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White Papers ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

How Buyer Personas Shape White Papers

When I ask clients about the audience for a white paper, I sometimes hear: "the technical and business decision makers" (i.e., we're trying to reach everyone with this one piece) or "the CIO" and that's where it ends.

 

silhouette

Your ability to connect with your audience hinges on how well you understand what makes that person tick – what keeps her up at night, how she solves problems, how she prefers to consume content, who influences her decisions...that's just a start. The key is that the more you know about your audience, the more likely you'll produce a focused white paper that hits the mark.

 

Let's assume you've defined the ideal reader as the director of HR at insurance firms with 500 or fewer employees who is:

  • Overstretched on a daily basis
  • Reliant on in-person training sessions for new hires and other HR issues
  • Skeptical of qualitative statements about the marketplace
  • More concerned with the ways technology helps her do her job than understanding how it works
  • Wondering whether her daily struggles are the industry norm
  • Just beginning to research the topic

 

Here's how this information can shape your white paper.

 

Align with the buying stage. Since the prospect is in the early stages of the buying cycle and not aware that she has a problem, write a paper that educates her on industry trends, and shares best practices for addressing the types of issues she's grappling with. In other words, do not talk about your product or service – it's much too early to get into those details.

 

Grab attention. Once your paper has been written, getting your paper noticed and read starts with the cover design, title, and executive summary.

  • Cover design: When your white paper is competing for attention in a sea of white papers on third-party sites such as IT Business Edge, TechTarget, and FindWhitePapers, you need to make it stand out. It's a no-brainer that a well-designed cover is more likely to catch the eye than a bland one.

white papers

  • Title: You have about three seconds to capture someone’s attention so your title is key. And since most prospects come across white papers while conducting searches – either on a major search engine or a site that syndicates white papers – your title needs to include the keyword phrases that your prospects will be using in their search. According to MarketingSherpa, prospects search on terms related to their problems far more often than they search on terms related to a solution. As an example, papers with the term "spyware" in the title were 77% more likely to be downloaded than those with "anti-spyware" in the title. You also want to make it clear who should read your paper. Include the ideal reader's role in the white paper title – for example, "Six Ways HR Directors Can Trim Training Costs."
  • Executive summary: The executive summary gives skim readers a good idea of the entire paper at a glance. This is especially important if you are targeting busy executives. Sometimes all they have time to read is the executive summary – if that resonates with them, they’ll often pass the paper on to a subordinate for a full read. By focusing on the salient points, you should be able to convey the essence of the paper in a few paragraphs. Similar to crafting a title, you want to keep in mind the following when writing the executive summary:

 

 +Avoid terms specific to your offering. Focus on the terms that prospects are likely to search on – that's probably not going to be your product or service name.

 

+ Spell out who the paper is intended for, e.g., "This paper helps HR directors at mid-sized companies gain insight into blah blah blah…".

 

+ Highlight the problems or challenges or opportunities that your paper covers.

 

Format for readability: Again, your audience is a group of busy HR directors. If this person does decide to read your paper, it's more likely than not that she'll start by scanning or "power browsing." Here's what you can do to help your reader glean the essence of your paper at a glance:

  • Use headings and subheads to succinctly describe the section – and convey the key message.
  • Pepper the paper with call-out boxes and quotes that highlight important points.
  • Format the paper so that these elements stand out – ideally in a column dedicated to call-outs and sidebars.
  • Insert graphics – drawings, charts, or photos – that help illustrate critical points.

 

Move the prospect to the next stage. At the end of your paper, include a call to action that guides the reader to the next logical step. Remember, this person is early in the buying cycle, so she's looking for information that will help her better understand her issues and options. At this point, it may make sense to encourage her to sign up for an educational webinar or download a podcast interview with an industry analyst. Whatever you suggest, spell out how the prospect will benefit by responding to the call to action.

 

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How to Get Your White Papers Read by Thousands

Recently on ClickDocuments, I contributed suggestions for choosing a white paper syndication partner. Here I expand a bit on that post.syndication

 

Not familiar with white paper syndication? Syndication makes your white paper available to mass audiences. Think of it as you would a syndicated newspaper column. If you write a column for your own newspaper (e.g., website), only your subscribers will see it. But if your column is syndicated via hundreds or thousands of other newspapers around the country, it will be seen by many more people.

 

To syndicate your white paper, you contract with companies that reach hundreds of thousands of – or even a million-plus – subscribers on a regular basis, subscribers who are interested in reading white papers and other content.

 

Why Syndication Makes Sense

A Business Content Study conducted by MarketingSherpa and TechWeb in 2008 found that a white-paper-centric site was one of the top five sources for white paper downloads by technology buyers. Plus it can be a great way to build up an in-house list. According to BtoB Magazine, CoreTrace – an IT security company – promoted its white papers and webinars with companies including Ziff Davis Enterprise and TechTarget, and grew its database from zero to about 20,000 addresses in one year. (Of course, it'd be great to know how much value it found in that list.)

 

How the Programs Differ

That said, all syndication programs are not created equal. Companies such as eMedia offer syndication programs that promote your white paper to their subscriber list via newsletters (or bulletins). Other companies – such as IT Business Edge, Toolbox.com, and Web Buyer's Guide (part of Ziff Davis Enterprise) – promote your paper on their single site. (Within that group, even Toolbox.com is unique in that it offers a professional community network for IT/HR/Finance professionals to connect with their peers.) Still others – including Find White Papers (part of Madison Logic), NetLine, Technology Evaluation Centers (based in Canada), TechTarget, and TechWeb – promote your paper to subscribers across their network of sites.

 

Program Basics

Some of the companies offer a lead guarantee (i.e., will deliver a certain number of leads within a specified time frame). While each company displays a registration form to subscribers who show interest in downloading your paper, many of the companies enable you to customize this form so you can collect the information that fits your lead definition. They will typically deliver these leads to you on a weekly basis in Excel or .CSV format, and some can even dump leads into your sales force automation tool. A few of the companies can even help you develop a white paper – or help you reuse your content by turning your white paper into a podcast or Webinar.

 

Sorting through the Options

It's not hard to see why some marketers feel overwhelmed by all the syndication options out there. If you'd like someone else to do all the legwork, you could work with an agency such as Connect Direct (CDI) who can help you choose the right programs. Once CDI understands your goals, it works out a deal with its network of media partners on your behalf.

 

Interested in learning more? Check out my report that details how much it costs to syndicate your paper via the companies listed above, and what you get for the money.

 

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Survey Says...Tech Buyers Read and Forward White Papers

B2B technology marketers have access to lots of evidence when it comes to proving the value of white papers. A few reports include:

 

The Eccolo Media 2009 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report is the latest to offer insight into the role that white papers play in the buying process. Eccolo Media surveyed 501 technology-purchasing decision makers and influencers in its second annual technology collateral survey. Respondents included C-level executives, vice presidents (VPs), managers, directors, developers/programmers, and technicians who worked for U.S.-based companies, and were responsible for either making B2B technology purchases or influencing purchasing decisions. Only respondents who had participated in a technology purchase in the last six months were included in the survey results.

 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

  • The white paper is still the most influential piece of collateral that technology purchasers consult when making or influencing buying decisions for their companies. In fact, seventy-seven percent of respondents said they’d read at least one white paper in the last six months (compared to 68 percent in the 2008 survey), with 84 percent of them rating white papers as moderately to extremely influential when making technology-purchasing decisions. That means technology marketers had better produce white papers – or risk being left out of the equation as buyers are researching their options.

influential

  • White papers are read by 80 percent of respondents during the pre-sales phase, defined by Eccolo Media as the stage when buyers are considering solutions and vendors (before they send out RFPs or initiate discussions with specific vendors). This is no surprise in light of the fact that prospects know they can access a wealth of information online without interacting with a sales rep. Marketers should pack their papers with the types of information technology buyers are seeking during the pre-sales phase.
  • 89 percent of respondents said they share white papers with others. In fact, when compared to the other collateral types in the survey – case studies, videos, podcasts, and brochures/datasheets – white papers were the most viral, with 32 percent of respondents sharing them with three or more people. But to encourage sharing, vendors need to be aware of what works in a white paper. When asked to rank those factors that would decrease the influence of white papers, respondents most frequently indicated poorly presented information, and too much focus on a product or vendor.

 

To avoid poorly presented information, marketers should carefully choose a writer. A draft developed by a subject matter expert – such as an engineer or product marketing manager – isn't necessarily ready for publication. A paper needs to follow a logical flow and be well written. In fact, fifty-one percent of respondents in the Eccolo Media survey said high-quality writing is either very or extremely influential on their purchasing decisions. Another thirty-five percent said well-written collateral was moderately influential. That means 86 percent feel that high-quality writing influences their purchasing decision.

 

quality

 

Marketers should also format the paper to increase readability and understanding by:

  • Using headings and subheads to succinctly describe sections and convey the key message.
  • Peppering the paper with call-out boxes and quotes that highlight important points.
  • Inserting graphics – drawings, charts, or photos – that help illustrate critical points.

 

To avoid a product- or company-focused paper, B2B marketers need to resist the temptation to write the equivalent of thinly veiled brochure. Marketers should put themselves in the prospect's position and think about what he or she would find useful in dealing with the situation at hand. Developing buyer personas that provide insight into prospects' pressing concerns and issues is a good place to start.

 

The Eccolo Media report contains lots more insightful data, including how white paper consumption varies based on the prospect's company size, the ideal length for a white paper, how frequently tech buyers turn to other collateral types, and where buyers find vendor collateral. To download the report, visit http://www.hart-communications.com/eccolo-survey-release.htm.

 

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Are You Reaching the Right CIO?

How many times has your company decided to produce a white paper aimed at "CIOs in large enterprise companies across all industries"? On the surface it may seem this is a fine approach. After all, a CIO is a CIO is a CIO, right? Turns out that's not the case.

execs

 

Chris Koch of ITSMA blogged about this recently, in his post outlining the CIO archetypes he helped develop while working for CIO Magazine. Here's a summary of the three archetypes featured in CIO Magazine's State of the CIO 2009 report:

  1. Function Head: These CIOs are primarily focused on activities that face the IT organization and are intended to achieve IT operational excellence.
  2. Transformational Leader: These CIOs are primarily focused on creating change for their enterprise through close partnerships with business operations and cross-functional corporate departments. CIO leadership activities are centered more on process reengineering and automation, not just delivering the basic IT services.
  3. Business Strategist: These CIOs focus most of their attention on driving business strategy for competitive advantage.

 

(Check out Chris' blog to see a fourth category that CIO Magazine no longer tracks but Chris thinks is worth noting.)

 

As Chris says "To market to these people effectively, you're going to have to get to know them as being part of multiple, unique segments. That means understanding not just the top 10 IT drivers for 2009 as predicted by Gartner or Forrester. It means understanding different CIO roles, skills, aspirations, and business contexts."

 

Interestingly, just before I came across Chris' post, I ran across one by Jennifer O'Connell called "All C's Are Not Created Equal" in which she commented on the findings of CIO Magazine's State of the CIO 2008 survey. Jennifer explains how critical it is for organizations - especially those selling technology - to develop personas based on their insights into the CIO archetypes. As she notes: "Imagine going in to a sell a 'business strategist' CIO with a message crafted to appeal to a 'functional head.' Or vice versa. Even a one-size fits all approach falls down here, as you can't truly illustrate your ability to meet the needs of one if you're trying to straddle the needs of all three."

 

She makes a great point -- basically you're sunk if you don't know which CIO type you're talking to. But how can you figure that out?

 

You can glean additional insights from the demographics that CIO Magazine shared about the 500 CIOs it surveyed for the 2009 report. Turns out the healthcare industry lays claim to more Function Head CIOs, and state and local government has a higher claim on Transformational Leaders compared to other vertical industries. Business Strategists predominate in automotive and media (though -- as CIO Magazine noted -- it would be more fitting if Transformational Leaders were in charge since these sectors are ripe for huge change).

 

This information is a virtual treasure trove for technology marketers developing a white paper. The piece aimed at the CIO in a healthcare organization could walk the reader through the ways that the solution helps address performance, control costs, and keep a tight rein on security (where relevant). As a bonus, it could include a checklist that the reader could refer to when comparing vendors.

 

The white paper geared to the CIO in state and local government could focus on how the solution can help close the gap between IT and business, while enabling the company to advance its architecture and business processes.

 

Finally, the paper meant for the CIO in an automotive or media company could outline industry trends and the ways technology can help the company innovate and differentiate from the competition.

 

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Are You Forging a Connection or Burning a Bridge?

How many white papers have you read that are the equivalent of a glorified brochure? Probably too many. In fact, in a report by InformationWeek Business Technology Network, nearly two‐thirds of respondents said they regard most white papers as marketing/sales‐oriented. In other words, they find them too focused on pitching the solution. And what happens next? Many stop reading the paper. David Meerman Scott said it well: "No one cares about your product except you.”

 

burning bridge

Why do some B2B technology marketers feel the need to discuss their solutions in every white paper? I think it can be tracked back to two main issues:

1. Losing sight of the audience and the prospect's place in the buying cycle.
2. Not being committed to building up a relationship with the prospect over time.

 

To the first point – sure, technical evaluators in the consideration phase seek solution details and want to know how you compare to the competition. And economic buyers in the consideration and decision stages want to understand total cost of ownership and return on investment. But the business stakeholder is looking for very different information (more on that below).

 

As far as the second point - let's face it: the already lengthy sales cycle for complex offerings is even longer in today's economy. Marketers will have plenty of chances to interact with prospects for some number of months. Doesn't it make more sense to parcel out information over time to align with the prospect's needs throughout the buying cycle?

 

Let's assume you've written a white paper intended for business buyers early in the buying cycle. What should it look like? First and foremost, it should be focused on delivering something of value to the reader.

In the awareness stage, prospects want you to:

  • Unearth trends and issues they may have overlooked
  • Highlight new insights into the issues and opportunities they're addressing
  • Point them to the third-party experts covering the topic
  • Paint a picture of how their daily life could change if they solved their problem or achieved their objective
  • Suggest what they should consider as they continue their research

 

If you follow these guidelines, you can prove yourself as a trusted resource by delivering valuable information that the prospect can put to use. And the prospect will probably come back to your company as it moves further along in the buying cycle. After all, people are more likely to recall – and talk about – a company that helped them explore all the options than one that just touts its products and services.

 

A great example of this principle in action is Enquiro, a company that helps companies with search engine marketing. Enquiro offers great value by conducting market research into issues such as the B2B buying process and how B2B buyers search for information. Its reports are chock-full of valuable information that don't push the company's solutions. Instead Enquiro establishes itself as an expert in B2B search by sharing its insights and deep knowledge of issues and trends.

 

Now if you're looking to hire a company for search engine marketing, don't you want to go with the expert? And wouldn't it be a relief to get familiar with the company's knowledge and expertise without being inundated with sales information? Sure, at some point you'll need to understand the nuts and bolts of how the solution works, what it takes to implement it, and how it will impact your environment. But you can find all that out in a later white paper.

 

Granted, the Enquiro solution is likely not as complex a sale as the typical B2B technology product or service. That being said, tech companies can still follow this formula to strengthen connections with prospects early on.

 

Delivering information that prospects are looking for is a no-brainer. You just need to be aware of what prospects are looking for at each stage of the cycle and make the commitment to deliver it. When it comes to engaging with prospects early in the buying cycle that means resisting the temptation to make the sell in the first white paper they read.

 

You're probably saying "But I can't control which of my papers they decide to read first." To a certain extent, that's true. But you can lead them in the right direction by aligning your site content with the buying cycle and buyer roles, and by writing titles and executive summaries that clearly spell out the intended audience and what the paper covers.

 

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3 Ways to Make Sure Prospects Find Your White Papers

 

So you've spent the time to develop a white paper. But have you done all you can to maximize its visibility? Here are three proven steps you can take to increase the likelihood that prospects will find and read your papers.tree covered lane

 

Draw in Readers with a Compelling Title

The majority of prospects find white papers by conducting a search in Google or another search engine. Depending on the keywords the prospect uses, it's very possible that your paper will appear as one of thousands of results. Consider this – a Google search on the term "white paper" on June 3, 2009 yielded 86,100,000 results!

 

In The Well-Fed Writer, Peter Bowerman says, "A title is a lure. It's the hook of any article, book, or white paper. A good one will draw a reader in; a weak one will have that reader turn the page, move on to the next shelf and click the next link."

 

In fact, the title should be considered a promise of sorts. Think of it as providing insight into what the prospect will get by investing the time to read your paper. With that in mind, you want to make sure your white paper title stands apart from the crowd. Things to consider:

  • Include a number in the title: If your paper covers steps, tips, or best practices, make sure to highlight the number in the title. For example, "5 Ways to Protect Your Intellectual Property." People are drawn to white papers that include practical tips or steps.
  • Keep it short. MarketingSherpa conducted research into the most-viewed white papers on CNET Networks Business sites. For the topic of digital security, the most downloaded paper was titled "The Starter PKI Program," while the least popular one was "An Introduction to Enterprise Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)."
  • Don't fool around. According to the CNET Networks Business research, prospects won’t download white papers with titles that include a play on words.
  • Call it something else. Perhaps the best way to gain high visibility in a sea of white papers is to call it something else, such as an e-book, special report, guide, or handbook.

 

Sprinkle Keywords Throughout the Executive Summary

According to MarketingSherpa, "The abstract page is often indexed by search engines, so you’ll want to optimize your abstract/summary with the right keywords." One place to start is by using a keyword tool such as Wordtracker or Trellian to understand which keywords are being used in searches. Then work a few of those terms into your executive summary.

Other points to keep in mind when crafting the executive summary:  

  • Minimize technical jargon. Instead focus on the terms that prospects are likely to search on. MarketingSherpa found that prospects search on terms related to their problems far more often than they search on terms related to a solution.
  • Identify the target audience, e.g., "This paper helps HR directors at small- and medium-sized businesses…".
  • Highlight the problems or challenges that your paper covers – and that your prospects are experiencing.

 

Get the Word Out

Many companies post the finished white paper to their Web site and notify the sales force, executives, and channel partners. But there are many other ways to spread the word about your paper. Here are just a few:

  • Include a link in your next newsletter
  • Offer it within an email or direct mail to your prospect database
  • Encourage the sales force to include a link in their signature file
  • Make it a giveaway for Webinar or trade show attendees
  • Distribute a press release promoting the paper
  • Purchase a pay-per-click ad, such as a Google Ad
  • Submit it to trade publications and industry events as a thought leadership piece
  • Point your Facebook, Twitter, and other social network members to it
  • Mention it in the company blog
  • Syndicate it on sites such as Bitpipe, BNet.com, Findwhitepapers.com, IDGConnect, KnowledgeStorm, Technology Evaluation Centers, and TechTarget
 

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How Your White Papers Can Become Weapons of Influence

Like many marketers, I find myself repeatedly drawn to Robert C. Cialdini's touchstone dominoesclassic - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. It's not hard to see why. As marketers, we need to understand what makes buyers tick. And Cialdini spells it all out for us.

 

For those of you who aren't familiar with the book, here are the key "triggers for compliance" according to Cialdini:

  • Reciprocity. We feel compelled to give back once we've been on the receiving end.
  • Authority – We're more easily influenced by those we perceive to be authorities.
  • Likability – The more likeable someone is, the more easily we are persuaded by him or her.
  • Scarcity. Things are more desirable when they are less accessible or available.
  • Social Proof – As herd animals, humans feel safer following the pack.
  • Commitment and Consistency – We want to be consistent with our commitments.

 

As a marketing writer, I'm always thinking about how to apply these principles to the project at hand. Based on my experience, here are suggestions for how marketers can tap into these elements to deliver white papers that become weapons of influence.

 

Reciprocity – Want prospects to be more inclined to provide you with their contact information or agree to a demo of your solution? Then generously share your knowledge and insights with them.

 

Determine what information prospects need at each stage of the buying cycle. Is your paper targeted at those in the awareness stage? Include valuable information and suggestions, such as industry best practices and a checklist of what to look for in a solution. Are you targeting those in the consideration and decision phases? Embed a chart so the reader can see how you compare to the competition (whether another vendor or an in-house option).

 

Authority – B2B buyers want to know that you're well versed in their issues. Positioning your company as a thought leader is a sure-fire way to establish authority. At the start of your paper, demonstrate your deep understanding of the prospect's pain and outline relevant industry trends. Include references from respected third-party sources, such as analyst firms or a recognized industry expert.

 

Likability – We're more inclined to like someone who has been helpful. Prove yourself as a trusted resource by delivering valuable information that the prospect can put to use (such as a checklist for what to look for or a wrap-up of industry statistics). At the same time, write your papers so that you come across as approachable. Many papers are written in an authoritative tone, using the third-person voice (for example, "Many companies are bogged down by issues such as…"). While that can help to establish authority, it can also feel cold and distant. Consider writing in the second person, directly engaging the reader with statements such as "Your organization is likely struggling with…" and "You can solve this pressing issue by…".

 

Scarcity – The obvious way to tap into responses to scarcity is through a limited offer. Why not include exclusive information in your white paper? Perhaps your company can sponsor or conduct a survey or research project. Then when you promote the paper, make sure you emphasize that the information can't be found anywhere else.

 

Social Proof – Assure prospects that others in their position – whether in the same role and/or at a company in the same industry – have solved similar challenges by using your solution. Include case study excerpts and highlights in your white paper to illustrate customer success. This social evidence can reinforce the prospect's inclination to choose your offering.

Note: this tactic should be reserved for white papers targeted at prospects who are further along in the buying process, such as in the consideration phase. When prospects are just beginning to explore their challenges and options, they are seeking general information (i.e., they don't want to be bogged down by details about your offering).

 

Commitment and Consistency – Once people indicate that they are committed to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment. When it comes to getting prospects to commit to your company or solution, the idea is to get them to make a series of small commitments that move them through the buying cycle.

 

So how do you accomplish that with a white paper? In the call-to-action, encourage the reader to take the next step. Perhaps that is registering for a related webinar or signing up to see a demo of your solution. Whatever you offer, make sure it satisfies the prospect's need at that stage in the buying cycle.

 

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How to Craft White Papers that Stick in Readers' Minds

In Made to Stick, authors Chip and Dan Heath present six common traits underlying ideas with staying power:

  • Simple
  • Unexpected
  • Concrete
  • Credible
  • Emotional
  • Stories

 

Here's how marketers can apply these same principles to produce powerful white papers.

 

Success

Simple. In their book, Chip and Dan quote a successful defense lawyer who says, "If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won't remember any." The same is true of a white paper that tries to cover too much ground – it's quickly forgotten.

 

Instead, choose a key message (or theme) for your paper. If you want to touch upon more than one key message, produce multiple

white papers. Your readers will appreciate – and remember – a focused paper. And it never hurts to offer a well-stocked resource

page on your site.

 

Unexpected. Made to Stick says: "We can engage people's curiosity over a long period of time by systematically 'opening gaps' in their knowledge — and then filling those gaps." In other words, surprise people with useful information.

 

Put this into play in your white paper by highlighting the implications of problems that prospects are facing. For example, let's assume the problem is the manual process of transferring medical insurance contract terms from a spreadsheet to a pricing system. An obvious issue is the possibility of data errors during transfer. A more subtle implication may be the potential damage to patient and partner relationships – as well as subsequent lawsuits – should insurance claims be priced incorrectly as a result.

 

Concrete. According to the Heath brothers, painting a mental picture helps clarify our idea. Do this when writing a white paper. Use a combination of graphics and explanations that walk a reader through a scenario, such as a day in the life of a typical businessperson.

 

Credible. Chip and Dan advocate letting people determine the validity of your argument by weighing it themselves. They include the following example: During a presidential debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980, Ronald Reagan could have cited statistics about the sluggish economy. Instead he asked voters to determine whether they were better off at that point than they had been four years before.

 

When it comes to white papers, credible third-party stats still hold sway. However, you can still reinforce these points. For example, encourage your readers to consider how the facts might impact them. Let's assume you reference a Forrester Research stat claiming that 75% of B2B buyers will be using social media by the end of 2009. You could then ask readers to consider what would happen if their competitors adopt social media to reach prospects and their company did not.

 

Emotional. Made to Stick reminds us that people respond more deeply when we tap into their emotions rather than their logic. And in a white paper, that means you need to explain how you can help the reader on a personal level. Perhaps your offering helps a fulfillment company stuff 1,000 additional letters into envelopes every day. That's great for productivity – something the company's executives probably care about. But the fulfillment manager reading your paper might be just as compelled by the fact that your software will mean an end to all the paper cuts suffered while stuffing those envelopes by hand.

 

Stories. Chip and Dan believe that stories drive action and inspiration. Want an easy way to harness this power in your white paper? Include a pared down case study (or success story) that illustrates how your offering helped a customer achieve their objectives. This enables readers to move beyond theory and into reality, and envision how their existing situation can improve.


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Seize a Golden Opportunity to Connect with Prospects

 

Think you've got the sales cycle down pat? That may be so, but what about the buying process? You see, the way a prospective buyer approaches an issue doesn't neatly align with the way companies think of the buying process. In fact, many marketers are missing out on a prime opportunity to engage with prospects.

 

SunriseWhere Are You at the "A-ha!" Moment?

According to Steve Rankel of Product 180, before prospects even consider your company and its offerings, they ask themselves

two key questions:

 

1. Do I really have a problem or pain?

2. How do I make a good decision and solve this problem?

 

ITSMA coins this as the "Epiphany phase," the phase when prospects "come to the realization of an important business need."

One way to engage with prospects during this stage is by feeding their hunger for educational information. You can achieve this

with white papers that are focused on helping prospects recognize and articulate the need to address an issue.  

 

A White Paper for the Epiphany Stage

So what exactly should this white paper look like? According to Chris Koch of ITSMA, it should focus "on revealing future trends and articulating the business challenges and opportunities that will likely result from those trends."

 

Trends. This section can help establish the drivers behind the need for a solution such as yours (without mentioning your offering). For example, if the focus is the need for online conferencing, your paper might cite statistics showing the reduction in business travel budgets as a result of the economic downturn. By including references from respected third-party sources – such as analyst firms, business publications, or a recognized thought leader – you help the reader gain a broader perspective on the issue.

 

Challenges. Here you should discuss the potential challenges associated with this trend. Be sure to consider a variety of angles and discuss the possible impacts on the reader's company. This ties in with what Philip Lay, Todd Hewlin, and Geoffrey Moore refer to as provocation-based selling in a March 2009 Harvard Business Review article. Specifically, they state: "…provocation-based selling helps customers see their competitive challenges in a new light that makes addressing specific painful problems unmistakably urgent."

 

In this case, the prospect might be forced to cancel user conferences and business meetings due to customer and partner budget cuts. A loss of face-to-face interaction could weaken important relationships and harm the company's ability to increase sales. This point should catch the attention of someone who is facing aggressive sales quotas -- especially if her main competitor has a strong presence in a variety of locations while her company operates out of only a handful of sites.

 

Opportunities. Once you've explored a range of challenges, share ideas about how the reader can overcome these challenges. To continue with the theme, you can suggest online conferencing as a solution and illustrate all the ways that it helps the prospect address her issues. One effective way to help the reader visualize the possibilities is by walking her through a typical day before and after an online conferencing solution is in place. You can even point out the advantages of online conferencing over in-person meetings. In this way, you help the reader see her situation as an opportunity rather than just a problem to be addressed.

 

Resist all temptation to talk up your product or service. Remember – the prospect is just exploring the possibilities and identifying a need or opportunity. Hitting her with information about your capabilities will likely be a turnoff.

 

Gain a Foothold Early in the Buying Process

By following this formula, you can connect with prospects early on in the buying process. As ITSMA points out, you'll help your sales team and company seize a golden opportunity to engage with prospective buyers, an opportunity that your competitors are likely overlooking. And because you've served as a valuable source of information, those prospects are more likely to include you on their consideration list once they decide to pursue a solution.


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Part 3 of Q&A with Marilou Barsam of TechTarget, a Top B2B Advertising Venue 

In part 1 of this interview, Marilou Barsam -- Senior Vice President, Client Services and Corporate Marketing for TechTarget -- offered insights into the ways technology marketers can take advantage of TechTarget's offerings. In part 2, she shared details of the services and information that TechTarget delivers to its clients. In this final installment, she explains how marketers can keep pace with best practices and shares pricing for white paper campaigns on TechTarget.

 

Q. Your latest report found that "During the early stages of their buying process, IT buyers turn to eBooks, emails and editorial articles to help them solve problems." Do you see an opportunity for eBooks to be promoted via TechTarget? TechTarget logo

 

A. IT buyers are demanding when it comes to getting “expert” and “third-party” objective information. Editorial content and peer opinions always top their lists of what influences their buying decisions. As a result we find that repurposing our independent editor-authored content into eBooks is a very productive exercise for us and our customers. IT buyers will naturally download these resources for their objectivity - whether they are sponsored or not.

 

Vendors can sponsor our eBooks, and associate themselves with relevant technology-specific topics. The association alone will help their brands and also attract qualified leads. However, they should also offer their own content so that their prospects can get a strong sense of the vendor's grasp of issues and how the company's offering can help address them. If content is focused on the right issues by buying stage, buyers will consume it.

 

Q. In addition to leveraging the Online Marketing Best Practices resources you offer, how else can B2B marketers keep pace with the latest recommendations?

 

A. Marketers should check out our My Educated Guess blog and our For Marketers Resource page. They can also attend free webinars, and sign up for bi-annual Online ROI Summits and workshops that aggregate our findings and suggested best practices.

 

Many of our larger clients subscribe to Strategic Oxygen – a proprietary intelligent search engine and strategic planning tool that helps IT/B2B marketers and ad agencies figure out idiosyncrasies of their target audience. We recently produced a videocast with them. Strategic Oxygen conducts research on IT buying habits and preferences and compiles the information in its “INE” search engine. Subscribers can see which topics, media types, and messages resonate with these audiences. With these insights, marketers can develop a formalized content strategy. This tool is a valuable complement to our offerings.

 

Q. How many white paper downloads did you deliver in 2008?

 

A. 1.6 million across our entire network. We expect to deliver 2 million in 2009.

 

Q. What is the price to deliver a single white paper across your network?

 

A. The standard package starts around $9,000, which covers three white papers for three months.

 

Q. What is the price for an integrated white paper campaign?

 

A. TargetROI – which was one of the first programs in the industry to offer lead guarantees – costs anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000. Vendors can use this to promote anything they choose, whether a white paper, webcast, podcast, or virtual show. When a vendor signs up for this program, we project the number of prospects that will be attracted during the campaign and guarantee the vendor will receive that many leads.

 

Q. What's the best way for B2B marketers to take advantage of TechTarget’s offerings?

 

A. Marketers can choose from online, editorial, and event sponsorships, along with opportunities to distribute their own content across our network of more than 60 websites. Today they can reach more than 7.5 million registered members through these venues.

 

Once marketers explore our sites, they should contact our salespeople. Our sales folks will consult with the marketer to understand the company's marketing goals and then recommend the best options and sites for promotion and visibility.

 

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Part 2 of Q&A with Marilou Barsam of TechTarget, a Top B2B Advertising Venue

In part 1 of this 3-part interview, Marilou Barsam -- Senior Vice President, Client Services and Corporate Marketing for TechTarget -- offered insights into the ways technology marketers can take advantage of TechTarget's offerings. Here she shares details of the services and information that TechTarget delivers to its clients. TechTarget logo

 

Q. What are examples of success that B2B advertisers have had with your lead generation and branding programs?

 

A. Our clients have found that they can achieve success with both lead generation and branding by running an integrated program that spans online, editorial, and event sponsorship, along with content distribution across our network. We feature a number of case studies on our site that illustrate these successes.

 

Q. What services do you provide to help clients achieve this success?

 

A. We offer a combination of reporting, analysis, and interpretation to guide our clients’ understanding of their campaign’s performance. We start by distributing standard lead reports every week. If a client wants early-stage leads, they can take advantage of our fast-pass registration that enables them to generate leads without applying filters. If a client wants leads that fit a certain criteria – for example, "how did the reader answer my registration questions?" – our client consultants can work with the marketer to develop custom registration questions. This enables marketers to analyze respondents’ responses and better determine where they are in the buying cycle.

 

By tracking performance across various media, and analyzing which content and subjects pull the best and why, we are able to provide insight into a marketer's overall effectiveness. We also review their integrated campaigns at various stages and recommend modifications to their program that should help improve results. Our clients find this incredibly useful in understanding what does and doesn't work online.

 

Companies that are disciplined about tracking leads from TechTarget can take steps that accelerate the sales cycle. For example, if they see that certain leads are more active or engaged than others – for example, downloading lots of white papers, attending numerous webinars, and listening to podcasts – they can isolate those leads and treat them preferentially.

 

Q. What common lessons do your clients learn in the course of working with TechTarget?

 

A. Companies are realizing that they should never give up on a lead that is attracted to the content they're providing. One of our clients didn't consider a lead from us to be qualified. The lead had downloaded lots of content but had indicated in the registration that he or she wasn't ready to pick a vendor and make a purchase. Instead of giving up on the lead, the client entered it into its closed-loop nurturing program. After three to four months, the lead was further along in the buying process but still not sales qualified. So the client passed it over to telemarketing. Telemarketing followed up for 2-3 months. After a total of 7 months, the company made the sale.

 

The key takeaway is that companies need to treat all leads with dignity relative to where they are in the buying process. The days are gone when marketers can cast a wide net and toss the catch over to sales, treating each lead equally. Most companies will go to great lengths to figure out how to cluster their leads based on their buying-readiness, and then “work them” accordingly. Their ultimate goal is to figure out which leads are most qualified and, fortunately for us, our clients find that a high percentage of our leads are strong, “ready-to-buy” leads.

 

Q. What type of information do you provide that helps advertisers prioritize and nurture leads?

 

A. In addition to the reporting and analysis we provide, our lead nurturing program is extremely valuable to marketers without the infrastructure to manage this on their own. Our proprietary algorithms enable us to determine a lead’s engagement level. And our proprietary re-messaging process helps our clients treat the most promising leads in a preferential manner.

 

We can spot highly engaged prospects based on insights into the content that they are accessing. This enables us to suggest other relevant content from the same vendor. We work with our clients to make sure the content we suggest will pull the lead further downstream. We might start presenting content that is more focused on competitive positioning or we might suggest content in another media type. For example, if we see that the prospect has responded to generic educational white papers, we will then introduce solution-specific webcasts or a podcast series. This helps the prospect establish benchmarks of criteria for the solution set and starts creating a bias in their minds toward the particular vendor-sponsor.

 

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Q&A with Marilou Barsam of TechTarget, a Top B2B Advertising Venue

I wasn't surprised to see that BtoB Magazine named technology media company TechTarget #6 in its list of the 50 most powerful B2B advertising venues. As someone who's been immersed in the world of technology marketing for nearly 20 years, I've watched TechTarget since its inception in 1999. In addition to its most recent honors, the company has piled up numerous accolades over the years, including twice being named one of the "Top Innovators in Business Publishing" by Media Business and collecting more than 100 awards for editorial excellence.

 

TechTarget logo

With its network of more than 60 technology-specific websites, TechTarget is a primary Web destination for technology professionals researching products to purchase.

 

To give technology marketers insight into the ways they can take advantage of TechTarget's offerings, I spoke with Marilou Barsam Senior Vice President, Client Services and Corporate Marketing for TechTarget.

 

Q. Which media types and assets are IT buyers drawn to?

 

A. We consistently track which media types and assets IT buyers are attracted to and why, and we share these findings in our free quarterly Media Consumption Research reports. In fact, the trends we see in our Media Consumption and Google Research reinforce one another. A key finding is that IT buyers don't select random content when they're surfing the Web. They're attracted to very specific subjects, topics, and media relative to exactly where they are in the buying process.

 

IT buyers are inclined to favor certain keywords, and are more attracted to a marketer's message and more open to picking up the phone when a vendor calls if the company's content lines up with their buying stage needs. Based on this finding, companies should consider syndicating their content but also make sure the content covers all stages of the buying process. Companies that produce a "one-size-fits-all" white paper, for example, miss opportunities to engage with promising leads. The prospect might look at the paper early in the buying process but won't find it relevant at a later stage.

 

Another key finding from our Google Research and our most recent Media Consumption report has to do with how marketers can best draw in end-stage leads. We asked buyers what kind of content, messaging, and keywords attract them most when they are ready to make a final decision about a vendor’s solution. A majority of them said they want content comparing the vendor's offering to the competition.

 

While many marketers are averse to calling out their competition by name, IT buyers are telling them they need to do this. We're seeing larger vendors put out papers comparing themselves to competitors. Because these companies considerable brand equity and clout, they're not intimidated by this exercise. It's understandable that smaller companies are hesitant to publish a competitive comparison, but they're much more likely to make it to the top of the short list if they do.

 

Q. How can marketers take advantage of the insights shared in the research produced by TechTarget and Google?

 

A. Marketers need to think holistically about the relationship of online marketing programs to these findings. They need to go beyond staging a single program and offer media types that will engage the prospect throughout the buying cycle. They also have to make sure they align all supporting elements – such as landing pages and campaigns – with their content.

 

Many vendors have autonomous search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) organizations that are not linked to corporate or product marketing divisions. Companies need to bridge that gap if they're going to feed IT buyers the type of content they're seeking. It's not sufficient to line up organic keywords to attract the IT buyer stage by stage – marketers need to complement this activity with the content assets they feature in their campaigns and the media types they sponsor.

 

For example, buyers who are close to making a decision want to see case studies and comparisons against the competition. While the SEO and SEM groups set up keywords that support this, marketers should build campaigns around that type of content. Companies need to direct these prospects to a page that compares their solution to the entire competitive set.

 

Also, software companies should offer trial downloads, since IT buyers are highly interested in them as they get closer to a decision. In fact, if an IT buyer has a positive experience with a trial download of a lower-priced offering, they'll typically buy the software within 24 hours. Marketers that use keywords to direct prospects to trial download on their site or our site should send them to the right page or make their telemarketing group aware of the offer so that they can close in.

 

While we are providing valuable information about what IT buyers are looking for, it can be overwhelming for marketers to try to address all these content needs. Resource-constrained marketers can sponsor our expert editorial content, which we publish as eBooks that offer in-depth, insightful coverage of tech-specific topics.

 

Q. Your 2008 Media Consumption Report: Perception Versus Reality of the IT Pros and IT Marketers highlighted gaps between IT buyers' expectations and what IT marketers deliver. What are some recommendations for how marketers can close that gap?

 

A. For the past few years, we've consistently seen this gap exists, though it is slowly closing. IT buyers can't get enough of anything offered via Web 2.0 – such as virtual tradeshows, videocasts, trial software, wikis, blogs, etc. Marketers need to supplement traditional media with these types of assets to keep prospects engaged.

 

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Case Studies +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Making a Case for Consistency in B2B Case Studies

 

There's something comforting about consistency. Even as children, concrete breakerswe are grateful for structure and guidance (much as we may outwardly resist it). And that preference stays with us into adulthood. Admit it – you get a good feeling seeing the same cheery face serve your hot drink every morning at the local coffee shop. Or find it reassuring to know exactly where to find items in your local grocery store aisles. And you like the fact that the same dentist works on your teeth every time you visit. The flip side is that we are thrown off when any of that expected structure is thrown into disarray. This response extends to all aspects of our lives, including our interactions with companies.

 

The reason I bring this up is that I recently reviewed case studies for a new client, and was surprised at the inconsistencies. In a library of 30+ case studies, I found numerous designs, a range of page lengths, and various story structures. I felt confused, like I was looking at pieces from different companies. And I bet prospects get the same feeling.

 

While variety may be the spice of life, inconsistency is the doom of brands. There are plenty of folks who pooh-pooh branding, relegating it to the pile of "fluffy stuff" that marketing is charged with. But branding plays an important role in making sure that prospects and customers enjoy a consistent experience with a company. Ultimately, branding is about setting expectations -- and meeting them. It isn't just about logos, messages, naming, and tone; it extends to visual identity, including the templates used to produce content assets such as case studies.

 

My new client employs lots of intelligent, experienced folks. Without a doubt, these people want prospects to have a positive interaction with the company at every turn. Here are the suggestions I shared so they can leave prospects feeling at ease – and strengthen their stories at the same time:

 

  1. Highlight the key benefit in the title (or in a sub-title). Don't simply list the customer's name or write a play-on-words that's essentially meaningless. Instead, use the headline to convey how the customer benefited from your product or service.
  2. Add an at-a-glance section to the first page that lists company name, industry, challenge, solution, and key benefits. Not everyone will read a story word-for-word. Include a sidebar that gets across the key points.
  3. Clearly and consistently label sections. For example, “Situation,” “Challenge,” “Solution,” and “Results." And include subheads that highlight salient points. This step – along with 1 and 2 – will not only help “skimmers” glean the essence of the case study, it will ensure each case study is structured similarly.
  4. Choose a standard story length. The case studies I reviewed for the client ranged from 800-1,700+ words. While there's nothing wrong with different lengths, it's best if page count is pre-determined, not random. For example, SAP produces a variety of customer story types of varying lengths. Its Business Transformation Studies are 2 pages, its success stories are 4 pages, and its case studies are in-depth 10 pagers. SAP chose these page lengths because it suited the requirements for the story being told. As a result, its stories are consistent in appearance.

 

Regardless of the elements you choose for your case studies (or any content assets), the key is to define a formula and apply it consistently. In addition to creating a design template, it's a good idea to draw up content guidelines that explain what's required for each section of your case studies. Your writers will feel more comfortable developing stories. And you'll produce case studies that leave prospects feeling more comfortable about interacting with your company.

 

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Toot Your Horn Every Chance You Get

Are your case studies collecting dust? Well brush them off. Prospects turn to case studies more than just about any other type of content. Makes sense – they want validation that your solution can solve their issue. Here's how to make sure prospects see your case studies at every turn.horn 

 

Draw a map. Beyond maintaining a dedicated case-study page, you should map case studies to the relevant sections of your site, such as the product or service page. If you've gone the extra step of walking prospects through your site based on their roles and stage in the buying process, make sure you tee up case studies in the same way. For example, technical evaluators making a short list of possible solutions want to read different details than a business user who is just starting to explore her options.

 

Sprinkle them around. Your case studies don't need to be standalone pieces. Excerpt customer quotes and summaries to include in white papers, webinars, presentations, prospecting emails and voice messages, and on relevant Web pages. Consider rotating featured quotes on your home page. Share a compelling story in your company blog.

 

Shoot your customer. Not everyone will invest the time to read a case study. Whenever possible, shoot a video testimonial to accompany the written version. Not only will you reach prospects that might not bother reading your case study, you'll convey the customer story in a compelling way. As Keith F. Luscher explains in his blog post, "video can capture the emotion of those happy customers in a way that cannot be expressed in written word alone."

 

Pitch the press. Journalists are eager for interesting stories. Identify publications and sites of interest to your prospects, review the editorial calendar, pinpoint the appropriate editor or journalist, and find out how the he or she likes to be pitched. Then submit your pitch to numerous publications. If the story is interesting, more than one outlet might just pick it up.

 

Spread the news. In addition to pitching to a publication or site, promote the case study in your newsletter and in a press release. Including a teaser in your newsletter is a great way to highlight a customer success while filling out your newsletter. (Always a challenge, right?) And featuring it in a press release is just one more way to help prospects find you in their searches. Besides, as David Meerman Scott says in The New Rules of Marketing & PR, companies should write press releases that appeal directly to their buyers. What better way to lure in a prospect than by showcasing the success of an existing customer?

 

Make an event of it. Have an opportunity to speak at a trade show or conference? Instead of pitching your solution or company, highlight a customer success that will resonate with the audience. You'll likely draw in a larger audience by inviting the customer to help tell the story. Depending on the forum and audience, you may find it makes sense to share the kind of details that often don't make it into published case studies, such as best practices for implementation. As I mentioned in a previous post, technical evaluators are hungry for this information.

 

Develop a playbook. Okay, this one is geared toward arming your sales force. But they're often the ones to point prospects to your case studies. Make sure your sales reps know which case studies to share at any given point. Collect your case studies in a playbook categorized by industry, as well as by prospect role, challenges, and place in the buying process. Then deliver it to your sales team and send them on their way.

 

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Ho-Hum…Another Sound-Alike Case Study

Preparing a tailored case study questionnaire is one of the key elements in a successful case study initiative. Yet too many companies overlook this important step.

 

Does this sound familiar? A sales reps approaches you about a customer all revved up to participate in a case study. You grab your case study questionnaire and send it off to the customer with a meeting invite. Soon you – or your hired writer – are interviewing the customer. And my bet is that you and your sales team won't be happy with the results.Binoculars

 

Why? If you don't use a tailored case study questionnaire, all your case studies will sound the same. Your sales reps won't have access to case studies that show various situations and benefits. And your prospects will likely assume that your solutions apply to a limited set of circumstances.

 

So how can you make sure each of your case studies tells a unique and compelling story? Find out as much as possible about the customer's situation, needs, and results. And that research starts before the interview. Here's where to look.

 

1. Background form. Ideally your sales reps will fill out a case study background form when they nominate a candidate. Be sure to ask what proof points the customer should be able to share that demonstrate the value of the solution or service. Also inquire about aspects of the engagement that should be highlighted in the story. For instance, was the implementation time frame unusually short?

 

2. Employees and partners. Touch base with the account manager, customer service reps, professional service consultants, and any other employees who have interacted with the customer. (If relevant, get in touch with your partners too.) Ask them for any materials they've created for the account, such as sales pitch documents, RFPs, and presentations. Find out if the customer has shared any materials it may have created about its relationship with your company. And while you're at it, ask these folks to summarize their recent interactions with the customer, whether positive or negative. (Positives experiences can lead to interesting questions while negative ones can help you avoid touchy topics.)

 

3. Google. Search on "customer name" + "your company name" and you might be surprised at the results. Sometimes customers reference their use of solutions in conference presentations, trade publication articles, webinars, and annual reports. Also conduct a search on "customer name" + "case study." You might glean some interesting tidbits about the customer's company or situation from case studies produced by other solution providers.

 

4. Annual reports. As I mentioned above, annual reports sometimes include reference to products the company is using. But if Google doesn't serve up a relevant result, you should still take a look at the customer's annual report if they're a publicly traded company. You can often find mention of strategic initiatives and goals that might tie in nicely to the story you're hoping to tell. Heck, you might even come up with an angle you hadn't even considered.

 

Once you've gathered this background information, insert customer-specific questions into the interview questionnaire. You'll be well on your way to producing a unique and interesting story.

 

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 Using Case Studies to Overcome Objections


B2B companies typically produce case studies to show how a customer benefited by using their solution. But most organizations miss out on another valuable way to leverage these tools. Here's a simple way case studies can help your sales team overcome objections early in the sales cycle. 

Questions

 

I recently listened in on an AIPMM-sponsored webinar called Get Inside Your Customer's Head! The presenter was Steve Rankel of Product180.

(If you're not familiar with Steve, check him out. He's a master at developing killer value propositions and sales messages,

and his site offers lots of useful tools.)

 

Steve's presentation focused on interviewing customers to figure out your value proposition. The main idea was to use this information

to refine your positioning. But what really caught my attention was when Steve talked about using customer experiences to help address prospect objections.

 

First you need to understand why your customers' were initially skeptical of your offering. Let's assume your company is Docs-R-Us and sells document management software. Perhaps during interviews, you discover that many of your customers were initially hesitant because your solution is offered via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Companies were concerned that users without Internet connections would be unable to access electronic files – a fear reinforced by their talks with other SaaS providers.

 

If enough of your customers shared this concern, you've got good reason to try to preempt the objection before it scares off other potential customers. Find out what turned these customers' views around. In this case, let's assume it's the fact that you enable users to access files while offline. Then present a story that highlights one customer's concern with this issue and why your offering ultimately won them over. Instead of producing a case study entitled Docs-R-Us Helps XZY Corporation Locate Records in Half the Time, you could publish one entitled Assessing Your Document Management Options: Why All Software-as-a-Service Offerings Are Not Equal.

 

Sure, you could produce a stand-alone piece that addresses this concern. But case studies are often a more powerful way to convey your message – after all, prospects tend to believe the veracity of statements made by other customers.

 

Want more ideas of how to put this type of case study into play? Check out these great examples on the HealthPro website.


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What Do Technical Evaluators Get from Your Case Studies?

 

It turns out that the standard "problem-solution-results" case-study formula doesn't resonate with IT evaluators and decision makers. Similar to the general movement away from product- or company-focused collateral, today's case studies need to impart practical information to technical prospects.

 

Briefcase

A recent blog post by Scott Vaughan, VP of Marketing for TechWeb, highlights this issue. Scott gleaned his insights from a poll of CIOs, during which he asked: “What works and what do marketers need to do better?” The answers are enlightening.

 

Above and beyond discussing business goals, technology deployed, and outcomes, CIOs expect case studies to provide details about:

  • Options evaluated
  • Evaluation and implementation processes
  • Technology architectural approach

 

Technical evaluators also appreciate charts graphs, and time lines. But perhaps the most interesting finding is that technical folks want to understand how their own organization might approach a similar project. Essentially, they want to read about lessons learned. (Never mind success stories – as the CIO of Citigroup EMEA said, “…I already know the bloody ending. Why would I ever read it?”).

 

This insight is critical – and makes perfect sense. After all, a business-focused prospect wants to visualize how the solution will help him or her overcome business challenges. But the technology evaluator wants to see what it takes to successfully implement your solution.

 

One of my clients – SAP – is now satisfying this need by publishing Business Transformation Studies. So how can you as a technology marketer address this need? As Scott suggests, you need to rethink how you write and label your case studies and success stories. But the first step is to approach case study interviews from a new perspective. To make sure your case study will appeal to the technical crowd, ask the following during your interviews:

 

1. Describe your selection and evaluation process.

2. What were the key differentiators between our solution and others you considered?

3. Explain the implementation process, including key stakeholders, time line, number of users/locations, and organizational and/or business process changes.

4. Describe your technology environment before and after implementing the solution.

5. Share any governance processes, including escalations and change management.

6. Describe any end-user training or other initiatives that helped ease adoption.

7. What best practices did you employ during the project?

8. If you re-did the project, what would you do differently?

9. What three things must a company do to be successful with such a project?

10. What information resources did you find valuable during the course of this project?


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Content Marketing/Marketing 101+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

How to Create Remarkable B2B Content

 

With so much content online, it's getting harder to attract attention. Ideally you want to provide content that your readers find so valuable they talk about it and pass it along. If you're able to produce something entertaining, like this humorous video from Kadient or this witty interactive quiz from Marketo, great. But if not, don't worry. Just producing the type of content your prospects and customers are looking for can be enough to set you apart. Here are some ideas to get your started.

 

Show How You Stack Up Against the Competition

TechTarget’s Media Consumption report revealed that a majority of tech buyers want content comparing a vendor's offering to the competition as they get further along in the buying cycle. Yet few companies put out competitive comparisons for public consumption. I understand why organizations are averse to taking this step, but the problem is that your prospects are looking for this information. And if you don't offer it but your competitors do, guess who'll make the short list of potential vendors.

 

Novell competitive WP

 

Do More With Case Studies

You can use case studies for more than demonstrating the value of your solution. For example, position them to overcome objections early in the buying cycle. The examples shown here illustrate how one company has done just that.

objections

 

You can also use case studies to address the needs of different stakeholders in the buying process. Scott Vaughan of TechWeb polled a group of CIOs about what marketers could do better. Turns out the standard "problem-solution-results" case-study formula doesn't resonate with IT evaluators and decision makers. One element these CIOs said they'd like to see in case studies is a section on "lessons learned" while implementing the solution.

 

SAP produces a variation on its success stories called Business Transformation Studies, which include lessons learned and implementation best practices, as you can see in this at-a-glance view.

 

SAP BTS

 

Add eBooks to the Mix

Called the hip, stylish cousin to the white paper by David Meerman Scott, eBooks offer a great opportunity to attract attention with eye-grabbing design and a conversational style. Think of them as a more approachable, engaging white paper flipped on their side. While more and more eBooks can be found online, few B2B companies are producing them. Yet more than one company has realized success with this approach. For example, Lumension produced an eBook that has been downloaded over 7,000 times. And Dow Jones published an eBook that resulted in more than 10,000 page views and over 1,600 downloads.

 

Launch Microsites

One way to provide value to prospects and customers is to help them easily find information of interest. You can do that by setting up microsites, which are standalone sites dedicated to particular topic. One example is the Fujitsu RUS/ARRA Resource Site, which provides information on the Broadband Stimulus Plan, to help organizations stay up to date on the requirements and application procedures to secure broadband-related funding. Microsoft uses its Channel 9 microsite to deliver a steady supply of videos to technical people who influence IT purchase decisions.

 

Keynote Systems tracked visitors' behavior on three automotive microsites and found that the more time visitors spent on a microsite, the more likely they were to make a purchase.This likelihood increased the further along a prospect was in the buying cycle. While the study wasn't focused on B2B, it's fair to assume that a microsite aimed at B2B buyers would have the same effect.

 

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Better B2B Content: Applying Presentation Best Practices

I regularly read Olivia Mitchell's posts, as she provides a steady stream of valuable tips for strengthening presentations. Many of her suggestions can be applied to all types of woman presentingcontent assets. Here are a few recommendations marketers can put to immediate use.

 

1. Crafting the title – Just as the title of a presentation can determine how many people sign up for your session or webinar, the title of your white papers, eBooks, case studies and other assets will impact the number of downloads. Olivia provides useful advice for crafting a title that grabs attention.

 

2. Choosing your key message – With any content assets, you need to decide on your key message before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). To make sure your message resonates with the audience, it needs to address their concerns or interests. Check out Olivia's post for step-by-step guidance on how to craft a memorable key message in 10 minutes.

 

3. Avoiding information overload – Many marketers try to convey far too much information in a single content asset. It's almost as if they think they'll never get another opportunity to "interact" with the prospect. Olivia explains why this is a huge mistake and offers suggestions for keeping the message simple while encouraging the prospect to stay engaged after consuming your content.

 

4. Keeping attention – Whether you're asking prospects to invest the time to attend a 60-minute webinar or read an 8-page white paper or 15-page eBook, you better make it worthwhile. And you better do all you can to keep them engaged. Olivia offers a range of advice on keeping attention, including focusing on your audience's interests (reinforcing #2 above). Here are a few more points from her post:

  • Explain why your audience should listen. In the case of written content, this is where you'd spell out who the piece is intended for and what they can expect to get out of it.
  • Don't make it too easy or too hard. You want your readers (or webinar viewers or podcast listeners) to lose themselves in your content. Getting them to that state requires that you provide enough information that they can relate to (i.e., reinforces their current knowledge) along with new information that makes them feel they've gotten value from your content.
  • Change how you grab attention. Olivia talks about how physical space, slide content, and speaker pacing can impact the ability to keep the audience's attention – and how important it is to build in breaks. You can translate this to written content by considering formatting – breaking up paragraphs with bulleted lists, graphics, and call-outs. In fact, you can embed videos directly into eBooks to offer the reader a really interesting pause from reading your copy.
  • Keep it short. Remember, everyone is challenged for time these days. Whenever possible, trim your copy. If a visual can replace a few sentences, use it to convey your point. If you can get across the key points in 5 pages instead of 8, do so. If you can break your white paper into a series of papers, go for it. Your prospects will be more likely to read a paper that's 5 or 6 pages than one that's 15 pages. The added benefit for you is that your series provides great lead-nurturing content that will keep prospects engaged over time.

 

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Do You Have Any Idea Who You're Talking To?

It's a no-brainer: You can't make a connection with your audience unless you know who you're trying to reach. This gets down to marketing basics – you need to develop buyer businesspeoplepersonas. Yet my unscientific polls show that a fair number of B2B marketers haven't undertaken the exercise of developing buyer personas. In all fairness, looking back on my days in product marketing, I don't recall many of us creating personas either. While part of it comes down to time constraints – it's not a quick process – I'm sure a large part of it has to do with simply not knowing where to begin. After all, unless someone shows you the ropes, it's not exactly an intuitive process. So here are words of wisdom from those who have done the dirty work.

 

What is a Buyer Persona?

According to Adelle Revella, who has been using buyer personas to market technology products for more than 20 years, a buyer persona is:

"a short biography of the typical customer, not just a job description but a person description. The buyer persona profile gives you a chance to truly empathize with target buyers, to step out of your role as someone who wants to promote a product and see, through your buyers' eyes, the circumstances that drive their decision process."

 

How to Develop a Persona

As C. Edward Brice, the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Lumension, said in an interview with me last year: "You don't need to create the most expensive and grandiose profile. The level of sophistication will depend on your company's skill set, budget, and available resources…The key point is to focus on a specific role and better understand how that role buys, what are the key pain points and motivations, what are the right type of questions to ask, and who do those people turn to for purchase validation, whether peers, analysts, or media sources."

 

Break it Down by Roles

That said, you need to develop personas for all the roles involved in the buying process. Technology marketers can break personas into the three major buckets recommended by Adele Revella:

  • Economic buyers – Those concerned about the cost of the solution.
  • Technology buyers – Those responsible for integrating or managing the solution.
  • User buyers – Those who will use the solution on a day-to-day basis (or are responsible for the satisfaction of those using the solution).

 

Let's assume you're targeting the person using the solution. This may surprise you, but it's not sufficient to say your target audience is the "business decision maker at small insurance firms."

To be effective, your persona must reflect as much detail as possible about the target person's background, daily habits, activities, challenges, and problem-solving approaches. Michele Linn offered lots of great questions in a post last year. Here's a short list:

  • What work issues keep this person up at night?
  • What sources does this person turn to for information and daily news?
  • How does the prospect go about making business decisions?
  • What types of organizations does this person belong to and what events does he or she attend?
  • Does this person seek advice from colleagues, industry peers, or unbiased third parties?
  • What is the prospect's comfort level with technology?
  • How is he or she dealing with the problem today?
  • What phrases does the prospect use to describe the issues he or she is facing?
  • Does this person prefer high-level details or a deep dive into a topic?

 

C. Edward Brice suggests the following ways to find this information: "Reach out to your media partners, such as TechTarget. These companies conduct a tremendous amount of research into how their audiences consume the information they publish. Talk to your sales team to understand buyer roles. Conduct low-cost research using free survey tools. Mine your database for information on company size, roles, titles, etc. and map all of these to a simple buying model."

 

Getting to the Real Value

As Angela Quail, SVP of customer insights at Goal Centric Management stated in a MarketingProfs article: "Simple customer profiles, even ones bursting with rich, research-based attributes and details, are not enough; you must also carefully consider each of your internal departments' capabilities, and then generate scenarios and insights that translate your customer data into innovation opportunities."

In the article, Angela breaks buyer personas into four components:

  • The buyer description focuses on demographic information, as well as the prospect's typical behavior, attitudes, needs, and goals – all in relation to something you can help them overcome or achieve.
  • Scenarios help your various departments or teams envision the prospect achieving their goals in the course of their work.
  • Insights help your company pinpoint how the prospect's situation can be improved by making it easier, faster, cheaper, etc. to achieve their goals.
  • Innovation opportunity handoff is where your company puts all this information into play by either developing new offerings or enhancing an existing one, and by tailoring communications that reflect your deep understanding of the prospect.

 

And one more bit of wisdom from Adele Revella: "The most important insight about a buyer persona is the answer to this question -- what prevents this type of buyer from choosing us?"

 

Looking for additional resources? Adam Needles lays out the Four Keys for Success Using Buyer Personas to Focus B2B Marketing Automation Campaigns. Check out Bulldog Solutions' Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Buyer Personas. Refer to Enquiro Research's Business to Business Survey 2007: Marketing to a Technical Buyer for a comprehensive persona example. Start following Adele Revella's Buyer Persona blog. And if you want outside help, talk to Angela Quail's company, Goal Centric Management, which offers training and creation of user and buyer personas.

 

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What to Consider Before Your Web Site Launch or Redesign

 

David Crouch is the president of ten24, a firm that develops Web sites for B2B and non-profit organizations. Here he shares insights into trends, best practices, and common mistakes that B2B marketers make with site launches.Wellesley Hills Group site

 

Q. How has B2B site development evolved over the past year or two?

 

A. We are seeing many more marketers using multiple analytics tools – including those from companies such as Hubspot, Demandware, and Google – on their sites. As a result, marketers have access to more and better data, but that can also cause issues. They struggle to manage all this data because they need to access it through multiple interfaces. And having the data (even lots of it) is only half the battle; interpreting and acting on it is still something clients struggle with on a day-to-day basis. Many marketers end up pulling the data into a spreadsheet to create a report format that makes sense to them.

 

Aggregating data from multiple solutions into one location, and then being able to manipulate the data from there, would go a long way to addressing this issue. Marketing automation solutions will likely start pulling this data into a single tool, but for now, most of those solutions are too expensive for smaller companies. To help our clients overcome these issues and access all information from one spot, we are investigating the development of a dashboard.

 

Q. What key issues do B2B companies often overlook when embarking on a Web site launch or redesign?

 

A. The biggest issues are that they underestimate the level of effort required and oversimplify the process. Almost without fail, companies are off by over 50% when they estimate the number of pages for their site. And marketers almost always miss the mark when estimating how much time is needed to create content. Many companies start off by relying on internal resources to generate the content. Unless the employee can dedicate significant time writing and editing copy over a period of weeks or months, he or she will fall behind quickly. Then the entire project gets drawn out. On top of that, companies often overlook the need for a writer who understands how to write SEO-friendly copy. You've pretty much wasted your time and money if you create your site content without considering SEO.

 

Q. Explain the value of a content management system (CMS).

 

A. The value of a CMS depends on the specific requirements of the client, but in most cases, CMS provides the following:

  • Allows non-technical users to update site content such as pages, documents and images without knowing HTML.
  • Enables consistent design across the site, controlled by style sheets, no matter how many new pages you add.
  • Supports creation of SEO-friendly content and forms for lead capture
  • Simplifies content publishing and approval process by enabling you to create a workflow
  • Makes it possible to track history and revisions, and roll back to an earlier version of the site if necessary
  • Streamlines the process of adding features such as RSS and blogs – for example by automatically generating RSS feeds when you add news or events – and presents content in structured format, such as in a calendar.

 

In a true content-managed site, all design elements and content live in the CMS database. The CMS creates site pages on the fly whenever someone clicks on a page link. Because all pages live in your CMS – and not as individual pages – you don't need to separately manage each page as an HMTL file. At its core, a CMS provides workflow and makes it much easier to make changes across a site.

 

Q. You hosted a Webinar, along with Andy Komack of Komarketing Associates, that highlighted features to look for in a CMS that helps maintain SEO best practices. Can you share a few tips?

 

A. As you're building a new site, look for a CMS that handles the following at a minimum:

  • Automatically generates a sitemap and search-friendly URLs.
  • Doesn't lock down essential page attributes, especially the title tag. For example, your page title might be "Management Team" but perhaps you want it to read: "Electrical Engineering Management Team." It's critical that you can customize these fields for SEO purposes.
  • Automatically redirects site visitors to the right page. For example, whenever you change a URL or move a page to a different section of the site, you want the CMS to automatically create a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL.

 

Anyone can access the Webinar on demand for more tips.

 

Q. You recently developed a new site design for the Wellesley Hills Group. What best practices did you incorporate into the site?

 

A. We implemented site architecture and navigation best practices that we incorporate into every ten24 website. Some of these best practices include:

  • The logo and brand appear in the top left corner of each page
  • The main navigation bar is horizontal
  • The utility navigation bar – with links to the newsletter, search, and contact – appears in the upper right corner of each page
  • A secondary navigation bar is on the left-hand side of each inner page

 

We typically include a "breadcrumb trail" under or above the title of each secondary page so visitors understand where they are on the site. You can see an example of this on another client's site, where it says Home > What We Do > Merchant Services. This is built automatically by the CMS and also helps with SEO because it provides internal links.

 

Q. What suggestions would you share with B2B marketers who are considering a site design/development project?

 

A. Most B2B sites are content hubs and critical to lead-generation and nurturing. That means marketers need to approach the project with more than design in mind.

 

Before even considering design – or the technology to be used – marketers need to define requirements from marketing, sales, and support standpoints. The main goal is figuring out which technical platform will serve your needs today and a few years into the future, and this decision should be driven by business objectives. The look and feel of your site may change in the near future, but you don’t want to have to rebuild the entire site because the platform you chose won’t accommodate your needs.

 

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Lessons from the Roller Derby Rink

 

roller derbyIn October, I tried out for the Boston Derby Dames, Boston’s first and only all-female, flat-track roller derby league. For 3 ½ hours, a group of us were put through the paces by a few of the league's veterans.

 

You may wonder how I found myself on a roller rink in Bradford, MA on a Sunday evening with 50 other women dressed in skirts, fishnets, and a variety of creative outfits. Here's the short version: I saw the movie "Whip It," which inspired me to take in a double header hosted by the Boston Derby Dames, which prompted me to dress up as a roller-derby chick for Halloween (yes, that's me in the picture), which naturally led to trying out. (Makes sense, right?)

 

Despite the fact that I hadn't skated in 25+ years (other than circling a roller rink for an hour the day before tryouts), I went for it. Needless to say, the tryouts proved challenging. It struck me that a few of my experiences that night could be translated into lessons for B2B marketers.

 

Lesson #1: Choose the approach that works best for the situation at hand – but make sure you have many options. One of the first skills we had to demonstrate was the ability to stop. Who knew there are three official ways to stop on quad roller skates?! There's the old "drag your front toe" stop, the t-stop, and the "turn-around-and-go-up-on-your-toes" stop. While I managed fine with the standard stop and okay with the reverse stop, I struggled with the t-stop. Though the veterans explained that we could ultimately use whichever stop we were most comfortable with, they also explained that the situation at hand often dictates the type of stop used.

 

This makes me think back to my days in marketing communications and product marketing. While it's always easier to resort to a commonly used tactic, it's important to consider the full range of options at your disposal. For example, perhaps you see fairly good click-through rates when you send out an email blast pointing your in-house list to articles on your site. But how can you be certain that you're not missing other opportunities to engage prospects and customers if this is your only outreach method? Try shaking things up by sending out invitations to an exclusive, interactive session with a top executive or an industry thought leader. Or send them a link to a recorded podcast or video that shares information you'd normally disseminate in article format.

 

Lesson #2: Be willing to step outside your comfort zone. Next we had to skate in reverse for three minutes straight. Unless you skate often (which I clearly don't), you probably haven't skated backwards that much. I was quite nervous (all eyes were on me). While I'd like to say I got out there and glided around with no problems, the truth is that I ran into the cones and fell a few times. Much as I tried not to be embarrassed by my tumbles, I was. But I looked around and reminded myself that all the women trying out were in the same boat. And the veterans actually applauded those who pushed themselves, even if they fell down. Because the real point was that you dared to try. So I just kept getting back up. And once I got into a groove, I was fine.

 

Thinking back on my days as a product marketing manager, there were numerous times I had to step into unfamiliar situations. I can almost feel the knots in my stomach as I recall presenting to 500 sales reps, or defending numbers I had crunched in preparation for a new product launch, or debriefing industry analysts on our new positioning. But there's nothing like baptism by fire, as they say. And what's the worse that can happen? Sure, you might trip as you walk out on stage, hem and haw your way through your argument, lose your train of thought, or get pulled apart by the executive team. Just remember – it happens to everyone at some point. You just dust yourself off, get right back up, and keep at it until you feel comfortable walking into that situation.

 

Lesson #3: It pays to persevere. At the end of the night – after being worn down by seemingly endless drills – we were given our final challenge: skate around the rink non-stop for 10 minutes in a crouch position. Now, you would never need to go that long in an official roller-derby bout; a bout is made up of a series of 2-minute jams and you don't usually skate in all the jams. But, as the veterans pointed out, if you can make it for 10 minutes, you'll find those 2-minute jams to be a piece of cake. I think it's fair to say that nearly everyone was dreading those 10 minutes. And my dread proved to be well founded – half way through I was certain that I must be trailing flames because my legs were burning! But I pushed through and made it to the end. In fact, all 50 women did.

 

So what can marketers take away from this? There are numerous times as a marketer that you have to work long and hard to see your ideas come to life. Perhaps you're repositioning a product and getting push back from the sales team. Maybe you're proposing to incorporate social media into the marketing mix, and the executive team is opposed. Whatever the situation, if you feel strongly about it and find ways to psyche yourself up mentally, your perseverance will likely pay off. Just keep telling yourself that the end is around the next corner.

 

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Another Sales and Marketing Gap: Marketing Automation vs CRM

 

On November 4, I attended B2B Marketing University in Boston sponsored by Silverpop. Throughout the presentations, one question kept cropping up: "How can B2B marketers reconcile the use of CRM to manage prospects at the account level with use of marketing automation systems that enable one-to-one dialogue?"

 

Mind the Gap

Considering that today's B2B organizations are largely selling to a committee or "buying unit," this question makes a lot of sense. After all, marketers need to address each relevant contact at a prospect's organization, and keep track of each interaction and the progression of the relationship. At the same time, their sales teams manage opportunities at the account level. The last thing any organization wants to do is duplicate efforts while interacting with prospects (and in the process let on that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing). This challenge is clearly top of mind for many marketers – I saw lots of heads nodding in agreement whenever the question was posed.

 

I'm no expert on this topic, so I was glad to see David Raab (one of the presenters, and a great one, at that) address the "CRM vs marketing automation" issue on his blog. I strongly encourage you to read his in-depth and well-articulated post. Here are the points that caught my attention:

 

  1. Marketing automation and CRM systems are very different tools serving distinct needs.
  2. These two systems are likely going to merge. In fact, David points to marketing automation solutions aimed at smaller organizations that are already incorporating CRM functionality. On the flip side, he calls out marketing automation systems aimed at larger firms that enable sales folks to access information in those systems from a CRM solution.
  3. David concedes that: "account vs individual is one of the toughest issues in integrating marketing automation with CRM." Check out his response to my question in the comments section for a thorough explanation of the challenges.

 

By the way, Chris Koch and other folks at ITSMA have put lots of thought into account-based marketing, which ITSMA defines as "treating important customers as markets of one and building a relationship in which you help them articulate their needs." If you're looking for case studies, research results, and insightful thoughts on this topic, I suggest checking out the ITSMA site and Chris Koch's blog.

 

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 How to Squeeze the Most Life from Your Content

 

Nearly half of marketers don't think (or aren't sure) they have enough content to fill their marketing needs. Those are the findings from an Executive Benchmark Survey of B2B marketers conducted by Bulldog Solutions and Frost & Sullivan.

 

Orange

And these survey results should catch the attention of any marketer adopting marketing automation tools to deliver the right messages at the right time to the right prospects. After all, marketers need to "feed the marketing automation machine" in order to extract value from these tools.

 

In fact, in a recent survey by DemandGen Report, 79% of early adopters of marketing automation said they would “prepare the organization by building proper processes and content offers to feed the automation system.”

As a marketer, you should be concerned if you can relate to the benchmark survey findings -- even if you're not adopting marketing automation. Because prospects can easily access content via the Web, they largely bypass direct interactions with B2B companies until late in the buying process. Of course, getting prospects to reach out even late in the game means your content has to work overtime to attract, engage, and convert them. These pointers from a recent Bulldog Solutions' Webinar should help jump-start your efforts.

 

1) In addition to mapping content to the buying process and buyer personas, you need to understand how long your assets can reasonably deliver value. Naylor Gray, Director of Global Marketing for Frost & Sullivan, defined the general buying process by the following three stages:

buyer cycle

 

He then talked about assessing a content asset's half-life to determine how long it will provide value (i.e., generate leads). In general, he said that content assets in the first stage generally have a shorter half-life than those required for the later stages.

 

As an example, he explained that most Webinars that are not promoted after the event have a half-life of two days. That means the day of the Webinar will generate half of all leads that you can anticipate from the event. Over the next two days, the Webinar will generate half as many leads as on the day of Webinar. This pattern continues until you are eight days out from the Webinar, at which point, you can expect 1/32 or 3% of leads – or fewer – of those generated on the day of the Webinar. If you market the Webinar after the event, you can expand the half-life by a week or two. But according to Gray, you'd be hard pressed to generate many useful leads from a Webinar more than 3 months after the original date.

 

Content in the "Overcome Objections" stage – when you're educating prospects – generally proves valuable for about 6-10 months, and even up to two years. In other words, in the first 6-10 months, these asset types will generate half of all the leads that they will generate over their lifespan. This content – including white papers, ROI/TCO calculators, demos, thought leadership articles and papers, and Web copy – lasts longer because prospects' objections and challenges are fairly static. That said, you should pay attention to trends and forces – such as the economic downturn – that may require you to update these assets because prospects' concerns have shifted.

 

Assets for the "Support Decisions" phase revolve around proposals, customer testimonials, case studies, and references. According to Gray, this is the most enduring content and can last for years. As noted above, you need to update these materials to reflect major trends and or shifts in your positioning.

 

2) Rob Solomon, the CEO of Bulldog Solutions, discussed ways to repurpose content to extend its value and reach. As part of that, he pointed out that most marketers put lots of attention into and promotional effort behind new assets and then quickly forget about them.

 

In addition to repurposing content (i.e., turning a Webinar into a podcast, using it to inspire a newsletter article or blog post, etc.), Solomon offers another suggestion for getting more bang for your content buck: create "content centers." Here you aggregate all relevant content in a single place so prospects can controlwhat they consume and when they consume it – without having to get lost on your main site. The key is to organize your content by persona type or topic. You could launch a separate site (i.e., a microsite) or set up your main site to mirror this structure. An example of a microsite organized by personas is Fujitsu's RUS/ARRA Resource Site.

 

Fujitsu

 

Eloqua's site was held up as an example of a main site organized around prospects' concerns, by both persona and topic.

 

Eloqua

 

If you're looking for additional guidance, check out this step-by-step guide from Bulldog for developing a content creation plan and building a library of re-usable content.

 

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How to Lay a Solid Foundation for Marketing Success

 

Earlier this year, Gartner published a report entitled Marketing Essentials: Marketing Activity Cycle for High-Tech and Telecom Providers. In the report, Gartner outlines the five phases of the Marketing Activity Cycle to guide for high tech and telecom providers in their major work activities. The five phases are: examine, plan, execute, communicate and evaluate.crane

While the 19-page report is full of useful content, the "examine" phase caught my eye. This stage is critical to success, as it's where marketers lay the foundation for all other marketing activities. Essentially, this is when marketers assess the market and competition, and understand their customers. Gartner points to valuable resources to help marketers in each of these areas.

 

Assess the Market

According to Gartner, "Market analysis should at a minimum include a continuous review of market trends and dynamics, and the identification of discontinuities, risks and opportunities."

 

Gartner recommends the following resources:

 

Here's another resource I came across:

 

Assess the Competition

When performing competitive analysis, marketers should, at a minimum, understand competitors’ strategies, capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and identify new and emerging competitors, according to Gartner.

 

Gartner highlights the following resources:

 

As a former competitive analyst, I'd like to add suggestions for how marketers can collect information about their competitors:

  • Tap insider sources, such as sales reps and pre-sales engineers
  • Set up Google alerts on competitors' names and offerings, as well as keywords associated with the competition (e.g., "antispyware software")
  • Follow the competition on Twitter and via other social-media channels
  • Peruse annual reports for insight into competitors' strategic plans
  • Check out competitors' job listings to get an idea about potential new directions
  • Search Google using terms such as "[competitor name] strategy," "[competitor name] roadmap" and "[competitor name] outlook" to find both competitor-authored and third-party pieces
  • Visit conference sites to access presentations given by the competition

 

Understand the Customer

When it comes to understanding the customer, Gartner advises identifying buying trends and dynamics, analyzing current customers’ needs, wants and behavior, and identifying potential new customers.

Here Gartner says marketers should mine and analyze their databases. Further along in the activity cycle, marketers can extract additional value from this exercise by developing buyer personas that keep everyone focused when developing sales tools and communicating with prospective buyers. Adelle Revella, who has been using buyer personas to market technology products for more than 20 years, provides lots of advice and ideas on her blog.

 

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You're Asking Too Much of Our Relationship!

Requiring registration in exchange for a download is a hot topic of debate these days.bleeding hearts David Meerman Scott advocates banishing registration, believing companies will fare better by letting their thoughts and ideas go viral. On the other hand, as C. Edward Brice pointed out in a recent interview with me, as long as marketers are measured on leads delivered, registration is not likely to disappear for some time. While folks like Blake Hinckley, an intern at Babcock & Jenkins, are applying impressive brainpower to figuring out new ways that marketers can collect information from prospects, marketers want to know what they can do today.

 

Collect incremental information

I'm a proponent of collecting incremental information during each successive interaction with a prospect. Think of your relationship with the prospect like a dating scenario. On the first date, you wouldn’t expect the other person to tell you everything about his or her self. Instead, you’d expect to learn more and more over time. That’s the same mindset you should have with your prospects.

 

How it works

Let's say a prospect's first interaction with you is to download something valuable, such as a white paper, eBook, or how-to guide from your Web site. You could request the prospect's name and email address in exchange for the download.You could send an email asking if the person would like to receive useful information from time to time (i.e., would grant permission to be added to your database). Plus, at the end of the paper, eBook, or guide, you could point the person to another asset in your library – whatever makes sense in relation to moving the prospect through the buying process in a logical sequence.

 

Let's assume that you encourage the reader to sign up for the next paper in a series. When the person requests the download, you could ask for his or her company name and role. At the end of that paper, you could point the prospect to a one-hour webinar. Upon signup, you could ask for the person's company size, timeframe to purchase, and phone number.

 

The key is to ask for a bit more information with each contact so you can build the information up over time. (Equally important, you should only ask for information that you will use.) That way you take the burden off the prospect while gathering the information you need. By using cookies, you can pre-populate your forms with the information you’ve captured to date. The prospect can see you’re asking for just a bit of additional information with each interaction.

 

What it looks like

In a recent Webinar presented by Target Marketing magazine, Adam Needles of SilverPop showed what progressive profiling looks like.

progressive profiling

 

If you're not using a marketing automation tool, you'll need to do the following to put this into play. Map your content assets to the prospect's role and place in the buying stage, and work with your Web or IT group to make sure your registration database pre-populates Web forms appropriately. While it might seem like a lot of work, mapping your content assets will serve you well in many ways. Plus, your prospects will appreciate not being hounded from the get-go by phone calls from overzealous telesales reps.

 

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What Marketers Can Learn from Top-Performing Sales Reps

In its 7-part training series, Basho Technologies of Cambridge, MA outlines the skills that set sales professionals apart from their peers when it comes to closing deals. Top-performing sales reps:

  • Understand prospects' needs and objectives
  • Make the most of sales tools
  • Quantify each sales activity and interaction
  • Negotiate at every turnnumber one

By studying these best practices, marketers can improve their own processes for connecting with prospects and guiding them down the path to purchase.

 

Understand prospects' needs and objectives

The best sales reps don't begin an interaction with a prospect by talking about their own company and its offerings. Instead, they do a lot of listening to understand what the prospect is up against or is trying to accomplish. Only then can they determine whether or not their products or services will fit the bill.

 

Likewise, the best marketers develop buyer personas to gain a deep understanding of their ideal prospects. Doing so enables them to align their content with the prospects' concerns and needs.

 

If you're a technology marketer, you may be interested in advice from Adelle Revella, who has been using buyer personas to market technology products for more than 20 years. She recommends thinking of your buyer personas in three categories:

  • Economic buyers – Those concerned about the cost of the solution.
  • Technology buyers – Those responsible for integrating or managing the solution.
  • User buyers – Those who will use the solution on a day-to-day basis (or are responsible for the satisfaction of those using the solution).

The key to an effective buyer persona is to capture as much detail as possible about the target person's background, daily habits, activities, challenges, and problem-solving approaches. See this post by Michele Linn for a comprehensive list.

 

Make the most of sales tools

Successful reps will create a list of everything they can offer a prospect, such as white papers, tradeshow passes, and demos. They then list everything they want from the prospect, including budget confirmation and access to decision makers. This list serves as a basis for bargaining throughout the buying cycle. It also provides a template the sales rep can continually refer to rather than having to start from scratch with each deal.

 

Marketers should conduct a similar exercise by creating a content matrix – in fact, unless they do, their sales reps will struggle to bargain effectively with prospects. The matrix should lay out all the content assets available to prospects, along with how they align to the buying cycle. By viewing content assets in this way, you can determine if you have enough content to guide a prospect through a long buying cycle. You can also get the most from your content assets without having to recreate the wheel for each new initiative or campaign.

 

Quantify each sales activity and interaction

Salespeople are continually gauging a prospect’s level of commitment. Since commitments are critical to a successful negotiation, getting repeated buy-in from the prospect is indicative of a healthy opportunity. Similarly, marketers need to continually review a prospect's interaction with the company and its content assets to figure out the level of interest and the next logical step. Marketing automation tools such as those from Eloqua, Genius.com, and Marketo can provide this insight and deliver the right content to a prospect.

 

Negotiate at every turn

Successful salespeople make use of the law of reciprocity (as laid out by Robert B. Cialdini in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion) to ask prospects for reciprocal exchanges throughout the sales cycle. For example, the sales rep may ask for the prospect's mobile phone number after providing a datasheet or brochure. Further along in the engagement, the sales rep might request access to key decision makers after handing over a rate card.

 

Similarly, marketers need to request something of appropriate value from prospects with each interaction. While it's fair to request registration in exchange for something of unique value, such as a research report or how-to guide, I think it's out of line to request registration for a brochure or case study.

 

I'm a proponent of collecting incremental information during each successive interaction with a prospect. Think of your relationship with the prospect like a dating scenario. On the first date, you wouldn’t expect the other person to tell you everything about his or her self. Instead, you’d expect to learn more and more over time. That’s the same mindset you should have with your prospects. The key is to ask for small amounts of information with each interaction so you can build it up over time. That way you take the burden off the prospect while gathering the information you need.

 

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5 Ways to Wow Your Prospects

A recent Knowledge@Wharton article highlights a report titled "Discovering 'WOW' -- A Study of Great Retail Shopping Experiences in North America," pointing to five major areas that contribute to a great shopping experience:

  • Engagement: being polite, genuinely caring and interested in helping, acknowledging and listening.
  • Executional Excellence: patiently explaining and advising, checking stock, helping to find products, having product knowledge and providing unexpected product quality.
  • Brand Experience: exciting store design and atmosphere, consistently great product quality, making customers feel they're special and that they always get a deal.
  • Expediting: being sensitive to customers' time on long check-out lines, being proactive in helping speed the shopping process.
  • Problem Recovery: helping resolve and compensate for problems, upgrading quality and ensuring complete satisfaction.

As I read the article, it struck me that B2B companies need to hit upon some of these same areas (which I've highlighted in red above) to impress their prospects. Here's how they can do just that.

 

  1. Understand their concerns – Get to know your prospects so you can engage them on a personal level. This requires some behind-the-scenes work to develop buyer personas. You can then create a library of content that addresses each persona's challenges or goals. TechTarget's 2009 Media Consumption Report provides insight into the types of content that technology buyers seek through the buying cycle; you can see the chart in this blog post. Instead of making this content product- or service-focused, produce useful – and entertaining – information that the prospect can use whether or not she chooses your solution. (See Problem Recovery below.)
  2. Educate them – Make it easy for prospects to learn about your products or services by walking them through your Web site in a way that aligns with their role and place in the buying cycle. Offer product information in a variety of formats, such as via online content, downloadable materials, podcasts, and videos. And provide tools that help prospects visualize how your offering might help them. If you're promising lower costs, perhaps you offer an ROI calculator so the prospect can plug in her own numbers.
  3. Focus on them – While the look and feel of your Web site, downloadable materials, and other content should be similar, your copy doesn't have to be all about your company and its offerings. One of the easiest ways for B2B companies to make a prospect feel special is by engaging with them in a one-to-one manner that shows a deep understanding of that person's concerns. When they arrive at your Web site, prospects should see language that reflects the way they think about their issues and should be guided down a path to the content that interests them. The content – no matter what the form – should continue speaking to the prospect in a way that mirrors that person's concerns and objectives.
  4. Guide them – Make it easy for prospects to find information on your Web site that aligns with where they are in the buying cycle. This ties back to developing buyer personas. Once you understand your ideal prospects and what type of information they're seeking at each stage in the buying cycle, you can walk them through your Web site in a logical manner. On your home page, display the types of issues your prospects are grappling with. Once they've chosen the issue of most concern to them, they should be led to content that helps them better understand the issue and ways to address it. Put all relevant content in one place and present it in a logical fashion so the prospect knows the order in which it makes sense to consume it.
  5. Solve their problems – In this area, B2B companies need to find ways to help prospects solve their problems. Resist the urge to hit prospects over the head with your pitch at every turn. Instead take the time to understand their issues and concerns – and then offer suggestions for resolving them. In addition to the datasheet describing your product's features and benefits, perhaps you create a matrix that helps prospects compare options for solving their problem. Rather than putting out another white paper that ends up discussing your offering, maybe you can produce a guide or eBook that focuses solely on how your prospects can tackle a pressing issue – and makes no mention whatsoever of your solution.

 

Dow Jones published an eBook called "The Taxonomy Folksonomy Cookbook: The Right Recipe for Organizing Enterprise Metadata" that walks information professionals through the ways that social tagging can help them manage content. It's an entertaining read for a complex topic, and last I heard, it had been downloaded over 1,600 times and resulted in more than 50 solid leads. Chances are, if you publish an informative, entertaining eBook or guide like this, your company will stick out in the prospect's mind when she's making a short list of potential vendors.

 

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How Do You Compare to the Best Content Marketers?

Recently Michele Linn posted about the importance of mapping content to the buying blue ribboncycle. Right after that, I came across an interesting report released by the Aberdeen Group, which explains how industry leaders approach lead management and demand generation. B2B marketers can glean lots of great insights from this $399 report (being offered for free until October 2, 2009). Here are the ones that caught my eye (and relate to Michele's post):

  • Best-in-class companies* are 5X more likely to maintain a library of collateral, copy, and messages that map to prospects' buying stages. If you're questioning the value of this, read this article by Ardath Albee that brilliantly illustrates the true pace at which a prospect interacts with your content and company.
  • Of the top barriers to adopting a lead lifecycle management process, "resources to develop lead-nurturing content" tops the list across all company types. While 85% of best-in-class companies can develop and maintain content that maps to each stage of the buying cycle, only 22% of all other companies are able to do so. This is no surprise. Joe Pulizzi of Junta 42 lays out the reasons so many marketers don't do content marketing. If you're wondering how to create this content, another post from Junta42 provides a jumping-off point.
  • Best-in-class companies are better able to map content buying cycle stages based on prospect behavior. Read the Aberdeen report to find out how WorkForce Software was able to capture prospects' behavioral information and nurture leads throughout the cycle. If you want to understand the different approaches to nurturing prospects, read thist post by Marketo. And if you're interested in some forward-thinking ideas around capturing information about prospects, check out this post by Blake Hinckley and this one by Chris Koch.

 

*Aberdeen defines best-in-class companies as those whose practices are the "best currently being employed and are significantly superior to Industry Average." 20% of enterprises fall into this category, while 50% are in the Industry Average range, and 30% are laggards.

 

Where does your company fall when it comes to creating and mapping content to the buying cycle?

 

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How Web 2.0 Impacts B2B Marketing: An Interview with C. Edward Brice of Lumension

C. Edward Brice, the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Lumension, is pioneering the use of social media throughout his company. Here he shares his thoughts on the impact Web 2.0 has had -- and will have -- on B2B marketers.tag cloud

Q. How does Web 2.0 affect content marketing?
A. Marketing principles haven't changed, but the tools, prospect expectations, and the way that we execute on those principles is changing radically.

 

The brand -- or company -- used to control the conversation, interaction, and most importantly, the information. If a prospect wanted information on a product or service, he or she had to approach the company and get inserted into its sales process. The company would then decide when to release certain information. That control extended to all aspects of marketing, such as voice, image, etc.

 

Prior to Web 2.0, people would gather information via the phone, snail mail, or in person at events. In those scenarios, there was lots of friction to the conversation.

 

That's fundamentally changed. Today with the Internet and Web 2.0, friction is practically non-existent. Word of mouth flows freely. People are extremely informed because information is available anywhere. For example, according to TechTarget/Google research, the primary source of information about products and services is someone's peers and colleagues. People place more trust in those sources than in the company itself.

 

As a consequence, companies have to engage differently with prospects. They have to stop focusing on the sales cycle and instead focus on the buying cycle. This ultimately means that companies need to understand prospects and customers to a greater extent, including how that individual wants to buy and what information they need at particular points in the buying cycle.

 

If companies aren't able to provide the right information in the right context in a way that prospects and customers want to consume, they won't be able to connect. It goes back to the principle: Know Your Customer. Except that now companies need to know prospects and customers more intimately and from an outside-in perspective.

 

Q. In a May 26 B-to-B Magazine article, you said, "If you're not looking at and understanding how [prospects] buy and what they buy -- and what information they need at each stage -- you're at a significant disadvantage. " How can companies better understand how prospects buy and what information they need at each stage?
A. One way is to develop role-based personas. The key point is to focus on a specific role and better understand how that role buys, what are the key pain points and motivations, what are the right type of questions to ask, and who do those people turn to for purchase validation, whether peers, analysts, or media sources.

 

The more robust you can make the role, the more you'll be able improve the Web experience and tone and style of writing, the more relevant you can make your branding, and the more you can improve sales readiness and optimize the marketing mix.

 

You don't need to create the most expensive and grandiose profile. The level of sophistication will depend on your company's skill set, budget, and available resources.

 

In the past when I worked at a big company, we spent lots of time and money on this. Now I'm at a smaller company where we have to be focused and targeted. With that in mind, we started by creating high-level personas. We split them into three main buckets. The first is the economic buyer, who might not decide who makes the shortlist, but will sign the purchase order. The second is the technical buyer who puts together the shortlist and is a major player in the buying process. The third is the user buyer who may not decide the final three vendors for consideration but will use the product or service. We then map these to the standard buying process and consult our database of customer information to determine which titles are falling into these buckets.

 

Essentially we're focused on understanding buying roles on an individual basis to create a wireframe. This foundation establishes the dimensions you want to capture. Let's take Joe Smith at a mid-sized company. You want to know what motivates him, what his pain points are, what he reads, etc.

 

This is an ongoing exercise. You can always bring more dimension, information and validation to the process. There's a wealth of information available. Reach out to your media partners, such as TechTarget.

These companies conduct a tremendous amount of research into how their audiences consume the information they publish. Talk to your sales team to understand buyer roles. Conduct low-cost research using free survey tools. Mine your database for information on company size, roles, titles, etc. and map all of these to a simple buying model.

 

None of this is easy work. But you need to understand your prospects more intimately than before. If you build on this platform, you'll see tremendous value.

 

Q. How does the fact that the buyer is in control change the content that Lumension presents for each stage of the buying cycle?
A. Before we create content, we look at the type of buyer we want to reach at the awareness, consideration, and selection phases. These factors influence the depth and breadth of the content. For example, at the awareness phase, we will offer something lightweight, such as basic information that discusses the prospect's challenge or pain. It could be something like "Five Ways to Reduce Your Audit Pain." In other words, it would not be product-specific. In many cases we will make this information available for download from our site, sometimes without registration.

 

Once we are interacting with someone in the consideration phase, we offer meatier content such as a customer ROI case study, written by a third party such as an analyst. In the consideration phase, we offer more technical content about our products and technology and how we address specific customer pain points. We're also starting to develop content that helps prospects compare us to other approaches and offerings.

 

Competitive comparisons are some of the most heavily searched terms. Most companies didn't grow up in the Web 2.0 world and because of that, competitive comparisons make them nervous. But buyers are searching for that content in their buying process. Either someone else gives it to them or you can. There's a way to compare yourself to the competition in a professional manner, without disparaging those other options.

 

All of these content types link back to buyer personas and understanding what type of information someone needs based on their role and place in the buying cycle. You can't just repurpose corporate jargon. You need to develop valuable content. If you don't, you'll be bypassed.

 

Q. One aspect of the Web 2.0 world is a call for more transparency. How can B2B companies respond to this?
A. Companies and people are always going to try to paint themselves in the strongest light. You can do that but still be more transparent and honest. Those that are more open and engaging tend to be most effective. For example, think about pre-sales technical engineers who are straightforward with prospects about a product's shortcomings. Prospective customers really appreciate that honesty.

All of this relates to the company culture. Companies can ignore negative feedback but that will only perpetuate the issue since most people will hear of it via word of mouth. For example, I'm aware of a situation in which someone was posting negative comments on a company community site. The company removed the comments, and people stopped participating.

 

Being able to see what people are saying about your company, such as on Twitter and your blog, offers companies a unique perspective. Instead of ignoring an issue or covering it up, forward-thinking companies are seeing these situations as an opportunity to engage in dialogue.

 

We always monitor what's said about Lumension and try to respond to comments -- whether they're negative or positive -- that we come across. We conduct daily share-of-voice monitoring on the Web and take an integrated approach where our corporate communications team works with support and sales to reach out to that prospect or customer with a response. We put forth our point of view and factual information and engage the person who left the comment. We admit our challenges or correct a wrong perception in a professional manner. Essentially, we're focused on healthy dialogue.

 

Q. One of the rules of content marketing/social media is to offer something compelling and valuable with no strings attached. How does that principle inform your marketing approach?
A. When we look at the continuum of change for B2B marketing, the registration issue will likely be the final bastion. That's because the majority of B2B marketers are judged daily on qualifying and delivering qualified leads to sales.

 

We're looking for a happy medium. We used to require registration for everything. Now within our newsletter content, we point subscribers to all types of resources they can access without registering, such as collateral and high-level demos. But we always ask, "Should we require registration for this premium content or is it in our best interests to provide it freely?" If I'm offering something of value -- such as exclusive research or a third-party report -- I think it's fair to ask for something in exchange.

 

Perhaps someday no registration will be required for any content. But for that to happen, marketing will need to be measured differently. Marketing is the vanguard of this change -- creating content, interacting with prospects, and dealing with more channels of interaction. It's up to marketing to provide the rest of the organization with insight into how these things are changing. The marketing group needs to take a proactive approach in explaining to management -- by sharing real-world examples and data points -- that this is now about the buying process, not the sales process. Otherwise, the pressure will only increase and marketing will be dealing with lots of pain as the world continues to evolve.

 

Q. One of the reasons marketers struggle to embrace social media is because so much is out of their control. Are there any ways that marketers can maintain control when it comes to Web 2.0?
A. Once you enter these new channels, you open yourself up to whatever might come. But instead of fearing these situations, companies need to look at them as opportunities to engage. If someone isn't happy with what you're saying or doing, engage them to see how you might change their perspective or experience. It's actually an opportunity to position your company in a positive light. While you can't control what others say about your company or its offerings, the beauty of Web 2.0 is that your response and the context for it will always be out there.

 

Company culture is the biggest hindrance to B2B marketers leveraging Web 2.0 tools and new ways of communicating. As I said before, most B2B companies were not born in this environment. No matter how proactive they are, many still struggle in this new world. Recently on Twitter, the customer service rep for a major company called someone an idiot. Clearly that person wasn't following the company's policy and guidelines. That's where lots of friction starts to happen. Companies can develop all kinds of policies, but if their employees lack common sense, it won't matter. It's about education and making sure you're leveraging the right people to interact and engage.

 

The reality is that a company's employees are out on the Web in many ways and places. So the first step is to educate employees about how to represent the company.

 

Q. Do social media insights inform your marketing messages/strategies? For example, as you hear how prospects and customers talk about your company and its offerings via Twitter or on blog comments, do you integrate that language into your marketing campaigns?

A. We do monitor comments. If someone has a challenge with one of our products, we can feed the information to product management or customer service. We're also about to launch a customer community called Lumension Connect, which we hope will encourage more ongoing conversations.

 

As a smaller company, we just can't compete with larger companies from a budget and scale perspective. It's vital that we tap into our ecosystem for co-innovation and Web 2.0 enables that. No one is really there yet, but that's where the real payoff lies.

After all, companies invested in your technologies want you to hear their ideas and feedback. Thinking that innovation can only come from within the four walls of your company is a twentieth century view.

 

Q. How can marketers measure the effectiveness of their activities in the Web 2.0 world?
A. We bypassed ROI. Social media is about conversation and opening up dialogue. The moment you introduce other objectives, you seal your fate. For example, if you tweet to drive leads, people will see you through your tweets. You first have to say, "Do we want to have a dialogue?" You don't need ROI to have a conversation on the phone with a prospect or customer and you shouldn't need it to connect with them via social media.

 

Q. How much time does Lumension dedicate to content marketing and social media compared to "Web 1.0" marketing?
A. Content is king in the Web 2.0 world. I view marketing as a publishing function. Content development is our focus. If we don't produce relevant content, it won't do any good to funnel it into a Web 2.0 channel.

The problem is that Web 2.0 activities don't scale because it's all about having a conversation. To support social media, you need to dedicate people and time to creating content and engaging with prospects and customers. This is where a lot of companies are hitting their heads against the wall. It all gets back to first deciding you want to have conversation with your market. Then you have to make the commitment to participate.

 

Q. What are some of the Web 2.0 tools you use?
A. Part of the changing job of marketing is that you need to create value-added content and make sure it's found. It all gets back to the buying process. People are using the Internet and Web 2.0 to search for information. While word of mouth is the #1 way that people find information, search engines are #2. If you're not thinking about your content and how prospects will find it in the digital environment, you'll be overlooked. In the world of SEO, getting content into syndication is fundamental to success. You need to think like a publisher about Web 2.0 channels - "If I create this content, where can I syndicate it, and how can I leverage these channels for maximum SEO visibility?"

 

We're trying to build an optimized SEO approach across our content. YouTube and other video syndication channels are great channels for that. We leverage rich media content in lots of places. We syndicate our videos on YouTube and Facebook, we tweet about them, and post links to them on our blog. We don't even host videos on our site -- we pull them in from YouTube. Other people end up putting links to our videos on their blogs and portals. That combined with our rankings on YouTube helps us get found in the search engines.

 

Q. What lessons have you learned that could benefit other B2B marketers?
1. Decide whether or not you want to have a conversation -- and then commit to participating and engaging on an ongoing basis.
2. Content is king. You need to make sure it's relevant -- and valuable -- to prospects based on where they are in the buying cycle. Think about how you can educate and inform your target audience with your content.
3. Think like a publisher. Figure out where you can syndicate your content to get the most readership, and make sure those channels are working in concert.

 

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Adding eBooks to the B2B Marketing Mix: An Interview with Cindy Kim of Lumension

I recently connected with Cindy Kim, Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media for Lumension (@CindyKimPR on Twitter). After telling me about her company's experience with its first eBook, she agreed to share her insights here into how and why B2B marketers should produce and promote their own eBooks.

 

ebook

Q. What prompted Lumension to produce an eBook in addition to white papers?

A. B2B marketers have traditionally used white papers to share content. While they've been effective for lead-generation purposes, white papers tend to be heavy on content, many times replete with marketing jargon and industry terms.

 

Web 2.0 prompts us to "open up our kimonos" in terms of how we produce, publish, and syndicate content. Given that content is king, today's marketers must think like publishers and produce compelling, thought-provoking content. Then they need to leverage tools such as eBooks to generate interest and make the ideas go viral and easy to syndicate.

 

At Lumension, we wanted to focus on thought leadership as a way to elevate our brand. But we didn't want to just produce and sit on that content. We wanted to syndicate it to influential bloggers and journalists, as well as to prospects, with the hope that it would go viral.

 

White papers don't typically go viral because they sit behind a registration page. My boss, C. Edward Brice, recommended the eBook concept as a way to make it more interactive, content-rich, and viral. Before getting started, we turned to David Meerman Scott, one of the best thought leaders in this space in terms of how to create content and make it go viral. David boiled eBook best practices down to three things: make it easy to read, make it informative, and make it educational.

 

Lumension is always trying to be on the cutting edge in terms of how we market our content. We decided to publish an eBook since no one in the industry is doing it. The result was 7 Things Every CEO Should Know about Information Security.

 

Q. What do you think of David Meerman Scott's statement in The New Rules of Viral Marketing that the eBook is the "stylish younger sister to the nerdy white paper"?

A. In my opinion, the eBook is the new white paper – it lends a hip air to content. If you properly adopt the guidelines for eBooks, you'll end up with a stylish piece that's easy to read and navigate. An eBook should include sophisticated graphics and multimedia links, and be structured for easy digestion, such as by liberally using bullets, callouts, and share buttons. The structure of an eBook makes it much easier to share. These days, everyone is on the Web, sharing information via various tools and communities. You're much more likely to see an eBook passed around than a white paper. That’s largely because people can access it freely, without providing any information in exchange.

 

Q. How did the process for developing and promoting your eBook differ from promoting and producing a white paper?

A. First of all, the writing style is completely different. It has nothing to do with marketing or industry jargon. Again, you want to make it simple to read and understand. As far as production, you want to make it a one-stop shop for all related resources.

 

A writer interviewed our Chairman and CEO Pat Clawson to gather the key points. We also interviewed influential analysts such as John Pescatore of Gartner, Inc. as well as C-level customers to get their perspective on gaps that exist today when it comes to information security. Then we worked with our creative director and a marketing agency – Spark Design – to produce the eBook itself. The agency helped us structure the eBook and embed rich multimedia, with links to video interviews. Within each chapter, you can click on various links that take you to interactive features that give you a better sense of our CEO. We worked with a local videographer to shoot the video of our CEO, and then we uploaded it to YouTube in time for our eBook launch.

 

Having said that, it's not necessary to go through an agency. There are plenty of online tools that enable you to format an eBook. If you’re on a budget, you can get it formatted for free at ChangeThis.

 

As far as promotion goes – you can't think about it as a one-time hit. eBook content can live and get shared for a long time. When you're pushing out an eBook, you need to be committed to making others aware of it. That means you need to support a variety of activities on the outreach side.

 

We took a three-pronged approach to promotion. First, we gathered key stakeholders to come to a consensus on the marketing plan and how we'd measure success. Because we wouldn't require registration, we decided to measure success based on the number of downloads from the microsite as well as the number of video views on YouTube.

 

Next, our corporate communications group sent out advance copies of the eBook to key analysts and media contacts so they could preview and write about it, and provide feedback. We also reached out to industry bloggers and social media leaders like David Meerman Scott and asked for their feedback.

 

We had our CEO talk to a local CEO/CFO group as well as TechConnect on why CEOs needed to get on the ball and get involved in Information Security. We also gave out USB sticks with the eBook on them at all major security and CEO events. Plus, we had our creative director design a button for easy, on-demand download, which we added to our homepage and email signatures. We also added the button to Ed Brice's blog and most Lumension employees with LinkedIn accounts added it to their profiles.

 

Finally, we created a dedicated landing page/microsite that made it possible to track the viral component. We shared the link with analysts, our channel partners, prospects, and customers – essentially every touch point. All our employees included the link in their email signatures. We also included the link in Cindy Kim's blog. We also sent out dedicated emails from the corporate marketing side promoting the eBook and included a link to it in our monthly nurturing newsletter. Plus, we distributed a social media press release that talked about the challenges CEOs face amid the security threat landscape and introduced the eBook. We even included the video of our CEO at the end of the press release.

 

Q. Has the response been different than what you’ve experienced with your white papers?

A. Since launching the eBook, it's been downloaded over 7,000 times, and the CEO video on YouTube has been viewed more than 5,000 times. We've heard positive responses across the board, from the media, analysts, prospects and customers. It's important to remember that our goal was not lead generation. It was not about selling our products or pushing marketing messages. We are using this platform to elevate and build brand awareness by educating. Having said that, we can figure out the source of downloads through the links in the eBook. By providing a dedicated link on our landing page, we can pull the analytics from our Omniture analytics tool to see how many times the eBook was viewed and downloaded.

 

One thing to note – eBook content should not include marketing promotions or sell the company or its products. The eBook is really about delivering premium content to educate around a key issue. This helps to validate your company's expertise and thought leadership.

 

Q. How has the response impacted your future marketing plans?

A. To date, we've published only white papers. But going forward, we'll publish a balance of white papers and eBooks. For lead generation, we will continue producing white papers. These will likely be for technical topics and to drive the nurturing process. Having said that, eBooks don't have to be limited to thought leadership topics. Even if the topic is technical, an eBook makes it easier to digest. Plus you can embed links to so much other valuable content. I recommend all B2B marketers migrate to eBooks.

 

Q. What can other B2B marketers learn from your experience producing and promoting your eBook?

A. When putting a process in place, think beyond the eBook. You can share your content across multiple channels, such as byline articles, blog posts, videos repurposed on YouTube, etc. Whether you produce a white paper or an eBook, think about how you can syndicate it, share it across communities, and encourage peer-to-peer sharing.

 

Today's marketers need to collaborate with thought leaders to create and promote great content. By teaming with leaders, you can take advantage of the power of two – those folks will tweet and blog about your content.

 

Q. Can you give us a sneak peek of your next eBook?

A. We're working on another thought leadership piece about the evolving security landscape. Specifically, we will be getting large enterprises as well as small and medium businesses to consider how their security blueprint needs to change to deal with cybercriminals. It will be 10-15 pages long, and include links to video and a cartoon "skit", which is like storytelling via a cartoon instead of a live person. To get an idea of what that's like, check out Powerhouse PR. I'll be tweeting about the new eBook as soon as it's out the door, so be sure to watch for it!

 

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Brand Communications & Storytelling: Interview with Janet Jordan of Keynote Communications

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Janet Jordan of Keynote Communications. Since 1989, Keynote Communications has worked with large and small companies to strengthen their messages and their storytelling. Here Janet shares her insights into brand communications and the power of storytelling.

spider web

 

Q. Keynote Communications views the world of brand communications along three dimensions: Clarity, consistency

and connection. Why are these so critical to enhancing communications?

A. Clarity starts with being clear about who you are, and what you

stand for – either your values as a person or as a company. Until you can fully express who you are, you won't go far.

 

For brand communications, consistency is about getting maximum impact by reinforcing the brand message. A problem we see is what I call "scattered messaging syndrome" – the message is in pieces and the company has not made a firm commitment to its core messages.

As a result, you hear everyone communicating different messages. You may see people in different business units make up their own brand message. Or they might think they understand the brand message but may be misinformed. Even if the message is a little bit off, you won't realize the maximum impact.

 

Connection is about how your message is being received. Effective communication is about connecting – reaching your target and making an impact. Connection is also personal. The most effective communicators are connected to the message and the audience. When people are clear about what the company stands for, it's easier for them to commit to the message.

 

All of this is easy to say, but hard to do.

 

Q. How are brand communications and public speaking similar?

A. Brand communications is about who you are and what you stand for, whether as a company or an individual. It's conveying where you've been and where you aspire to go in a way that matters to the audience.

 

The message is how you use words, images, and tone to best capture and convey that brand and its distinction. In other words, making clear who you are in the landscape of others, whether competitors or other people.

 

Marketing is the toolkit for getting the message out. It could involve the Web, marketing materials, campaigns, a seminar, etc.

 

All three of those components come into play in public speaking.

 

Q. There seems to be a growing movement away from messaging to storytelling. What do you think is behind this shift?

A. Whereas stories draw you in, messaging sounds like someone's doing something to you. People love stories. It's the most dramatic technique you can use to compel attention.

 

Telling a story is an art that takes time. First people need to mine those stories, which involves getting people to feel comfortable telling them well. Then they can repeat the stories in other venues, such as in presentations and meetings.

 

To be good, a story must tap into intuition. You can't just think: "This will sound good." You must believe the story deeply. Once you can access your stories, you'll tell them in a true, unhurried way. They just unfold.

 

Real storytelling means getting people to a place where they're able to provide rich detail that makes the story come to life. In one engagement, I worked with a large corporation's head of sales and 80 of his sales leaders. I brought in actors, musicians, and writers – people with communications training and an arts background. To help the sales folks grasp the power of storytelling, we got them to ponder their own personal stories. Then we bridged those stories to connect with the company story.

 

That being said, it's important to remember that companies can't legislate storytelling. If you put rigid guidelines in place, you'll kill the stories.

 

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