CONTENT MARKETING: FROM HYPE TO HELPFUL

Transcription

1 CONTENT MARKETING: FROM HYPE TO HELPFUL Presented to TechUK 12 th FEBRUARY 2015 Prepared by Faye Hawkins MD at First Base

2 PART 1: THE INESCAPABLE HYPE COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL

3 WHY CONTENT MATTERS 26% Content marketing accounts for more than 26 percent of total marketing budgets annually - Content Marketing Institute 2014

4 WHY CONTENT MATTERS 55% Over half of marketers expect to increase their spend on content marketing in the coming year - Content Marketing Institute Report 2014

5 WHY CONTENT MATTERS 75% Of B2B buyers rely more on content to make purchasing decisions than they did a year ago - DemandGen Report 2014

6 WHY CONTENT MATTERS 62% The reduction in spend by using content marketing over traditional marketing with three times the lead generation - DemandMetric 2014

7 BUT IS MORE REALLY MORE? Content Content Content According to IDG Connect s IT Buyer Survey, current content marketing strategies are producing too much content that is not relevant to buyers. - CMI 2014

8 QUESTION, QUESTIONS People don t search for you. They ask questions. If you want to get found, you better offer answers. - Lee Odden, CEO, TopLine Marketing

9 A FEW QUESTIONS FOR YOU What do you think content marketing will do for you? Do you need more content? How do you know which is the right content?

10 PART 2: A HELPFUL WAY FORWARD COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL

11 WHY BOTHER WITH CONTENT MARKETING ANYWAY? BUYERS ARE FILTERING OUT MARKETING MESSAGES Good content informs, not interrupts BUYERS ARE SELF-SUFFICIENT They search and consume information through self-selected channels AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT RELIES ON RELEVANCE Understanding audience challenges allows us to connect on their terms GENERATE BETTER QUALITY LEADS Self-selected prospects are worth nurturing to sale and conversion rate is higher ENHANCED SEARCH VISIBILITY More relevant, optimised content will improve access to your business and lower barriers to sale BUDGET EFFICIENCY Good content applies to multiple prospect and customer marketing initiatives and channels

12 THE CONTENT MARKETER S CHALLENGE HOW DO I PLAN FOR THE RIGHT OUTCOME? WHAT CONTENT SHOULD I INVEST IN? HOW CAN I MEASURE OR PROVE SUCCESS?

13 FIVE STEP CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS PERSONALISE THE BUYER S JOURNEY KNOW WHAT CONTENT YOU VE ALREADY GOT SET GOALS FROM THE START DEFINE CONTENT STRATEGY BASED ON INFORMATION TELL A GOOD STORY

14 STEP 1: UNDERSTAND YOUR BUYERS WHAT QUESTIONS DO THEY HAVE? Consider Who can help me develop a Modern Marketing strategy? Who has experience implementing the kind of program I need? What do I need to look for in a strategic partner/agency? What services do you offer and how are they different from those of other marketing agencies? What are my choices for technology, tools and support? How will I make the business case? Decide Purchase Adopt How have you helped other companies like mine? What do your existing/past clients say about working with you? How will you work with my digital/creative team and agencies? What kind of ROI can I expect and how long will it take? How will this change our organizational structure, processes, budget? What are the technology and data requirements and how will you help me communicate with our IT and data stakeholders? Am I comfortable with the terms and with you? What safeguards are in place if things go wrong? Is my team ready to manage the implementation? What should I expect and how long will it take? How will implementation affect existing programs and processes? Do I need to augment or reorganize my team? How will you measure and report on results? ANY WHY ARE THEY BUYING?

15 STEP 1: USE A BUYER JOURNEY FRAMEWORK

16 STEP 2: APPLY CONTENT TO THE BUYER JOURNEY THE PROSPECT THE CONTENT UNKNOWN Prospect is completely unknown. Awareness campaigns are needed with sufficient pull to convert to known. REALISING THINGS COULD BE DIFFERENT HOOK Attract more inbound prospects Infographics Video Articles and blogs ENQUIRIES - KNOWN Some indication - relatively little is known about the prospect at this point. The goal is to qualify the lead and offer value content in exchange for more detail MARKETING QUALIFIED LEADS (MQL) A lead that is ready to handover to sales based on simple characteristics or strong scoring. DECIDING TO FIND A NEW WAY RESEARCHING AND EVALUATION MAKING A DECISION EXPLORE Enable them to continue their journey anonymously EDUCATE Enable them to continue their journey anonymously Articles Top tips / facts Video case studies White papers Calculator tools Reports SALES ACCEPTED LEADS (SAL) A lead accepted by the sales force, and worked through based on their own strategies and processes. DOING THE DUE DIL EVALUATE Enable them to continue their journey anonymously Case studies Modelling / use case Product spec SALES QUALIFIED LEADS (SQL) A lead that has evolved into an opportunity usually with the right decision makers with an identified budget and timeframe. FINALISING THE DEAL SALE TRIGGER Enable them to continue their journey anonymously Messages triggers of downloadable content

17 STEP 2: IDENTIFY CONTENT GAPS

18 STEP 3: SET THE RIGHT GOALS WHAT DOES THE BUSINESS NEED TO ACHIEVE? WHAT DOES MARKETING NEED TO ACHIEVE? HOW WILL THIS CONTENT HELP? WHAT METRICS WILL I TRACK? Growth? Increase lead conversion? Building awareness? Click-throughs? New market entry? Accelerate acquisition? Educating buyers? Downloads? Product launch? Scale and efficiency? Nurturing leads? Touches? Engage a specific persona? Attracting new leads? Content goals? Establishing expertise? MQLs? Proving your capabilities? STEP 4: DETERMINE YOUR STRATEGY KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO INVEST IN AND WHY DETERMINE EXPECTED OR DESIRABLE OUTCOMES, AND ROAD TEST IT WORK THROUGH LEAD SCORING AND CONTENT DELIVERY OPTIONS

19 FIVE STEP CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS PERSONALISE THE BUYER S JOURNEY Do you understand what s driving your buyers? At each stage, what question is the buyer or persona looking to solve? What does this tell you about the format and weight of suitable content? Use this to create a working framework KNOW WHAT CONTENT YOU VE ALREADY GOT Align existing content to each stage of the journey Validate with sales are these anecdotally evidenced? What content can you repurpose or optimise for new channels? SET GOALS FROM THE START What s your marketing priority? Acquisition? Velocity? What does content need to do? What barriers do you need to address in your sales funnel? Where does your content audit reveal gaps? DEFINE CONTENT STRATEGY BASED ON INFORMATION Know what content you need to invest in and why Determine expected or desirable outcomes, and road test it Work through lead scoring and content delivery options TELL A GOOD STORY How can you tell a story that takes buyers through a journey? What do they really want to know that you re not giving them? How can you make your brand stand out without over-selling?

20 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST BASE COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL

21 INTRODUCING FIRST BASE First Base is a content marketing agency for B2B technology brands. Awards. Founded in 2013, First Base is one of London s leading content marketing agencies. We enable our clients to: develop good strategy become more effective in their marketing deliver better results in their lead generation We do great work without the bullshit. We deliver all of the essential pillars of content marketing under one roof. Clients love us because we understand their market and we take the time to understand their business and their buyers. We excel by offering expert, insightful people and deep sector knowledge all mixed up with a genuine desire to add value to the client. Partnerships / accreditations.

22 WHO WE WORK WITH First Base delivers both specialist services and complete outsourced content marketing support to a range of global enterprise and challenger businesses.

23 X OUR SERVICES STRATEGY CONTENT DESIGN INBOUND Marketing strategy Growth strategy / consulting Buyer persona development Brand strategy Positioning & messaging Marketing operations / process definition Planning KPI & metrics definition Content strategy Buyer journey frameworks Content analysis / audit Content mapping Content planning Creative content Content optimisation / SEO focused Content atomisation (for inbound) Brand identity Visual communication guidelines Creative concept Website page styling and design All digital content formats Print artwork Google AdWords strategy Campaign management & optimisation SEO & keyword strategy SEO implementation on and off page Social PPC strategy Social optimisation PR Above the line SOCIAL OUTBOUND LEAD GEN DIGITAL Social strategy Influencer / stakeholder / buyer mapping Audience acquisition Events optimisation Audience segmentation Outbound communications Branded channel optimisation Content curation marketing Trigger and nurture campaigns Segmented social distribution MQL generation and qualification Lead scoring framework development and implementation marketing Account based marketing Information architecture Wireframing Web development strategy CMS management Analytics Performance optimisation Technology consulting Process and tools integration

24 THANK YOU For more information please contact: FAYE HAWKINS Managing Director