Thought Leadership Marketing: 2014 Guide To Lead Generation

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Mervin Martin
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WHITE PAPER Thought Leadership Marketing: 2014 Guide To Lead Generation This white paper is developed for marketers charged with generating leads and prospect engagement

1 WHITE PAPER Thought Leadership Marketing: 2014 Guide To Lead Generation This white paper is developed for marketers charged with generating leads and prospect engagement through webcasts. It assumes the reader has responsibility encompassing content and marketing, as well as webcast leads and attendance Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

2 B2B WEBCAST SUCCESS MODEL: DIFFERENTIATED CONTENT, AUDIENCE TARGETING How to optimize B2B webcast content for engagement, plus a sixstep prescription for marketing your event to meet registration and attendance goals. Perhaps this scenario is familiar: you develop a B2B webcast to drive leads, promote the webcast to internal and third-party target lists and build a strong registrant pool. All ducks appear to be in a row but, on the live date, attendance is poor and engagement levels for those who do show up is low. What went wrong? More importantly, how to ensure your webcast delivers strong performance, rather than disappointment? You can create a great webcast marketing plan that yields excellent registration numbers but, if the content is subpar, attendees will quickly drop off and ignore future events. Alternatively, you could have stellar content impaired by ineffective marketing. A miss on either content or marketing will result in failed. This guide lays out specific steps to optimize content and marketing the two foundational elements of B2B webcasts to meet and even exceed performance goals. WEBCAST PERFORMANCE: UNIQUE CONSIDERATIONS For years, pundits have predicted the demise of webcasts, arguing that marketers use of the product has remained essentially the same, and that fatigue among prospective webcast targets depresses response and attendance rates. In practice, reports of webcasts demise have been greatly exaggerated: They remain an effective source of leads that have opted in to receive a marketer s message Those who do attend are sufficiently engaged to make a meaningful time commitment Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

3 They are a viable alternative to live events without the time, cost and other challenges of attending in person In the 1 st three quarters of 2013, HiP alone registered over 80,000 individuals for 400+ webinars and webcasts, with more than 33,000 attending the live events Bret Smith, Managing Principal, HiP Marketers continue to see the value in webcasts, and therefore invest in them. Marketing Sherpa reports that 49% of marketers rate webcasts as very effective in achieving marketing objectives, according to its 2013 SEO Marketing Benchmark Survey. That places them in the top spot ahead of web pages, case studies, white papers and every other form of marketing content. But there are challenges that B2B marketers need to navigate. In enterprise technology, to highlight one industry that produces a high volume of webcasts, much of the market activity and innovation is around a Big Three set of technologies: cloud, virtualization and mobility. Webcasts and B2B tech marketing messages in general cluster around these topics, making it uniquely challenging to reach and engage a target audience. Even when individuals register for a webcast with every intention of attending, it can be a dicey proposition to get them in your seats for a live session. If their previous meeting runs five minutes late, then they spend 10 minutes searching for the URL and struggling with a system compatibility check, they ve missed the first quarter of a one-hour session. Their engagement level is necessarily reduced, if they show up at all. That s one of many scenarios, albeit a common one, that works against live attendance goals that are closely watched as an indicator of webcast success. FIRST THINGS FIRST: CONTENT Taking a step back, let s identify the reasons B2B marketers plan webcasts to begin with: they re a fertile source of engaged leads and they are effective at advancing leads in the marketing funnel Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

4 Unfortunately, some marketers will decide they want to do a webcast, then scramble to identify the topic, create an abstract, recruit one or more speakers, and develop the audience presentation. This scenario highlights a range of problems that frequently impair the content of a webcast starting with a webcast commitment being made before there s a topic to present. Let s dissect the problems, and present solutions based on our experience marketing and executing high volumes of webcasts: Webcast Topic Problem: If the topic isn t clearly defined from the outset, it will be a big challenge to package and market to the target audience. Webcast Abstract Problem: Too often an abstract is created in order to begin audience recruitment, in the absence of a concrete agenda. This renders marketing promotions weak, non-specific and devoid of audience value because the value doesn t yet exist. Speaker Selection Problem: Marketers regularly use their employees as the only featured speakers. This can lead to lack of original content and too much brand focus. Solution: Topic selection is priority 1. Lock it down, with specificity and a unique take on the subject. A miss here will have a domino effect. Solution: With a compelling topic, a quality abstract will flow naturally and enhance recruitment efforts. Solution: Augment your internal presenter with an independent topic expert to add perspective that goes beyond the brand. The goal is to educate on the topic and market dynamics first, your brand second Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

5 Content and Targeting Problem #1: A typical approach is to mine a company s marketing library for existing slides, assemble them under a new title and call that a webcast. Problem #2: Content is developed generically for all professional roles and company sizes. Problem: #3: Getting and sustaining attention can be highly competitive and challenging exemplified by the Big Three of enterprise technology. Solution: Build off of existing slides but expand and customize content to be unique for the event. Solution: Customize content and tailor the message using available audience profile data, including targets that were recruited, professional roles, employers, and location in the funnel. Solution: Make it a baseline requirement to say something provocative that delivers unique value. Search the web to find competing events and use that insight to go in a different direction though one that still aligns with your broader marketing message. Leveraging webcasts for marketing purposes is all about starting and continuing a conversation around uniquely positioned content Emily Wright, Managing Director of Creative Services, HiP WEBCAST PERFORMANCE MARKETING: A 6-STEP PLAN If you follow the guidelines listed under each solution above, you re well on the way to delivering strong, differentiated content. That s half the battle. You still need an effective marketing strategy to parlay good content into a great event. Follow the six proven steps detailed below to drive marketing performance Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

6 Respect the Timeline Correctly timing the elements of a webcast is a vital logistical detail. Virtually all the elements of a webcast date, time, speakers, topic, abstract, presentation must be completed and approved by required stakeholders one month in advance. Audience recruitment must begin at least two weeks before the event takes place in order to ensure participant availability and meet live attendance objectives. There are countless examples of last-minute promotions that impede response, and attendance, because prospective attendees were invited too late and aren t available, even if they d like to attend. One other note: don t schedule a slew of webcasts in a compressed timeframe all targeting the same audience. Performance will suffer across all events. Think Different Know the other webcasts taking place and, assuming you re in a market that gravitates to a few core topics, you must clearly market the unique value of what s being presented, your brand s expertise on the topic, and your ability to help participants solve business problems. Search for unique data points, customer experiences or other insights that participants can get only by participating in your webcast. If your company develops cloud-based security software, support for cloud is not a differentiator. Focus on what s unique in your latest version, or what s better about your cloud implementation. Target Accurately And Answer THE Critical Question Your marketing plan must anticipate and address the most important question of all: what s in it for me? The typical target of a B2B marketing offer will only attend if they have confidence they will receive information that helps address a problem they face in doing their job. Marketers must ensure targets are the most relevant audience for the message based on persona, industry and company size. Lean on the database experts to ensure the lists you re sending to are made up of the ideal targets Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

7 With the right target list in place, focus on a practical, business-oriented marketing pitch. All campaigns ( , landing page, social media) should highlight real-world problems and solutions. Deliver anything less, and the value proposition of your webcast won t cut it, even if you have great targeting. Give Reasons to Attend Live Your offer must hammer on specific benefits of attending live. For instance, the ability to interact with a compelling speaker; pose questions and get answers in real time; complete polls; and learn firsthand what peers are thinking. You can offer an incentive that requires attendance. We strongly recommend a content incentive such as a report or e-book -- with contextual relevance to the webcast. If you ve produced or sponsored a report that has monetary value, promote that value when marketing the report as an incentive. Some marketers give away gift cards; that s an acceptable practice but a content incentive should be the first option because it s more valuable in building a relationship with the attendee, reinforcing your brand value and complementing the content of the webcast. Measure, Analyze, Convert Marketing offers must include the keyword or dominant phrase that will be the webcast s focus, along with the differentiated element that will make the event worth attending. Your event title on a landing page or in an subject line -- should convey the topic and unique value of your webcast in 10 words or less. Next, focus on the core aspects of conversion: economical, value-driven verbiage that speaks to the needs of the message recipient clear, concise call to action registration experience that is as frictionless as possible, minimizing form fields to complete Once an individual registers, confirmations and reminders must be simple, with abundant clarity into any required actions. Test and validate the user experience on an end-to-end basis to ensure it s logical and mistake-proof Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

8 All these recommendations assume there s an analytics program to measure every possible variable, so that tweaking can be performed in real time, in response to performance indicators. Start a Conversation Think of a webcast registration as a golden opportunity to make a good first impression and build on it. Have a related, high-value white paper that your company has authored? Send it in an one week after a person registers, striving to prep them for the webcast. Alternatively, send a report that was referenced in the webcast as a value-add way to further engagement and gain more insight into individuals by tracking their responses. For those who do attend, ensure any content incentive that s been offered is fulfilled in a timely way. All communications should be clear, concise and respectful of the individual s time with a goal of delivering value they associate with your brand. A webcast registration can be a great first step in a relationship you nurture over time so start nurturing. Next Steps Six proven webcast marketing practices. Build your content first, then focus on the blocking-and-tackling of targeting and conversion. Do all this, and you ll be well positioned to execute a successful webcast. Target your audience well, both with differentiated content and via meaningful demographic filters, and the measurable outcomes from a webcast will be head and shoulders above the prospect intelligence you can gather from promoting any other content type Bret Smith, Managing Principal, HiP Any questions? Connect with us, and let s keep the conversation going Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

High-Impact-Prospecting, LLC 2500 Pond View, Suite 200 Castleton-on-Hudson, New York, 12033

9 High-Impact-Prospecting, LLC 2500 Pond View, Suite 200 Castleton-on-Hudson, New York, high-impact-prospecting.com Thought Leadership Marketing White Paper

MAINTAINING CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS

6 STEPS TO PERFECT QUAL The L&E trust guide to ensure the success of your project STEP 6 MAINTAINING CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS LERESEARCH.COM CONTENTS THE VALUE OF CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS 03 GOOD ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT