello Content Marketers, Welcome to the fifth annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and TrendsâNorth America report. Itâs hard to believe that itâs been five years since we first surveyed marketers on how they use content as part of the marketing mix. Since then, the survey has grown to reach marketers all across the globe. This year, we heard from more than 5,000 marketersâin 25 industries in 109 countriesâfrom for-profit and nonprofit organizations. In this report, youâll learn how the B2B marketers from North America responded. As youâll notice, we made some changes to this yearâs survey to better reflect how the industry is growing. We added new questions, changed the way we asked some of the prior ones, and even removed a few. We also asked content marketers about the initiatives theyâre working onâand the list is long, as you will see⌠Weâre thrilled to be with you on this journey.
Yours in content,
Joe & Ann
Joe Pulizzi
Founder
Content Marketing Institute
Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer
MarketingProfs
Sponsored by Brightcove
B2B Content Marketing Research: Focus on Documenting Your StrategyMadalina Balaban
Â
This reserach - B2B Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends â North America, produced by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs and sponsored by Brightcove, reflects the progress our industry is making in exciting new ways.
Many CEO complain they do not see the value in marketing efforts. For them we suggest to use a simple and practical framework, PCCDIO, that has worked wonders for our clients,
When it's time for that conversation to get buy-in on your content marketing ideas and initiatives, how do you proceed? Do you have all of the resources you need? The research and support to justify your programs? We're here to help. Download our "Mastering the Buy-In Conversation on Content Marketing: The Essential Starter Kit" now to help you. We've done the legwork so you can focus on your content marketing. Good luck, and let us know how else we can help.
This overview is informed greatly by the discussion at our Executive Forum in March 2015, but it also is
the culmination of our observations from Content Marketing World 2014 and our advisory client work in
the past year.
Our objective is to report on the key challenges faced by marketers, the vital insights being realized, and
the general health of content marketing as a strategic business approach. As was the case last year, this overview ultimately asks more questions than it answers; our goal is not to settle debates or provide trite answers to complex business challenges, but to update and inform.
At the two-day Executive Forum, CMI leaders and senior marketing executives from more than 30 enterprise brands came together to collaborate and to discuss and report on their own organizationsâ efforts in integrating content marketing as a strategic approach.
The extraordinary insights and the identification of challenges could not have been possible without the
generous contributions of this forum class, as well as last yearâs forum participants. Their input doesnât represent their tacit endorsement of the ideas, but as a collective group they are responsible for the value contained in this report.
Content Marketing Institute Executive Research Series
As more companies have adopted content marketing, one challenge remains pronounced: How should marketing leaders operationalize and scale this nascent discipline? They need a structure that will help them with everything from creating content their audience truly values, to distributing it in places where their customers and prospects are, to continually measuring what works so they can refine their processes.
While organizations of every size need to figure this out, this challenge is more complex for enterprise organizations, as they are charged with collaborating and
proving value at so many different levels of the company.
Additionally, subject matter experts, whose input is so
critical to content creation, may be scattered throughout
the company.
While there is no one right way to structure a content
marketing team â and in fact we found substantial
variances in team structures as they exist today â a
hybrid structure appears to be emerging in which certain
aspects of content marketing are centralized (such as the
identification of key themes/topics and the production of
content), while other aspects are decentralized (such as
the execution of programs by the business unit that has
the subject matter expertise or the geography).
In short, while many leaders are making tangible progress
in these areas â and there are many who feel they are
effective â there is also palpable frustration as these
leaders struggle to truly transform their marketing, which
requires them to transform their cultures.
This report specifically looks at the following areas:
Organizational challenges
Team composition and integration
Budgets and distribution
Content marketing effectiveness
CREATIVE WITH INVESTMENT? Addressing the need for creative transformation in ...Dog
Â
Taking the idea of creative transformation - the evolving relationship between creativity, digital, marketing and business â Dog produced a whitepaper that seeks to uncover challenges faced by those involved in driving innovative marketing strategies and searches for actionable recommendations for todayâs marketers working within the financial services industry.
Our findings are based on an independent survey of 200 marketing and communications professionals and insight gathered during an industry roundtable with Heads of Marketing at leading global financial services organisations.
While thereâs a lot you could be doing, sometimes itâs hard to know which tracks to start, stop, or pause. To help you find the right mix to meet your marketing goals, we consolidated responses from the 2015 Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends research report section â âWhich content marketing initiatives are you working on now, and in the next 12 months?â We broke out the results as follows:
⢠By priority
⢠By business type (B2B, B2C and nonprofit)
⢠By geography (North America, Australia, United Kingdom)
Part I covers two âplaylistsâ:
Internal Processes and Content Marketing Strategy Tactics. From channels to platforms to audience segmentation, learn how you can best establish your content marketing strategy and structure your team internally for more efficient processes.
Part II: Playlist 3 (coming soon) is where you can mix things up a bit with different Execution Tactics. See how to create and deliver the best content to meet your business objectives. While some geographies and business types have similar priorities, others are finding their own unique beats â and the differences may surprise you. We hope you find the following findings insightful and inspirational as you make your plans for the year ahead.
Enjoy!
Joe Pulizzi
Effective marketing of business software to executive decision makers is increasingly challenging. With broad adoption of software as a service (SaaS), and high valuations for independent software vendors (ISVs), competition has grown dramatically over the last decade. Today, over 6,000 vendors compete in more than 300 software categories*.
So what can you do to stand out? Modern Marketing Partners released a new guide to improve your marketing tactics in order to sell more software, scale your organization, and land long term funding in order to improve your product offering.
With decades of combined experience in software marketing, Modern Marketing Partners can provide you a competitive edge to grow your business now or in the future. Contact us at 630-868-5060 to discuss your needs and start improving your sales.
Rewiring marketing: a practice based approachBrowne & Mohan
Â
Many marketing managers are not aware if they are leveraging marketing efforts correctly or getting the returns that they anticipated. Often people believe transforming marketing is all about creating some digital assets. Marketing transformation is not piece meal improvement. The primary purpose of a marketing transformation is to increase the ROI of marketing your company. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share a practice based approach to marketing transformation.
Similar to Xpointo collective content b2 b_contentmarketing report (20)
2. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 2
Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Why content marketing .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3. How content marketing is done ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
4. What works .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
5. Challenges ........................................................................ ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
6. B2B content marketing â whatâs next? ....................................................................................................................................................... 13
3. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 3
1. Introduction
No one can ignore the attention that content marketing has been attracting in the past year or two. Its own story is in part
an alternative to the problems faced by advertising and other established forms of marketing. As one of our respondents
said:âThe world is more cynical, people are more savvy buyers â no one wants to be sold to.â
Xpointo Media and Collective Content wanted to find out how this reality affects B2B companies and how they are learning
about and using content marketing. In the fourth quarter of 2013 we polled B2B marketers in Europe through a survey and
several depth interviews.
What did we find? Both our quantitative and qualitative approaches confirmed that content marketing is on the rise. We
asked about content marketing strategy and found â among other things â that most respondents have one and most are
using various tactics to reach their goals.
Among many reasons for turning to content marketing, lead-generation ranks as the main goal for our respondents. Yet not
all is straightforward.
However, it is clear there are several barriers to take up. Tight marketing budgets, lack of time and insufficient understanding
as well as difficulties proving return on investment (ROI) all mean sleepless nights for marketers, especially as the discipline
is portrayed as a silver bullet to all their problems.
Every type of existing agency appears to be offering to help â as well as a new breed of content marketing specialist. So
another consideration is how much a company does in-house and how much with the help of others.
We present our findings over the coming pages. We welcome your feedback and any further views you have, using this as
a starting point, rather than anything definitive about what is a fast-evolving discipline, albeit one that already promises
much.
Diana Abebrese Tony Hallett
Business Director, Xpointo Media EMEA Managing Director, Collective Content (UK)
4. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 4
1. Introduction
Demographics / respondents
Our respondents confirmed they are in senior marketing roles. (Fig. 1)
Most were either responsible for marketing globally (28.2 %) or regionally (53.8 %, most likely Europe â sometimes including
the Middle East and Africa). Others had a local role. (Fig. 2)
Fig. 1 How are you responsible for your
organisationâs marketing strategy?
Fig. 2 Do you handle local, regional or global marketing?
Significant
Influence
Implement and
Execute
Lead and
Direct
24%
37%
39%
Local
17.9%
Global
28.2%
Regional
53.8%
5. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 5
2. Why content marketing
Current marketing
We began by asking respondents to our survey about the full range of channels they use in their marketing. (Fig. 3) Fifteen
areas were mentioned. While almost nine out of 10 use tactics such as physical events and LinkedIn, at the other end of the
list only just over one out of 12 cited mobile advertising.
Whatâs perhaps most interesting about all these disciplines is that they can, in all kinds of ways, play into an organisationâs
content marketing strategy.
But saying something is part of your arsenal isnât the same as knowing what matters most to you as a marketer. We also
asked how important each activity is. (Fig. 4)
The company website ranked the most important for marketing activities, averaging 4.38 out of a maximum of 5.00 across
all respondents. Then there is a clear second tier, running from physical events (3.85) to company blog (3.36).
Finally there is a third grouping, running from advertising on websites (3.00) to advertising in print publications (2.36).
The latter shows just how far print advertising has fallen but in that last tier there are categories that we predict will rise,
including the use of Facebook â even for B2B brands â and mobile apps and ads.
One of the reasons for the gap
between a company website
and a company blog is that
even when companies run
their blog from their main
website, some consider the
blog a separate entity â often
with different design elements,
writing styles, contributors and
stakeholders. Standalone blog
â sitting apart from a main
company website on its own
content management system
â comes in much lower, at 2.61.
Fig. 3 What is currently included in your marketing activity?
Mobile advertising
Mobile apps
Adv in print publications
Standalone blog
Search engine
Office company blog
Advertise on website
Video content
Facebook presence
Virtual events
Send email newsletter
Twitter Presence
LinkedIn presence
Physical events
Company website 89.7%
87.2%
872%
84.6%
79.5%
76.9%
69.2%
64.1%
59.0%
56.4%
53.9%
30.8%
28.2%
25.6%
12.8%
Fig. 4 How important is each of the following in marketing activities? 5-Point index
4.52
3.91
3.73 3.64 3.58
3.45 3.42 3.39 3.39
3.03
2.85
2.67 2.61
2.42 2.30
Advert
in print
publications
Mobile
advert
Standalone
blog
Mobile
apps
Facebook
presence
Advertise
on
websites
Company
blog
Send
e-news
letter
Virtual
events
Twitter
presence
Video
content
Search
marketing
LinkedIn
presence
Physical
event
Company
website
6. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 6
A content marketing strategy
Just under six out of 10 (59.0 %) of the B2B marketers we polled told
us they have or are planning to implement a content marketing
strategy. This is a little higher than some industry studies. (It is far
more common for a company to be using content marketing
tactically than have a strategy.) A content strategy should be wider
than content marketing â covering all types of content used by a
company for all kinds of reasons â but will be invaluable in making
content marketing efforts consistent in style, tone of voice, distribution
and much more.
But in line with other research, 64.1 per cent of respondents told us
content marketing is an increasing priority for their organisation. Of
the remainder, precisely a third told us content marketing is staying
about the same, priority-wise, for them. Only 2.6 per cent said it is
decreasing.
So itâs strategically important and on the rise. But why do content
marketing at all?
Objectives
We asked our respondents about their primary objectives for content
marketing (Fig. 5). One reason outstrips all others by a distance â lead
generation.
In the qualitative parts of our research we heard a number of
variations on this. As well asâlead-generationâ, respondents told us:âTo build a nurture programmeâorâCreate pipelineâor
simplyâLead generation is the key areaâ.
Lead generation was cited almost exactly three times more than the next highest objectives, social engagement (16.7
%) and sales (also 16.7 %), and four times more than still-important objectives such as product awareness and thought
leadership (both at 12.5 %).
Next on our list of reasons came website traffic, brand awareness, return on investment and targeted content strategy.
5 must-haves for a successful lead
generation campaign
1. Think like your customer. Consider
their needs, pain points and what defines
them â across the buying journey. Itâs about
them and their customers, not you and your
products. Know their language â and use it.
2. Multiple ways to engage. Mix it up â
short-form, long-form, visual content, videos.
All are valid for different audiences at
different times. This also means multiple
calls to action (CTAs) and metrics â from
clicks to likes and from data capture
to trial downloads, all with the goal of taking
a customer to the next stage.
3. The right content. Itâs about more than
format â consider tone of voice, relevance,
consistency, quantity/frequency and using
humour at appropriate times. Content
must feel true to your brands â thatâs
the authenticity everyone talks about â as
well as be engaging.
4. Cross-channel. Online and offline, work
with other marketing teams to integrate
content and ensure consistency. But
centralise content strategy, audits and
tracking to deliver a single report against
each piece of content and each user.
5. Prioritise brand loyalty and
evangelism with key customers.
How can your content affect this? How
likely are influential customers to share your
content with their peers? Niche market
targeting may prove to deliver better results
than a mass-market scattergun.
Fig. 5 What are the primary objectives of your content
marketing strategy?
Social engagement
Sales
Lead generation 50%
16.7%
16.7%
7. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 7
Barriers
But not everything is rosy (Fig. 6). Content marketing has gained momentum as economies have exited recession but in
many cases marketing budgets havenât recovered to their pre-2008 levels.
One marketer at a large software vendor told us:âOur budget is declining and we need to do more with less. We need to
use different channels and content demands are on the rise. Weâre switching budget from PR to content marketing.â
Lack of time to dedicate to projects,
at 40 per cent, tops the reasons for
not doing content marketing. Next
came budget limitations and those
for whom it isnât a responsibility,
even if it is adopted by their
company (both on 33.3 per cent).
Then came perhaps one of the
biggest obstacles marketers must
overcome â education. More than
one in four polled admitted to being
unsure what content marketing
involves.
Further down, it is perhaps encouraging that only just over a tenth of those we spoke to told us the benefits of content
marketing are unclear. The good news is that many respondents knowâwhyâthey have to pay attention to content
marketing. But the question ofâhowâremains, with many unsure what content marketing involves.
Fig. 6 Why isnât content marketing part of your current plan?
40.0%
33.3% 33.3%
26.7%
13.3% 13.3%
Unable to attribute
ROI to content
marketing
Benefits
unclear
Unsure what
it involves
Managed
globally
Budget
limiations
Unable to dedicate
required amount of
time to this project
8. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 8
3. How content marketing is done
We were interested in the elements that make up an organisationâs content marketing strategy. (Fig. 7)
Content creation ranks second only to content distribution. We donât know of any organisations that create content and
donât want it used where appropriate but there is a gap between first and second place (83.3 to 79.2 per cent) that shows
other content, such as archived or partner content, is there to be distributed.
Several times in our depth interviews we heard that content curation (which we define as depending on human
judgement) and content aggregation (which can be automated) take a lot of effort. It is certainly lower on the list than
creation. Many of those polled have for years been comfortable with creating assets such as white papers, long before
referring to them as a type of content marketing. Meanwhile curation and aggregation are unfamiliar territory for some,
both in terms of technique and being surefooted about what should be used, be it competitor information or copyrighted
sources.
A content audit is acknowledged by many B2B marketers as a sensible early stage but those we interviewed â in line with
others we have spoken to â expressed a frustration with knowing how to properly go about this process.
In-house or outsourced?
The practical side of content marketing was important to those we spoke to, especially as they ramp up their content
marketing.
Only four per cent told us they completely outsource. But by far the most common response â from 67 per cent of our
respondents â is that they use a mix of agencies and their own resources. Only 29 per cent said they handle it all in-house.
But for the three-quarters who work with external experts we were interested to know where they spend their money.
(Fig. 8)
This chart isnât specifically about content marketing but about general agency relationships. PR agencies top the list and are
used by seven out of 10 of those we polled. But only at the bottom come content marketing agencies, mentioned by 20.5
per cent.
Fig. 7 What does your strategy include?
83.3%
79.2%
66.7%
62.5%
45.8% 45.8% 45.8%
Content
redistribution
Content
auditing
Content curation
or aggregation
Content
mapping
Content
measurement
Content
creation
Content
distribution
9. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 9
This might be because pure-play content marketing
agencies are much less common. (Thatâs changing.) But
also most of these agencies â to one degree or another
â are saying they now provide content marketing
services. Certainly for some, content is a good fit.
One marketer at a telco told us:âSomebody is missing
a trick. The PR discipline, with a news-based approach
to content, should win philosophically but ad agencies
are better at measurement.â
Ex-journalist factor?
Indeed, employing those with the right skills for
content â even in-house â is increasingly a priority,
with ex-journalists and current journalists (who usually
have to work anonymously) in demand. They are
being used by a third of those we surveyed, though
the figure could be higher if we take into account
former journalists in recent years hired by PR and other
agencies.
As part of a move towards whatâs commonly called
thought-leadership and part of an acknowledgement
thatâcustomers arenât wanting to be sold toâ, according
to one depth interviewee, organisations are going
out of their way to make content that is above all else
useful and looks more like output from the established
media.
They repeated that most modern of mantras â namely,
âbrands as publishersâ.
Content audits â 5 considerations
1. âWhat do we have?â Ahead of any new content
generation, this should be your first question.
2. Ideas, not just assets. A proper look back at
existing content isnât just about whatâs re-usable.
It will unearth past focus, frequency, quality and
inconsistencies. Most of all, have your organisation and
goals changed? Then so should your content.
3. Beyond traditional content. You may well
think content means formats such as articles, blog
posts, white papers, infographics, SlideShares, videos
and e-books â and it does. But for audits, also consider
past marketing assets â presentations from events,
brochures, how-to guides around products, internal
documents and more.
4. Broad but effective. Audits pose the twin
challenge of needing to be thorough and doable.
Some companies have hundreds of thousands of
auditable assets. You wonât be able to evaluate all of
them. They will live in different places, in different
formats and it would just take too long. So sample the
archive â then donât take shortcuts in your method if
your sample is still several hundred pieces of content.
5. Tools? There are emerging software tools to help
you. But if they arenât appropriate or are too complex
or expensive, seek out templates and past examples of
using simple tools such as Excel.
Fig. 8 Do you work with one or more of the following agencies?
71.8%
61.5%
56.4%
53.9%
33.3%
30.8%
30.8%
28.2%
25.6%
25.6%
20.5%Content marketing
Search marketing
Full-service
Social media
Direct marketing
Digital
Event management
Telemarketing
Media
Creative and design
PR
10. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 10
Knowing the reasons for using content marketing and even going about doing it have proven easier than working out
whether any specific programmes or tactics are a success.
Best CTAs
We asked which call to action (CTA), usually placed
alongside a piece of content or within a campaign, is
considered most successful â judged by best responses or
ROI. (Fig. 9)
Decades-old traditional forms of marketing, most of them
with some flavour of content, performed best. Case studies
were cited by just under half of our sample, with events
and white papers in second and third place.
Meanwhile, more modern channels in the form of ROI
calculators and webinars, when presented as theânext clickâ
for an audience, were at the bottom of the table. However,
there could be mitigating circumstances such as relative
immaturity or not being suitable across every type of
business in comparison to other types of marketing.
Metrics that matter
We asked our sample of B2B marketers which metrics are
important to them. (Fig. 10)
Top of the table - though very close together â were
website enquiries, leads, sales and website traffic.
Despite getting lots of hype, social media metrics â such as
opt-ins and social engagement â were lower down the list.
Across all our depth interviews, ROI/measurement was
a common point of pain. (See quote below.) Some said
they can draw a link between content marketing and their
wider corporate objectives but they were just as likely to
report anecdotal success.
4. What works
Fig. 9 What are your best performance calls to action
(Best responding/Best ROI)? 5-Point index
Fig. 10 How important are these metrics in measuring success in
your content marketing activites? 5-Point index
48.7%
46.2%
41.0%
30.8%
28.2%
20.5%
18.0%ROI calculators
Webinars
Analyst reports
Trial downloads
White papers
Events
Case studies
Social
Opt-ins
Event
registrations
Social
engage-
ment
EmailWebsite
traffic
SalesLeadsWebsite
enquiries
4.42 4.29 4.29 4.21
3.92
3.75 3.75
3.50
Are we selling more?
âWeâve got to figure out a way of measuring this stuff, to find out whatâs good, whatâs bad,
where we should be putting our money and ultimately trying to link it to sales, which has
always been the challenge of any sort of marketing communications.â
Telco marketer
11. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 11
5. Challenges
Despite all the positivity about content marketing, those we spoke to admitted areas where they face challenges. ROI/
measurement is one, as weâve just shown.
But there were big differences between the challenges mentioned. (Fig. 11)
Two-thirds of respondents said they find it hard to differentiate their offerings.
Much has been spoken in industry
circles over the past year about
authentic content â especially when
it is created by an agency or ghost-
written for an executive â but only
an eighth of our sample mentioned
assuring authenticity of content.
And make no mistake, external
agencies will increasingly be used for
reasons of flexibility and lower risks.
When asked to give the number one
challenge faced when implementing
a content marketing strategy,
differentiation came in equal top
alongside resource to create quality
content on 29.2 per cent. (Fig. 12)
The volume of content required
came third (20.8 %), showing both
qualitative and quantitative issues
tend to be front of mind for marketers.
One marketer at a large computer hardware vendor said:âTranslation is a major issue for us. We are translating into eight
other languages, which creates delays and other issues.â
Fig. 11 What are the top challenges you face when implementing your content
marketing strategy?
66.7%
58.3%
50.0%
33.3%
33.3%
16.7%
16.7%
12.5%Assuring authenticity
of content
Content iteration for
social platforms
Getting content signed off
in a timely manner
Demonstrating ROI
Localising content for
domestic regional markets
Resource to create volume
of content required
Resource to create
quality content
Differentation
Fig. 12 Ranked number one challenge when implementing content marketing strategy
29.2% 29.2%
20.8%
8.3% 8.3%
4.2%
Assuring authenticity
of content
Demonstrating
ROI
Localising content
for domestic
regional markets
Resource to create
volume of content
required
DifferentationResource to create
quality content
12. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 12
A marketer in telecoms added:
âEveryone wants to have their say. The
more people you have in the approval
process the longer it takes and the
worse it gets.â[see box out]
Meanwhile, others claimed less of a
problem. Another marketer said:âOur
CMO has said that if you think itâs pretty
much right, then go for it.â
One area that is hard to pick out in the
survey percentages but came through
in some of the interviews was the use of
marketing tools.
One respondent working in enterprise
software said:âWe have all the tools but
now the tools need to work together.
Thatâs my biggest struggle.â
3 steps for a smooth sign-off process
1. Identify the decision-maker. This is the single most impor-
tant goal in any sign-off scenario. At the beginning of any content-
related process, askâWho decides?âMost organisations like to make
decisions by committee, sometimes running to tens of people. Note:
This goal wonât always be achievable.
2. Have somewhere to go. In a minority of cases, marketers can
be paralysed over what content to use or not. Have an out. It can be the
CMO. It can be the MD or owner at a small company. It can be the head
of an editorial board â established for all kinds of reasons but with this
tricky scenario in mind.
3. Versioning is your god. As different stakeholders suggest
changes and edits, someone must track who is contributing what. Es-
tablish rules for this, be on top of common tools such as track changes
and margin comments. Make sure everyone works from the same ver-
sion. Consider platforms such as Basecamp instead of multiple rounds
of emails with attachments that can leave people out or get deleted.
13. B2B Content Marketing 2014 â Why, How, Success and Obstacles 13
6. B2B content marketing â whatâs next?
Over the coming years, as our research and othersâmake clear, we will see a lot more content marketing being used by
companies and even governments and NGOs. The only debate at that level seems to be whether weâll simply start to call
itâmarketingâ, with the content element having become a given.
Yet marketing with content isnât straightforward. For that reason, organisations will be bringing expertise in-house and
turning to external agencies more. The two arenât contradictory â organisations are likely to do both.
Those using content tactically, perhaps as they have for many years, even before the termâcontent marketingâcame along,
are likely to reduce in number. However, content strategy will go hand in hand with cold-blooded content marketing.
Whyâcold-bloodedâ? Because organisations will be clearer about what theyâre trying to achieve.
Our study shows that by this point those charged with using content effectively in their marketing know a thing or two.
They are aware about reaching different audiences in different ways. They also know they mustnât repeat past mistakes â
on the flip side, they can reuse or curate where that makes sense.
They must also coordinate across more than countries â mostly across regions, sometimes globally. Often the same
content will be effective in more than one place, albeit with the need for localisation (another pain point) at times.
And coordination takes on a technical flavour. Consider all the marketing automation software, the different platforms,
the tools promising to solve all problems. They must join up, we were told.
Xpointo and Collective Content know that most of the time we only learn by trying. Kick some tyres to see who can
do what. Donât be afraid to bring expertise in-house â at the very least those hires will be good at seeing through poor
external agencies. And consider carefully those you work with externally. Instead ofâbolted-onâcontent marketing, seek
individuals and agencies for whom content is central, preferably part of their DNA.
Lastly, we say prioritise what you can control. That means assets that no one else can take away. We were pleased to see,
as shown in Fig 3 (page 5), thatâcompany websiteâleads marketing activity. Other platforms such as social media can be
altered, acquired â even shut down. Your company website, email lists, self-hosted standalone blog, events and more can
keep on giving for many years, unlike many other types of marketing that are dead the moment you stop making the
payments.
Content marketing is in it for the long haul. Own it, understand it, plan for it properly and seek the best people to help
you get it right.
Research methodology
Xpointo Media and Collective Content surveyed and carried out depth interviews with 40 senior European business
technology marketers across the final quarter of 2013.