A live walkthrough of 4 Better Practices for creating customer-centric B2B marketing content. Loaded with real-life examples, and reviews of 6 volunteer companies who participated in a live Content Clinic webinar hosted by Pardot on February 23, 2011.
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Better B2B Content: Developing Customer-Centric Content Live Web Clinic
1. Developing Customer-Centric
Content:
A Better B2B Marketing Clinic
To make today’s session more practical we are looking at
real-life examples from people in this session.
If you are interested in participating in the next clinic
or having an offline conversation about your content,
contact me at nolin@brainrider.com
2. You Are
Here
Better Content is…
• Driven by objectives
• Customer-focused
• Demonstrates subject
matter expertise
• Supports your programs
• Measurable performance
5. …Aligned To Their Decision Making
If your
Define The Evaluate Negotiate
customer
wants to: Problem Alternatives & Commit
They are Education Solution Credentials &
looking & Thought & Product Decision
for: Leadership Suitability Support
• Need & Gap • How to buy
Connect • Trends & Assessments • Credentials
With Statistics • Solution • Real case-use
Them By • News & Analyst comparisons studies
Sharing coverage
Subject • Implementation • ROI/TCO
Matter • Benchmarks plans • How to build
Expertise • 101 Education • Product their business
roadmaps case
6. Checklist For Better Content
Be Customer-
Focused
Start with
Light Content
Make It
Findable
Measure What
Works
9. 2. Start With Light Content
Light Content
• Leverage “as-is” • Already approved
content • Lower cost
• Repurpose • Less effort
existing content
• Faster to produce
• Use light formats
• More to measure
• Curate and share
3rd party content
11. Repurpose Existing Content
Asset/Topic Category Format
SOURCE ASSET: Mobile Resource Management Solutions:
DS_MRM_SolutionsBro_FINAL.pdf
Managing mobile resources (MRM): 5 Route 1-page
pitfalls operators face planning, Planning download
tracking, routing, & dispatching mobile
Brochure resources
Routing, dispatch, & mobile tracking Route Checklist
Repurposed software: What to look for in an MRM Planning
solution
Into 6 Light Mobile Resource Management: 8 Performance Resource
Content benefits of a comprehensive planning, Management post
tracking, routing, & dispatching
Assets solution
SaaS MRM: The Advantages To A Performance Resource
Software as a Service Approach for Management post
operations & logistics specialists
Logistics and supply chain Performance Blog post
management: update on mobile Management
technology
Logistics software: how to integrate the Performance 1-page
power of real-time planning and Management download
wireless mobile technology
12. Curate & Share 3rd Party Content
Deploy and Measure Engagement
Extract & Track
Monitor & Cull
13. 3. Make It Findable
Use Keywords In Your Title
Describe why it’s worth
reading
Use images and
graphics for key
concepts
Headers & lists make
your copy easy to scan
“What Next” CYOA Links
14. 4. Measure What Works
Pageviews
Avg.
Time on Site
Pages per visit
Gated
Downloads
Identify Better Performing Content
For Your Programs
15. Content Engagement Techniques
Proprietary
Content
Sales tool
High Value Content
Ask for additional
profile info
Medium Value Content
Complete a short form
Low Value Content
Open Access (tracked if possible)
16. Better Content Clinic
Be Customer-
Focused
Start with Light
Content
Make It Findable
Measure What
Works
17. Clinic: Atlona.com
Value prop: digital audio & video
connectivity solutions.
Target: Consumer/end-user, professional
installers, and commercial solutions
• Lots of “About Us” content
• Good Support, Product Help, and Case
Study content
• Develop more expertise-based
resources for each audience
• Centralize and share content assets
throughout the site & social media
• Host downloadable files as Content on
Pardot so you can track engagement
• Gate higher value resources behind
individual forms to capture depth of
engagement & progressively capture info
• Cross-promote between resources
18. Clinic: outsystems.com
Value prop: Help IT departments deliver
custom applications that their business
users need.
Target: IT managers CIOs, Application
Managers.
• Rich resource center, but hidden
• Organize Resources into customer-
relevant categories
• Repurpose heavy content into light
assets
• Host downloadable files as Content on
Pardot so you can track engagement
• Gate higher value resources behind
individual forms to capture depth of
engagement & progressively capture info
• Cross-promote between resources
19. Clinic: NTObjectives.com
Value prop: Solve application security
challenges.
Target: IT security professionals
(software, SaaS and services)
• Rich resource center (research) & blog
• Great content sharing via social media
• Blog should be integrated into site for
SEO and cross-linking
• Organize Resources and blog posts into
customer-relevant categories
• Host downloadable files as Content on
Pardot so you can track engagement
• Gate higher value resources behind
individual forms to capture depth of
engagement & progressively capture info
• Cross-promote between resources
20. Clinic: CLCLodging.com
Value prop: Leverage the purchasing
power of 11 million room nights a year to
bring low rates to companies of all sizes.
Target: President, CFO, Travel Planners &
Ops Managers, Purchasing & Supply
Managers, Independent Travelers and
Owner-Operators
• All top level content is “About You”
• Good collection of case studies, could be
more customer needs oriented
• Would like to see more needs-based
content (efficiency, service levels, etc.)
• Host downloadable files as Content on
Pardot so you can track engagement
• Gate higher value resources behind
individual forms to capture depth of
engagement & progressively capture info
• Cross-promote between resources
21. Clinic: paymetric.com
Value prop: Eliminate the challenges of
accepting electronic payments in your
enterprise systems and applications.
Target: --
• Rich resource center
• Great merchandising of resources
throughout site – homepage, sidebars
• Forms are intimidating – collect data
more gradually if possible
• Re-purpose heavy content assets into
light, easy-to-find formats
• Organize Resources and blog posts into
customer-relevant categories
• Host downloadable files as Content on
Pardot so you can track engagement
• Cross-promote between resources
22. Clinic: IVCi.com
Value prop: Help organizations
collaborate more effectively.
Target: --
• Lots of great customer-centric blog
posts, videos,curated 3rd party content
• Good job sharing on social media
• Needs-based content disconnected from
main website – negative impact on
findability & decentralized web presence
• Look for hot topics in your light content
as opportunities to create higher value,
heavier content assets
• Organize Resources and blog posts into
customer-relevant categories
• Host downloadable files as Content on
Pardot so you can track engagement
23. Resources For Better B2B Marketing
Go to brainrider.com/nolin for a
Better B2B Marketing Checklist
and enter to win a
Better B2B Marketing Audit
For more information:
@Brainrider
www.linkedin.com/company/brainrider
Resources: brainrider.info
Articles: blog.brainrider.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
Before I start I want to understand your needs in interests in the room. Who in the room is regularly creating content?Who has enough content to fuel your marketing programs?What are some of the content challenges you are facing?Today’s session takes what we do with clients over a 12 week engagement and distills it into some practical advice for you.To make the session even more practical we will take a look at some real life examples and with you help demonstrate how to get to better content.
Let’s define better
You are already very good at talking about yourself with credentials, product info, about us.To double check just look at your site navigation. It likely includes “our products”, “our services”, “about us”, “our news”.And customers appreciate it because you are a pretty cute kid.But as we talked about last year at elevate 2010 it is not just about you, it is about what your customers want.Think of the cocktail party guest who only talks about himself. He is never that interesting!
Practical content, described in their words, and useful information as they go through the stages in their decision making process.
Aligned to the stages in their decision making process from defining the problem or opportunity, to evaluating alternatives, to negotiating and committing to a decision.
We have 4 better content practices we want to share today.
Being customer-focused takes discipline.We recommend using a simple framework like this one to get there.Who is your target audience?What are their needs & pains?Which needs & pains can you help with?Group into 4-6 categories to organize and guide your contentUse those categories to categorize your resource center and blog
Being customer-focused takes discipline.We recommend using a simple framework like this one to get there.Who is your target audience?What are their needs & pains?Which needs & pains can you help with?Group into 4-6 categories to organize and guide your contentUse those categories to categorize your resource center and blog
Light content is a terrific way to initially populate a resource center and to keep it fresh.
Developed for one purpose –sales collateral – but also valuable in other channels
Extract individual topics as separate content assets. More focused content makes it more findable, relevant, and useful.When was the last time your read a 12 page white paper from start to finish. Real customer behaviour skims documents looking for the subject they are interested in.Publish your repurposed content in light formats like posts, checklists, 1-pagers.
Curation gives several advantages.Sharing 3rd party heavy content delivers value and often extends a brand halo to your resource center.Light 3rd party content allows you to rapidly test topics and keywords.
You have invested in developing your content.Make sure it is easily findable
Measure contentfindability and engagement to identify content gaps and opportunities.
Be customer focused1. Using customer language to describe your content2. Using customer needs and pains to organize your content3. Don’t only organize by format. Your customer is not looking for a PDF they are looking for the answer to their need-are you using a content strategy-not using customer needs and pains to organize your content see resource categories and blog categories-build category pagesFindable1. Content merchanzing on key pages (home page, resource center home page, blog, and sidebars)2. Titles, descriptions, and For More Information-place links to most valuable resources on home page-make sure your carousel is SEO friendly (not flash)Light formats1. Break up your heavy content to expose valuable single topics-put “as is” content and blog posts into resource centerMeasuring results and planning -aks yourself if you are featuring content that is working