developing content for the digital conversaton

12/30/11 12/30/11 Technology, Inc. – Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Developing Content for the Digital Conversa?on

September 7, 2011

12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

Welcome To The Webinar

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Panelists

Jeff Erramouspe President ManCcore Technology

Andrew Gaffney Editor DemandGen Report

12/30/11 Man?core Technology -‐ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

B2B Purchasing Behavior

§ Prefer to u?lize Web and social media to create a shortlist § Resistant to sales calls/messaging during this phase § Without 1:1 interac?on, seller has no control of the process


Changes Role of MarkeCng

§ Marke?ng must take responsibility for early stage selling

§ Turning to technology to track buyer behaviors and automate interac?ons

§ U?lizing content to engage prospects and guide them through their buying process


SymbioCc RelaConship

Content MarkeCng AutomaCon


What would you say are your greatest challenges in creaCng and opCmizing your demand generaCon efforts?

Insufficient staff

Insufficient content

Lack of processes

Lack of exper?se

Insufficient technology

Other

8.2% 12.2%

24.5%

34.7%

44.9% 51%


What campaigns have been the most successful for your department over the past year in driving leads and engaging prospects?

Content-‐based offers

Events Search marke?ng

Telemarke?ng Other

8.2% 8.2%

24.5%

42.9%

55.1%


If you were able to increase your budget in 2012, where would you most likely increase your spend?

12.2% 12.2%

24.5% 28.6%

65.3%


How are you currently measuring the effecCveness of your content campaigns?

Other

Ac?vity generated via social media

Feedback from sales team

Traffic driven to web site

Number of qualified opportuni?es it drives

Number of leads generated 75.5%

73.5%

49%

32.7%

16.3%

8.2%


Are you currently or are you interested in measuring the impact of specific content pieces on various phases of the sales funnel?

We have no current need to measure specific impact

Yes, we are currently measuring and acribu?ng the impact of specific content

We are not currently measuring, but are interested in tools that will help us measure the impact of specific content campaigns

59.2% 30.6%

10.2%


As you evaluate your current content programs, where do you see the greatest opportunity to improve your results?

Finding the right partners to drive content

Increasing budget to fund content ini?a?ves

Iden?fying the right channels to distribute content

Developing the right mix of offers

Mapping content to buyer needs

28.6% 8.2%

24.5%

16.3%

22.4%


As you conduct win/loss analysis of your pipeline, do you currently measure the role content plays in influencing your customer’s purchase decisions?

No we do not look at the role of content specifically

We are planning to include content influence in our win/loss reviews in the next 12 to 24 months

Yes that is one of the factors we consider

24.5%

26.5%

49%


1 2 3 4 N/A Conduc?ng an audit of exis?ng offers 23% 23% 15% 8% 31%

Developing buyer personas 23% 13% 15% 2% 46%

Mapping content to buyer needs and stages 35% 23% 6% 8% 29%

Crea?ng assets and offers that align with the lifecycle of a prospect 33% 27% 17% 4% 19%

Rate 1 – 4 with 1 being most value; N/A = Not Completed

Please indicate if you have completed any of the following exercises to improve your content effecCves and the value of each step:


ConducCng A Content Audit

1. Build a complete list of your current content assets, including web content, sales presenta?ons, case studies, etc.

2. Try to map out the assets visually to correspond with different buyer phases, including awareness, educa?on, considera?on and valida?on.;

3. Assemble a list of poten?al content contributors, including internal and external op?ons, such as media partners, consultants, analysts, etc.


Building Buyer Personas

1. Start by determining your core target audiences.

2. Avoid being too broad. For example, don’t just build profiles around broad ?tles such as CIOs.

3. Determine what their pain points are and what is keeping them up at night.

4. Drill down into common characteris?cs and needs for different buyer segments.

5. Iden?fy acributes and preferences for these various profiles and segments.


Mapping Content To Buyer Needs & Stages

1. Iden?fy gaps in the current menu of assets to determine the buyer phases where you are light on content and build plans to create new assets.

2. Develop content offers that address the unique needs of prospects at different stages of the buying cycle.

3. Early stage content should start a conversa?on and address business issues.

4. Later stage content should be more product specific and focus on purchasing concerns, such as ROI and compe??ve analysis.


1. Think about mul?ple formats and channels for your messaging; don’t become over-‐ reliant on email messaging alone.

2. Consider your cadence; you don’t want to contact prospects so oien that you become a burden, but you also don’t want to be forgocen about.

3. Develop content offers that will help progress and accelerate prospects through the buying cycle.

4. Don’t jump too quickly to pricing and ROI; start out with research and case studies un?l they are ready to talk terms.

CreaCng Assets & Offers That Align With The Lifecycle Of A Prospect


MANTICORE TECHNOLOGY CONTENT AUDIT LESSONS


Some Personas/Phases Lacked Adequate Content

§  CXO oriented material for awareness to considera?on phase

§  CMO material for closing phase §  Some content in wrong form


A Lot of Content Could be Repurposed

§  Older white papers could be refreshed with more current examples

§  Older content could be reused as current blog posts

§  Turned white paper paragraphs into sales-‐oriented e-‐mails


Visibility Made Everything Work Be3er

§  Pre-‐audit, our content strategy was foggy §  Post-‐audit, we:

§  Understood where to focus §  Realized we were in becer shape than we thought §  Developed a baseline by which to measure future efforts


Q&A

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THANK YOU!

Download the Blueprint For Using Content To Connect With Buyers white paper here:

hcp://bit.ly/content-‐blueprint

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