B2B. content. connection. Three Steps to Develop Your Content Marketing Strategy

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1 B2B connection Three Steps to Develop Your Content Marketing Strategy

2 B2B connection Three Steps to Develop Your Content Marketing Strategy Content marketing has rapidly become an essential tool for B2B marketing and communications professionals. In fact, it is becoming such a standard business practice that renowned marketing guru Seth Godin has said, Content marketing is the only marketing left. That s a pretty bold statement. But don t worry. If you don t have a formal strategy yet, you re not alone. But it s time to start thinking about one. In this paper, we ll take a look at what marketing is and why it s important, and outline a three-step process to develop an effective marketing approach for your organization. First, What Is Content Marketing? Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute, explains marketing as the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action. The main difference between marketing and more traditional forms of marketing is that marketing is connecting with your customers and prospects by giving them something they need, not by trying to sell them something. Content marketing is the only marketing left. Seth Godin There are many variations of the definition, but we believe they all support the fact that marketing, like all communications, is about telling your story. Why Is Content Marketing Important to B2B Marketers? There s strong evidence that marketing is not just a fad. It is a truly impactful marketing communications tactic. Marketers who implement a marketing strategy see increased Web traffic, social media engagement, lead generation and sales. Most importantly, they are seeing these results while giving their customers what they want. According to a B2B marketing benchmark study conducted by Content Marketing Institute, 93% of B2B Marketers are using marketing, but less than half actually have a strategy. B2B MARKETERS USING CONTENT MARKETING B2B MARKETERS WHO HAVE 7% do not use marketing 93% use marketing A DOCUMENTED CONTENT STRATEGY 6% unsure 44% yes 49% no 2014 DIX & EATON B2B CONTENT CONNECTION 1

3 Three Steps to Develop Your Content Strategy 1 Discover? The primary goal of this step is to define the overall business objectives of your marketing strategy using an outside-in approach. Don t start with What do we want to sell our customers? Start with What do our customers need? The findings will be very different. And remember, your can also be helpful to other stakeholders beyond your direct customers, such as employees, suppliers, distributors or wholesalers. Questions to consider include: What are customer pain-points? What motivates your customers and stakeholders? Where do buyers get stuck in the buying process? Where are customers most likely to find your? Who internally can be a part of your marketing team? Step 1 should also include an audit of your current to determine what assets are available and where gaps exist. Chances are you already have over 60% of the you need to get started. Chances are you already have over 60% of the you need to get started. Articles Social Media (other than blogs) Blogs enewsletters Case Studies In-Person Events Videos White Papers Webinars/Webcasts Microsites Print Magazines Traditional Media Research Reports Branded Content Tools Print Newsletters ebooks Podcasts Mobile Content Digital Magazines Virtual Conferences 79% 74% 65% 63% 58% 56% 52% 51% 46% 31% 31% 30% 25% 22% 20% 16% 16% 15% 14% 10% B2B marketing usage (by tactic) B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends 2014 DIX & EATON B2B CONTENT CONNECTION 2

4 2 Develop In this step, you will start to develop the framework for your strategy. The type of you create and the channels you use to deliver it will depend on your audience. As noted in Step 1, you need to determine what your customers want from you, and not what you think they want. Take time to talk with customers, conduct surveys and determine the pieces that will get the most engagement from your audience. These steps will allow you to: Identify form(s) Identify delivery channels Determine overall brand story Determine what to measure Develop relevant Develop a process for delivery Are your customers visual? Try an infographic. Are they more likely to research something on their own? Write a white paper on a key topic area or create a tutorial video. Is your CEO a thought leader? Share his or her experience and thoughts through a blog, podcast or webinar. There are countless ways to reach your audience. Did You Know? 27,000,000 pieces of are shared each day. Clicks from shared are five times more likely to result in a purchase. 60% of customers feel more positive about a company after reading custom on its site. *AOL & Nielsen (2012) Ideas for Leveraging Your Content When creating a report or conducting research, place data in an infographic Turn multiple blogs or business presentations into white papers or ebooks Use presentations/event speaking engagement materials as podcasts Tweet excerpts from blogs or white papers Content Development Best Practices Include a call to action. If you don t ask for it, you won t get it. Repurpose old. You took the time to create quality, so make sure you reuse it. For example, take from multiple blogs and create an infographic. Giving a presentation? Record it as a podcast or share recordings later in a webinar. Use images. 40% of people will respond better to visual information over plain text.* Create an editorial calendar to set goals and deadlines. This will also aid in planning out the repurposing of. Add a video to your landing page. It can increase conversions by nearly 90%. *Source: Business2Community.com 2014 DIX & EATON B2B CONTENT CONNECTION 3

5 3 Deliver Once you have a strategy in place, you not only need to think about the you will create but also how you will deliver it, how you will engage with customers, which media platforms your customers frequent and who internally will help facilitate your strategy. Find places where you can share and engage with customers. A few to consider: Website marketing/newsletters Direct marketing piece Presentation Blog Social media Influencers Case studies During this phase you will also want to deliver your strategy to key business stakeholders. Define Goals/Measurement The goal of marketing should initially center on providing customers with quality that they want to read; providing them with a solution to their problem. It will take some time to build momentum for your marketing program and to start seeing conversions. However, there are several ways you can show your progress and measure your goals to see the impact of marketing and provide direction as to what type of you produce. Here are a few ways you can measure how your is resonating with readers and how well you re building trust in your company: Online consumption (click-through rates, open rates, Web hits, time spent on blog or landing page, referrals) Actions (downloads, entry forms) SEO impact Lead generation (Web and call tracking) Social media proxies (likes, followers, LinkedIn and other shares) Reblogs Links back Comments on your blog Thought leadership request for guest blog posts, presentations or webinars According to Content Marketing Institute, the top ways B2B companies are measuring marketing are through brand awareness, customer acquisition, lead generation and customer retention/loyalty, sales leads and Web traffic DIX & EATON B2B CONTENT CONNECTION 4

6 The B2B Content Connection If you provide information of value to those with whom you do business, then you ve helped them. And when you become a consistent source, then you ve made that connection. You ve established trust. And, as we know, trust can lead to conversion, loyalty and advocacy. When you ve followed all of these steps, will that be marketing success? It depends. Don t forget our primary objective: to connect with customers. It is this connection the connection that is so vital in today s world of endless (and often useless) information. So if marketing is the only marketing left, we d better get to it! TAKE A QUICK AUDIT OF YOUR CONTENT DIGITAL PRINT Website Articles Blogs Magazines White Papers Newsletters Webinars Research Reports Dix & Eaton can help. In a sense, we ve been doing marketing for more than 60 years. The distribution technologies have changed, but the principle of telling your story is timeless. We d love to hear your story and help you think through any or all of the three steps we ve described. Social Media Podcasts Videos ebooks enewsletters Digital Magazines Infographics Case Studies Advertising OTHER Events Trade Shows Live Presentations Reviews Testimonials connect with D&E Interested in more? Contact us today. Kevin Poor Senior Vice President/ Creative Director kpoor@dix-eaton.com Heather Smith Senior Account Executive hsmith@dix-eaton.com 2014 DIX & EATON B2B CONTENT CONNECTION 5