Illuminating the Future:

Strategically Managing Marketing Content

B2B marketers may be getting more serious about content, but few have developed a "fully fleshed-out content strategy within the broader marketing context."

Indeed, there are indications that marketers are neither thinking strategically about the production of content -- such as white papers, case studies, best practices research, etc. -- or creating content that's in synch with the interests of prospects, according to a forthcoming report by Marketing Sherpa and KnowledgeStorm.

“Some B-to-B marketers focused on generating leads don’t fully realize the impact of content when it comes to engaging their audience and reinforcing their marketing message,” says Matt Lohman, Director, Business Development, KnowledgeStorm Inc. “The quality of the leads has everything to do with how the message, positioning and format of the content resonates with their target audience, in addition to when and where marketers engage them.”

The new survey (of 722 marketers and 3257 content users), which is to be fully released on March 19, is part of a three-part project that examines content development and targeting; content distribution tactics; and performance measurement and lead nurturing.

Several interesting findings:

• What Interests Prospects and Marketers? Not necessarily the same thing. The survey  revealed that prospects are more interested in research data, best practices, how-tos and other business advice than marketers were -- suggesting marketers are underestimating the power of such content. Survey findings also suggest that marketers are more interested in case studies than their prospects by a 2-to-1 margin. Of course, this finding probably reflects the fact that marketers find it very difficult to obtain strong case studies -- and buyers aren't highly interested in them until they are moving into a decision cycle. (At that point, case studies become important forms of validation.)

• What Triggers Content Updates? The survey revealed that marketers are likely  to generate new content because of new product releases. However, there's no indication that prospects want to hear about products. In fact, MarketingSherpa encourages vendors to start thinking like publishers: "[Pay] close attention to what the audience needs, what kind of content best meets that need and how frequently to deliver it." Only 49% of marketers said they are paying attention to which content works and which doesn't.

• Targeting Content to the Buy Cycle.Yet another finding is that most marketers don't currently target content to the buyer's buy cycle. To do so means to recognize that prospects go through different stages of consideration in which different types of content might have greater relevance. For instance, a thought leading white paper at the early stage, a case study or product sheet in the later stages of decision process. Only 38% of marketers are now staging the delivery of their content in this fashion.

As this compelling research suggests, B2B marketers are becoming increasingly aware of the valuable role of rich content in their ultimate performance. While there is work to be done in terms of elevating the strategic value of content relative to the bottom line, there's a recognition by most marketers that they must take a disciplined and forward-looking approach to this challenge. 

Managing Customer Messages

It may come as a surprise, but the biggest source of conflict between sales and marketing may not be a perceived lack of qualified leads. Rather, Tim Riestererer and Diane Emo, principals with the CMM Group,  found in a recent survey of sales people that their biggest concern is linked to “the usefulness of marketing messages, training and tools.”

Too often, the content, materials and collateral that marketing is creating is getting pitched in the trash. And sales is spending much too much time trying to create its own sales content and tools. Leads, meantime, often appear too late -- when prospects already are in a decision cycle.

Sales people need to be speaking with prospects and customers well before that decision is made. In fact, they need to be equipped to be a part of the up-front strategic decision-making dialogue where opportunities are created based on business needs. This dialogue is going on at every one of our potential prospects, the question is: Are your sales people part of these conversations or are they waiting for leads? When marketing and sales are getting the message creation and delivery piece right, they are in a position to lead sales cycles versus wait for so-called sales leads.

In their recent book Customer Message Management, Riestererer and Emo make the case for strong  sales messaging and sales  tools. They consider sales support a strategic issue. "We spend lots of money on creating tools, but we don’t spend the time necessary to see if they are right … and whether they really work," they contend.

Marketers, they note, treat sales support as a "hit or miss" activity -- a mere "tactical" part of their jobs. "Yet, no matter how you look at it customers – especially B2B companies – rely on sales people to help them sift through all of the hype, claims and indistinguishable marketing driven branding and value propositions," they add. "Sales people, and what comes out of their mouths, need to be viewed as the most strategic asset marketers have at their disposal when it comes to building a brand and selling more product or services."

Provisioning sales for challenges in the B2B environment means giving them the messaging, tools and training to engage in compelling and consultative conversations, state Riestererer and Emo. "We expect them to conduct customer-centric discovery sessions to discover what the customer wants to accomplish, but we train them on everything they need to know about our product and what it does. Now, that’s a disconnect. Companies looking for a competitive advantage and a differentiated market presence need to re-orient their product messaging and align it with the consultative sales training approach – which starts with the customer and their business needs, not your product and its features."