how to build effective content for your marketing and...

B2B Tech Marketing :: activatems.com

B2B TECH MARKETINGB2B TECH MARKETING

Imran Suleman VP, Marketing Strategy [email protected]

How to build effective Content for your Marketing and Nurture Programs


Who Am I?

Content marketing since 2000 Leadership positions: •  Strategy •  Content Marketing •  Performance Marketing •  Audience Engagement I’ve directly managed thousands of content marketing campaigns, across different clients, verticals


•  Content Marketing and the Buying Funnel

•  2 Case Studies On Real Content Marketing Messages

•  Anatomy of High Performance Content

•  Titles: A Content Marketing Fundamental

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Agenda

B2B Tech Marketing :: activatems.com B2B Tech Marketing :: activatems.com

Content Marketing and the Buying Funnel

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Content Marketing Basics

•  Puts the buyer first •  Helpful to the customer at every stage in the buyers

journey •  Exploits an authentic, honest voice •  Speaks to the buyer in the manner they prefer to be

spoken to


•  Maps content to the three (or four) buying phases •  Buying Phases:

–  Early Stage

–  Mid Stage

–  Late Stage

–  Post-sale Stage

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Funnel-Aligned Content

Awareness

Preference

Justification

Retention


•  Objective: Awareness

•  Tone: Builds awareness of a problem (and/or solution!), does not push a particular product, pushes problem, problem solving; builds connection through empathy

•  Typical Format: Whitepapers, infographics

•  Typical Titles/Keywords: –  Top 10 Big Data issues – and how to solve them –  Identifying security limitations in a hyper connected world

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Early Stage Content Characteristics



•  Objective: Preference

•  Tone: Builds preference and consideration for your product

•  Typical Format: Evaluation reports, 3rd party analyst

studies (Gartner, Forrester), data sheets, case studies •  Typical Titles/Keywords

–  5 steps to selecting an ABC solution –  Gartner Magic Quadrant: Application Performance

Monitoring

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Mid Stage Content Characteristics



•  Objective: Justification

•  Tone: Financial info around return; payback periods; practical voice

•  Typical Format: Buyers guide; ROI/TCO tools; demo videos; case studies; free trials

•  Typical Titles/Keywords: –  Backup and Recovery Buyers Guide –  Business Process Management (BPM) ROI Calculator

for XYZ technology

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Late Stage Content Characteristics



•  Objective: Retention

•  Tone: Informative, “plugged-in to the latest”, communal

•  Typical Format: community sites, blog posts, live events, round tables

•  Typical Titles/Keywords:

–  Time saving tips and tricks to master your X technology

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Implementation Stage Content Characteristics



•  Focus on buyer benefits –  Only effective if you know what the customer cares

about

•  Everyone is a customer expert –  None more so than the customer themselves

Ask the customer!

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Foundation for Content Marketing



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Enterprise healthcare customers pursue stronger alignment on key trends

top 6 customer trend rankings top 6 XYZ trend rankings

!"PHI – protected health information

growth in Shadow IT

encrypted data transfer

mobile/BYOD

need for internal and external collaboration

continued resistance to cloud-based storage and

collaboration solutions

mobile/BYOD

HIE - health information exchange

EMR – electronic medical records

encrypted data transfer

cloud-based storage

PHI – protected health information

!" = Match

!"

!"

!"

!"

!"

!"

!"

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perceived importance


•  Ask the customer

•  Identify buyer priorities

•  Have your content marketer align with buyer priorities

•  Follow the content marketing techniques you looked at today

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Key Takeaways



Case Study #1: Titles Matter

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B2B Tech Marketing :: activatems.com 15

Emails That Could Use Help



By employing a few principles, you can create a

600% increase in response rate

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Focus on the Customer



Original title IT Pro Ranking: Smartphone and Tablet OSes Funnel stage Mid stage

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Challenged Asset



Header and Title

•  Most clicked element of the email

•  Text only, no image •  Leading with

keywords that matter to the audience


Branding and Logo

Logos and branding are essential to build familiarity, trust and relevance; important in mid to late stage


Body

•  Each sentence should be a paragraph

•  Use bullet points •  Remember: your

audience is scanning, not reading


Image Element

•  Image appears on the right

•  Call to action directly below it


Call To Action

Place a call to action toward the right – the second most clicked element in your email


Header: •  Text only, no image •  Leading with keywords that matter to the audience •  Logo and Branding

Body: •  Each paragraph should be one sentence •  Use bullet points

Image: •  Image on the right •  Call to action directly below it

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Key Takeaways



Case Study 2: Buyer Benefits

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•  Context: –  Deployed multi-touch nurture to raise awareness and

engagement post-acquisition –  New names, new segment, new assets

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Nurture Flow Marketing

White Paper Case Study Infographic


Email 1


Benefit oriented header

2x open & click rate


Email 2


Name brand: Domino’s Pizza


Email 3


Benefit oriented header

2x open & click rate


•  Focus on customer benefit immediately •  Build awareness before you build confidence •  Use urgency •  Use customer’s language

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Key Takeaways



Anatomy of High Performance

Content

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Good content informs. Great content performs.

Anatomy of Engaging Content

Problem Title: suited for print; gimmicky

Optimized Title: clear, direct, action oriented


Performance content puts business solution first, in context


Quotes from product team not as credible as customer quotes

Listing product features turns top-of-funnel buyers off


Buyers need clarity and simplicity to evaluate solutions



•  Clear, urgent, actionable title – I need to read that

•  Use customer quotes

•  Don’t be gimmicky or literary

•  Keep it simple. Use bullets, 2 columns.

•  Aligned with persona, buyer pain points, and the funnel

•  Show (visuals, graphics, analogies) vs. tell (narrative)

•  Infuse market/industry/ data, facts and research

Elements of Engaging Content


Titles: Content Marketing Fundamental

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The First Law of Online Content Consumption

Users Don’t Read – They Scan


•  Titles directly influence performance of nurture or stand alone campaigns

•  Titles not only go on whitepapers, videos, infographics, case studies…

•  They become headers, subject lines, tweets, facebook news feeds, blog headlines… they impact SEO

•  They set the tone, approach and strategy for your content

If you get the title right, you’ll get everything right

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Priority #1: Titles



Titling Best Practices

•  Start with the heart of your content •  Remember that the things that are important to

you(your brand name, for instance) may not nearly be as important to a prospect (early stage), but essential to an existing customer (retention stage)

•  Always leverage recognizable, top-of-mind

keywords. •  Subject line copy can be used in your title and

header as well


Review & Checklist

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Review and Checklist

•  First Law of Online Content Consumption –  Scanning, not reading

•  Titling –  Start with the heart; begin (don’t end) with engaging

keywords

•  Funnel

–  Create and market content within the framework of a funnel


Imran Suleman VP, Marketing Strategy [email protected]

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Thank you


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