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Posts Tagged ‘content marketing’
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012
 B2B companies still talk about the “sales cycle,” but that’s internal thinking. It’s about the company, not about the customer. For a long time now, customers have been in charge of the buying process — researching, finding, and comparing products on their own before ever speaking with vendors. So why are marketers still talking about “demand creation?” That’s still a useful concept, especially in consumer products companies, but B2B marketers also need to be thinking about the buyers they don’t even know yet — the ones who are already out there looking for solutions. Rather than just pushing information out to a big list of prospective customers, marketers need to have searchable, findable content available online, so that when prospects are ready, they can find you.
This means developing a variety of types of content, suited to the different buying-cycle stages where potential customers are at any given time. At some point, customers will talk to your sales people who will provide information in their own unique and valuable one-on-one way (presenting, objection handling, proposing). But even then, suitable content can help move the sale along.
Consider the customer’s buying cycle:
1. Recognition of Need – The Buyer is looking for a solution to a specific business problem – Traditional demand-creation marketing blasts out information to many companies in the hope of finding buyers who are looking for solutions to a business problem. As lead generation response rates indicate, this type of communication falls on a huge number of “deaf ears.” Furthermore, the small percentage of businesses prospects who respond have probably already been out on the web searching for options. At this point, they may have already read articles in industry publications that identify types of product that address their particular problem. If any of the articles identify your company as one of the solution providers, all the better. Perhaps they have heard your executives or product managers speaking at industry events. These are opportunities where your PR people can help build awareness of what you offer. Collaborate with them to get the message right. If the articles are on-line and contain hyperlinks to your website, better yet. If you have informative product content posted on your own blog, prospects can learn that your company has a possible option for them. Do you have a user forum? Posts on a public forum may also lead prospects to consider you.
2. Vendor Research - The Buyer is looking for companies that can provide some sort of solution to their problem – Having identified possible ways to address their problem, buyers start actively searching for solution providers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important in the early stages of the customer buying cycle, but is most important here. Having findable, relevant content posted and downloadable is key to being one of the vendors included in the buying cycle. Static website content is important, but downloadable content such as White Papers is even more so. At this stage your content needs to explain what you do and how you do it. Wording should show understanding of the customer problem and an explanation of how you solve it. Consider whether requiring visitors to register to download your content is desirable or not. You will lose a certain number of potential customers who aren’t ready to identify themselves yet. But those who do register are qualifying themselves.
3. Comparing and Evaluating – The Buyer is identifying product attributes and evaluating which ones most closely match their needs – When prospective buyers have reached the stage where they’ve found your information and that of competing vendors, you need to give them tools with which to make a thoughtful comparison. Videos and online demos can make it clear how your product functions. At this stage, case studies and customer testimonial videos can be persuasive.
4. Consideration – The Buyer is seriously considering choosing one of the identified vendors – By now either the prospect will have reached out to you, or if you had them register when downloading content earlier, your sales organization will have reached out to them. At this point Sales will need to learn who else the customer is considering. Now is the time for competitive comparisons. If you have a great deal of confidence in the accuracy of your competitive information, post the comparisons on your website. Invite the prospects who are now in your funnel to one of your webinars and take the opportunity to clearly differentiate your offering from the competition’s.
All of the bold, italicized terms above are forms of content. It is essential that your content is well-written, readable, and pointedly designed for the stage(s) in the buying cycle where it is most likely to be read.
To boost awareness of your content, use social media to draw interested parties. Tweet about your video or White Paper with an intriguing headline and a link so readers can reach it. Post a description of your latest case study and a link to it in a relevant LinkedIn Group. Some companies use Facebook, but prospects need to already “like” your brand for this to be useful, whereas Twitter and LinkedIn are more openly available.
The start of a new year is a good time to review your content strategy and identify what you need to develop to totally support marketing throughout the customer’s buying cycle.
Read more about Content Marketing in articles my Mary:
Technorati Tags: content marketing, customer buying cycle, Integrated Marketing, SEO, Social Media
Tags: content marketing, customer buying cycle, Integrated Marketing, SEO, Social Media
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
So much has changed in marketing and sales in the 9 years since we founded KickStart Alliance. Because we wanted to learn how our readers are operating in 2011, in April we sent a survey to our newsletter subscribers rather than publishing our usual monthly newsletter. The response rate was lower than we anticipated, at 4%, so we followed up in May asking for additional respondents. That generated just one more survey response. So while there wasn’t enough data to be statistically reliable, we’re sharing in this post some of what we did learn.
Completes – 85% of respondents completed the survey, including sharing information about themselves.
Demographics – Of those who completed information about themselves:
- Market – 89% are in the B2B market
- Business type – 83% are in corporations, 11% are contractors/consultants and 6% are in marketing agencies
- Business size – 61% described their company as SMB, 28% as a start-up, and 11% enterprise-sized businesses
- Industry – 50% are in the software industry and 23% are in tech manufacturing other than software. Under 10% each were in non-tech manufacturing, clean tech, business services, and “other.”
Content Sources – This was a check-all-that apply question, so results total greater than 100%:
- Webinars and Online Trade Publications – 60% each
- Trade group meetings/conferences and social media/networks – 55% each
- Analysts – 45%
- Blogs – 40%
- Classes/courses and Print Trade Publications – 25% each
Devices Used for Browsing – In addition to 100% using PC or Mac, there is plenty of mobile browsing:
- 50% use a smartphone
- 25% use an iPad or other tablet
Social Media Elements Used – For their own business, and again a check-all-that-apply question, responses were:
- 95% use LinkedIn
- 70% read blogs
- 30% post to a blog
- 30% comment/participate on others’ blogs
- 30% use Facebook for business
- 25% use Twitter
- 20% participate in online forums
- 5% use QR codes
Based on this information, we’re keeping a close eye on mobile marketing, including QR codes, and continuing to work social media and content marketing into our practice.
We’ll follow up in another post soon with information about the survey respondents’ current marketing and sales initiatives. Stay tuned!
Technorati Tags: content marketing, Marketing, Sales, social networks
Tags: content marketing, Marketing, Sales, social networks
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Monday, June 6th, 2011
 By guest blogger, John Love.
I attended a webinar a couple weeks ago on content marketing entitled “Stay Relevant: Map Your Interactive White Papers to the Buyers Journey” featuring Tom Pisello, Chairman & Founder, Alinean Inc. The presentation started with a number of statistics to build credibility in white papers as a viable and engaging offer for prospects. And indeed they made a good case here (I’ll let the presentation speak for itself). The webinar was really to promote “interactive white papers,” which are dynamically customizable documents based on a quick survey – e.g. the examples might change based on industry, role, company size, location, etc. I wasn’t particularly impressed by those, but as with all such presentations, there were a couple nuggets that I thought were valuable and worth sharing.
- White papers have a lot of influence as do peer referrals. I found it interesting that webinars have more influence early in the sales cycle but little influence later on, suggesting they may be best used for awareness and educational content that is most important early in the sales cycle.
- Vendors need to become more like publishers, providing advice, best practices, and other relevant educational content, not self-centered, product, or sales content.
- Vendors need to align content to the buying cycle and, where reasonable, customize it by job function or industry. I like his “provocative approach” earlier in the sales cycle (to get attention) and “value approach” later in the sales cycle.
To me, all of this is very consistent with the very definition of marketing, which is two parties with something that the other values entering into a process of finding each other and discovering the mutual benefit of doing business together. Vendors need to take the lead by openly sharing valuable information and educational content to no only build credibility but also trust.
About the author:
John Love is president of JLC Marketing, Inc., specializing in outbound marketing and communications strategies and programs.
Technorati Tags: Alinean, content marketing, JLC Marketing, John Love, mapping content to the buyers cycle, Tom Pisello
Tags: Alinean, content marketing, JLC Marketing, John Love, mapping content to the buyers cycle, Tom Pisello
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Monday, October 11th, 2010
At last week’s TechTarget ROI Summit in San Francisco, Marilou Barsam, SVP of Client Consulting and Corporate Marketing at TechTarget, shared the results of a Spring 2010 survey of what TechTarget calls the “hyper-active researcher.” Key findings from the 1,700+ survey responses were that these buyers spend the majority of their research time online and nearly 33% are planning 4-6 IT projects within the next year. On the panel during her session was the CIO of a financial services firm. This individual represents the persona of the “hyper-active researcher” and shared with a packed room of B2B marketers how he approaches his role and prefers to interact with vendors.
This CIO is always on the lookout for the next solution to move his company forward. During a typical day he:
(more…)
Technorati Tags: B2B marketing, cio buying process, content marketing, customer based selling, Integrated Marketing, Marilou Barsam, personas, product comparisons, techtarget
Tags: B2B marketing, cio buying process, content marketing, customer based selling, Integrated Marketing, Marilou Barsam, personas, product comparisons, techtarget
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Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
The other day I was interested enough in a demo on a company’s website that I filled out a form to view it. Next day, I received a call from a very personable sales rep offering to answer my questions. Smart! They know that a person who checks out a demo is interested and perhaps a prospective buyer. And that’s the kind of lead that Sales wants — a prospect with a high likelihood of buying in the near term.
The demo was a piece of Content. We marketers have been talking about the importance of content in drawing prospective buyers in to the sales funnel. When I wrote newsletter articles about Content and about Inbound Marketing, I encouraged marketers to post digital content suited to different phases of the sales cycle and apply relevant tags and keywords so the content can be found via Search. And of course, we don’t leave it there; we use Social Media to invite people to view the content, because if it’s really good, people will share it with their friends and followers, increasing the volume of interested buyers who visit your website.
Nice! But once the visitor reaches your website and views the content, what’s next? How does a visitor become a buyer? Let’s consider some ways to keep the sales momentum going.
Different content for different stages in the sales cycle
Consider which stage of the sales cycle is served best by each piece of content. Here are some digital content types:
• Blog posts – May be generated by Marketing or by someone else in your organization
• Customer reviews – This type is generated by outsiders on other sites.
• Proprietary research reports
• Tools – ROI calculators and/or other self-qualifier tools
• Video – demos, customer stories
• White papers
Each must carry searchable keywords and tags and a URL pointing to more content. At some point, a prospect may drop from pursuing further information, probably because they have gathered enough for where they are in the buying process. But they know you better now and know how to get back to you when they’re ready.
Different types of content are more useful at different stages in the buying cycle. The vast majority of marketing messages aimed at people do not “reach” them because they are not seen at the right time in the individual’s buying processes. The beauty of Inbound Marketing is that, rather than trying to grab buyers’ attention, you draw their attention at the time when they are already curious, and you lead them to content that explains what they need to know at that stage in the cycle.
• Attention – Content that is useful at the earliest phases of the buying cycle needs to be educational. Avoid being too promotional at this stage. You’re just helping the buyer sort out your qualifications, attributes and special capabilities. Consider using a White Paper here.
• Consideration/Interest – Help your prospects identify the attributes that best meet their most important requirements. At this point, a demo video that shows buyers how they can use your product can elevate the prospect to the Desire stage.
• Desire/Decision – Here is the time to bring in an honest competitive product comparison. Or offer compelling customer testimonials (in text or video, if you can get it). Because this is high value information, require them to register to reach it.
• Action/Purchase – Provide a Call to Action and link to a landing page where the buyer can take action — buy (e-commerce) or be contacted by Sales. Set up a situation where the prospect can move on the decision. At this point, a promotional offer can seal the deal.
Registration forms – When is it a good idea to ask a visitor to register to see your content? Not until you pass the Attention (education) stage and, at the earliest, at the Interest stage. But keep it simple. Ask for too much information and you discourage people from looking at your content. Definitely gather information at the Decision stage.
Closing the loop – Make sure there is a “next” place for someone who is ready to go on. Use:
- A Call to Action – Include a “Contact Us” or “More…” link on every bit of content, even if you believe it is early in the buying cycle. Make sure the page or email you offer helps visitors move forward in the buying process if they’re ready.
- Share Buttons – Add a Share widget that let’s your readers share the content via email or on their social networks. It gives visitors an easy way to automatically include the URL.
Make sure your content is never a dead end. Make it easy for your prospects to move on to the next step, and always with appropriate content. If you don’t have relevant content for all the stages of the sales cycle, your first job, right now, today, is to make sure to produce and post it and make it abundantly available via SEO and social media.
Technorati Tags: content marketing, inbound marketing, lead funnel, SEO, Social Media
Tags: content marketing, inbound marketing, lead funnel, SEO, Social Media
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Monday, March 22nd, 2010
For years I’ve talked about transitioning in tech from Sales through Product Management and ultimately to Outbound Marketing. But lately, I’ve been talking about inbound marketing and am frequently met with puzzled looks. People inquire, “What is inbound marketing?”
In fact, the term “inbound marketing” has been around at least since 2007. The earliest mention I can find is in a January 2007 Forrester Report, How Technology Enables Inbound Marketing by Suresh Vittal. It spoke of using interaction management software and real-time analytics and was technology-focused.
Later in 2007 a company called HubSpot (founded in 2006) began using the term Inbound Marketing and branded their product Inbound Marketing Software. They pointed out how customer buying habits had changed. It was time, they said, for companies to begin “getting found” by potential buyers when they are already looking at products or services in your industry. In the past businesses began shopping by visiting trade shows; now it starts on Google.
A Venn diagram in a post from HubSpot blogger, Rick Burnes, really brought the concept to life for me. It shows how three of today’s familiar marketing techniques overlap and interact to create an integrated inbound marketing approach:
Image from HubSpot blog
- Content marketing – Content is the collection of interesting and relevant information that attracts potential customers to your site or to your business.
- Search engine optimization – SEO makes it easier for buyers to find your content.
- Social media marketing – Use of social networks (SMM) extends the reach, spreads and amplifies the impact of your content.
Rather than finding customers as traditional outbound marketing has done, inbound marketing helps customers find you. You need not interrupt your target customers to get their attention. They’ll be looking for you when they’re considering a purchase, although they may not even know who you are yet when they start looking.
When they search (SEO) on a search engine or on their social network using phrases you use to label your content (content marketing), you’ll be findable. Social networks (SMM) serve to spread and amplify the message to a broader audience.
Inbound marketing uses the magnet approach (pull) vs. the bullhorn approach (push) of traditional outbound marketing. The intent is different, and so is the result. It’s a different way of growing demand.
For more on inbound marketing and how to use different types of content to reach potential buyers at different stages of the buying cycle, see Inbound Marketing: Just Another Marketing Buzz Phrase? in the KickStart Accelerator.
Why inbound marketing?
- Value – Inbound marketing is less costly. Freely placed content can be as attractive and successful as Pay-Per-Click, and when found organically via search engines is less expensive. The 2010 HubSpot survey reports that inbound marketing is 60% less expensive per lead than outbound marketing.
- Effectiveness – Outbound marketing messages are becoming less effective because, a) buyers are bombarded by a high volume of messages each day and either blocking them or turned off by them, and b) people trust social sources more than paid sources of product information.
- Self-qualifying – Rather than marketing trying to guess who might become a customer, potential buyers identify themselves. Inbound marketing’s messages reach prospects at the time when they are considering a purchase and are most receptive to marketing messages.
Beyond inbound marketing
Social media is not just for marketers. Other areas where your business should be using social media are:
- PR – Remember, there are two sides to social media — what you say about your business and what others say about your business. Reputation management belongs in PR (as in Public Relations!). Someone should be monitoring and responding to what various communities are saying about your organization, positive and negative. The rest of the world pays attention to how companies react to customer complaints that surface in social media.
- Customer service – A number of companies (notably Comcast, with @ComcastCares on Twitter) are putting social media to good use in their Customer Service operations.
Involve other functions besides Marketing in your company’s larger perspective on social media. Establish a Social Media Council in your organization that represents all the other functions that touch customers and the public, and make sure your company’s message and policies are reflected throughout their conversations on social media.
And finally…
…no, I do not work for HubSpot. I just believe their approach is very much to the point. The individual components of inbound marketing are just that — components. Together they are far more powerful than their sum.
Technorati Tags: content marketing, inbound marketing, SEO, Social Media
Tags: content marketing, inbound marketing, SEO, Social Media
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Friday, July 24th, 2009
By “It”, here, I mean content. In the sense that marketers and publishers use the word, “content” means (according to Wikipedia) information and experiences that may provide value for an end user/audience in specific contexts. You may think of content as something contained on the Web, but it can be in other media as well, including broadcast media, CDs, and even print.
The key to content being useful for marketing purposes is that it must be information or an experience that can be easily:
- Captured
- Stored
- Forwarded
- Repurposed
What does content have to do with social media? Updates or announcements with associated links posted on social networks are a great way to draw users to your content! And from there visitors — the ones thinking of buying — can find their way into your sales funnel. Increasingly buyers are finding their own way through the sales cycle via the internet.
If you’re ready to give this a try, first, stop and consider what you would want social media to do. Who do you want to reach? Which social networks are those people in? What action do you want users to take when they see your social network presence? What happens next?
Nothing happens unless you make it so. When you have thought through your strategy and figured out how to move ahead, be sure you follow these basic rules:
1) Learn to write great headlines – The posted information needs to include a very short, intriguing “headline” or subject line that gives readers a good idea of what content they will see when they click the link.
2) Make the content truly relevant and valuable – When your company draws users to information that makes them more knowledgeable, you do them a service and boost your brand’s credibility. Make sure your content is related to your industry or product and will make visitors smarter for having visited.
3) Don’t push – Most visitors, still in the information-gathering stage, can be put off by advertisements pushing a product before they know enough about the subject. Let them learn at their own speed. Today’s buyers will anyway.
4) Provide a call to action – If visitors like your content and they’re ready to learn more, giving them a link to more detailed information on your products or services will encourage them to explore further. Use a simple info form (name, company, email address) to enable access to more in-depth information such as White Paper downloads. Now they’re genuinely prospects.
5) Stay open and accessible – If the content is a blog post, allow visitors to leave a Comment. Include RSS capability so they can subscribe to your blog. If they want to receive updates from you, give them a simple form to subscribe to your newsletter and emails.
6) Keep your content fresh – Develop and maintain a Content Calendar with topics, dates and contributor names. Publish new content frequently. If your website becomes stale, people won’t keep coming back. If there is something new and interesting, they’ll tune in.
Every time you post new content, by all means, tweet about it on Twitter or post an update on your Facebook page. If the content is really delightful, people will share it with others and help you spread the word.
Technorati Tags: content marketing, Social Media
Tags: content marketing, Social Media
Posted in Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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