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CAPITALIZEON THE

CONTENT MARKETING

CONTINUUM

HOW TO

HOW TO DESIGN

MARKETING-TO-SALES

PROGRAMS FOR THE NEW BUYER

By Ardath Albee

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Capitalize on the Content Marketing Continuum

2 2012 Marketing Interactions, Inc.

Continuum noun; A continuous extent, series or whole- Dictionary.com

Marketing is no longer eective when comprised o one-o events, messages or campaigns. The buying experience during a

complex sale must be uid, connected and engaging across its entirety. Content marketing programs are the threads that weave

together to create a abric o engagement that elevates pipeline velocity, putting salespeople in viable opportunity conversations

soonerrather than later.

There are no stops and starts in a continuum. The ow is consistent, steady and designed to build the problem-to-solution story

with buyers by providing the education, expertise and evidence they need to conclude that your company is the ultimate choice to

help them achieve business objectives. This eBook is your guide or generating a transormation in marketing, rom standalone

eorts into strategic business assets that improve revenue perormance.

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Table of Contents

Get Up to Speed .........................................................................................................................................................................................................4

Online Publishing Changes the Game.................................................................................................................................................................5

How Online Publishing Aects Buyers ................................................................................................................................................6

How to Rise Above the Online Noise .....................................................................................................................................................7

Tools to Increase Relevance ....................................................................................................................................................................................8

Buyer Personas ..........................................................................................................................................................................................11

Five Steps to Building a Buyer Persona ............................................................................................................................................. 12

Four Types o Prospect Attention ....................................................................................................................................................... 13

The Importance o Integrating Marketing Channels ....................................................................................................................................14

Why Segmentation Marketing is the New Black ........................................................................................................................................... 15

How and Why to Narrow Your Focus ..................................................................................................................................................16

Messaging to Multiple Target Segments ............................................................................................................................................17

Design Content Flows or Target Segments ......................................................................................................................................18

How to Improve the ROI on Marketing Content Investments ..................................................................................................... 19

Shits in Skills Needed to Market to the New Buyer ..................................................................................................................................... 20

Creating Synergy with Sales................................................................................................................................................................................ 26

Producing Leads Worthy o Sales Pursuit ........................................................................................................................................27

Why the Toss Over the Wall is OUT and the Baton Pass is IN .....................................................................................................29

Give Sales a Conversational Toolkit ................................................................................................................................................... 30

Position Salespeople as Valuable Experts ......................................................................................................................................... 31

Capitalize on the Content Marketing Continuum ........................................................................................................................................ 32

About the Author ...................................................................................................................................................................................................33

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Get Up to Speed

The buyer has taken control o the purchasing process; its a rerain heard oten in marketing and sales channels. Inormation

has become ubiquitousas has access to it. No longer are companies and their salespeople the gatekeepers that must be sought

out or help to assuage curiosity, reveal solutions to problems, build business cases and select a short list o vendors to pursue.

The inormational gatekeepers are now represented by search engines, social networks and perceptions o relevance. Marketers

and salespeople are now reliant upon their ability to:

Befoundwiththerightinformationinthechannelsbuyersprefer

Attractandkeeptheattentionofbuyersandinuencers

Respondappropriatelywithdigitaldialoguesthatmotivatebuyerintent

Elevatetheperceivedvalueofeveryinteractionwhetherwithmarketingorsales

What the continuum means or marketers

Marketing has become a continuous streamnot one-o campaigns or events. This creates a continuum that must be sustained

by stripping away the pretext, posturing and limitations o traditional company and product-ocused marketing. A continuum

approach is based on delivering escalating value or buyers in every online interaction to create digital dialogues that drive

momentum that results in sales and continues on across the entire customer liecycle.

Implications or sales

Where the continuum intersects with sales, the provision o value-added, resh and relevant ideas must seamlessly transitionwithout interruption to momentum. Salespeople must be primed to provide unique expertise beyond what competitors can

even imitateshould they try.

Preparing or the Content Marketing Continuum

The ability to publish content online, interact with buyers and engage in social conversations has become simple to execute. Its

the planning, strategy, and contextalong with a oundation or sustaining it consistently over timethat challenges marketers

and salespeople. Shiting the dynamics o marketing requires new skills and ways o thinking. Following is a ramework to help

you prepare or sustainable marketing and sales eorts that put the new buyer at the center o your strategy. Change is never

easy, but it can certainly be transormative. Ready?

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Online Publishing Changes the Game

Speed is one o the dynamics o todays marketing. The concept o real-time is pushing marketers to move more quickly than

theyve ever moved beore. Speed or marketing is a construct driven by the ease o publishing content and the rallying cries

o social media enthusiasts and so-called marketing gurus. The ear o missing out in the chase ater the latest shiny object

developed to change the way people live, work and playand most importantly, buyis urging marketers to move aster.

This is not to say that it shouldnt be an imperative to take advantage o these new capabilities, but that marketers need

to take a deep breath and consider the implications that come with online publishing, and how they change the game.

Online publishing is a rather broad concept. It covers every ormat or distributing

content online including, but in no way limited to, website content, articles, blog

posts, video, white papers, case studies, eBooks, social media profles, company

pages on Facebook, LinkedIn discussions, orum questions and answers, webinars

and virtual events, Tweets, podcasts, images, slide decks, and the rapidly growing

use o inographics. Let us not orget that online publishing also includes processes

such as curating content and publishing press releases.

The concept o earned media has been enabled by online publishing. Earned

media is oten defned as what others choose to say about your company, but it

should also be considered in relation to those who share your content with their

networks. This includes content curators, community blog syndication and social

mentions. All types o earned media serve to extend the reach o your content

arther than you could on your own. Sharing transers credibility rom the

source with their recommendation that their audience will fnd it relevant to

their interests.

Rather than paying or content placement, marketers can now create their own

media and earn coverage in channels where that content is ound valuable by

audiences they want to reach. But the biggest game changer o all may be the

ability or a company to create, own or sponsor online communities and websites

that acilitate the publishing o thought leadership content to help their target

audiences deal with business prioritieswithout trying to sell anything. Among

many examples are cmo.com, sponsored by Adobe, Smart Data Collective, spon-

sored by Teradata, and all Business, sponsored by D&B, and Bizmology, published

by Hoovers.

Adobe is the brand

behind [cmo.com], but

our job is not really to sell

product, but to educate and

inform the chief marketing

ofcer about issues going on inthe digital marketing world.

Timothy Moran, editor in chief, cmo.com

58% of buyers say thought

leadership from solution

providers is important or

critical during their buying

process.

48% said that if the quality

of thought leadership im-

proved, it would inuence their

purchase decision.

ITSMA and PAC, 2010

How Customers Choose Study, 2010
http://cmo.com/http://smartdatacollective.com/http://allbusiness.com/http://bizmology.com/http://bizmology.com/http://allbusiness.com/http://smartdatacollective.com/http://cmo.com/

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How Online Publishing Affects Buyers

One o the misconceptions that comes with speed is that its an equal-opportunity dynamic. Just because marketers can publish

content quickly doesnt mean that buyers will keep stride with this breakneck pace. The rise in content publishing assumes

that theres a corresponding rise in the availability o time and attention needed to consume that volume o content. For

buyers, oten the opposite is true. Marketers may be producing more content, but buyers oten have less time to consume it.

Three actors that impact the buyer experience include how to:

1. Find the right inormation the overwhelming amount o

inormation available on every topic imaginable makes it more

difcult or buyers to flter it to determine which o it is credible,

or even useul. The time this takes is also extremely limited, slowing

the buying process regardless o how ast marketers think theyre

addressing buyers needs by publishing more inormation, aster.

Even i its inormation they need.

2. Convince the right people in a B2B buying process, the increase o

complexity and breadth o solutions requires more people to reach

consensuseach o them with diering priorities and motivations.

The content that works to convince one stakeholder to embrace the

proposed change may not work to persuade the others.

3. Build the best business case todays economic climate has changed

the usual budgetary structure, requiring buyers to identiy problems, the reasons or solving them andonly once that

oundation has been establishedto build a business case to secure the budget to proceed. Research by DemandGen

Report ound that 30% o B2B purchases were made in this ashion by buyers surveyed. The challenge or marketers is

to provide inormation so clear and relevant that the value o pursuing the fx is validated by proo o the impact the

project can have on the companys business objectives.

All three o these actors can be answered with online publishing, but to do so marketers must frst plan or and address the

challenge o being ound in the channels buyers preer.

How buyers say they spend their

time during their buying process:

23% in discussions with colleagues

21% with sales team interaction

19% searching the web

19% with educational content

18% reviewing promotional

content

IDG Connect, 2011

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How to Rise Above the Online Noise

Being ound by the right prospective buyers is dependent upon dierentiation supported by specifcity. The only way marketers

can do this well is by doing the work and research it takes to get to know their buyers nearly as well as they know themselves.

Heres an example to demonstrate what I mean by dierentiation and specifcity in relation to providing content that will rise

above the noise or your buyers:

Take the concept o growing revenues. Its something most companies tout as a beneft their buyers can get rom using their

products and services. But its so generic and high level that, on its own, it means nothing interesting.

There are many ways to increase revenues. The key is to think about the how and the why instead o relying on the vanilla

beneft (the what).

Why is your prospects priority ocused on increasing revenues?

Perhapsitsbecausehesalineofbusinessmanagerandhisjobdepends

on the amount o product that gets sold in the marketplace.

Maybeshesthedirectorofinsidesalesandherrepsmustprovideeld

sales reps with leads worthy o pursuit or the company wont meet their

quota or revenues.

Perhapsyourprospectisacallcentermanagerandhisinitiativeisto

increase cross-sell and up-sell solution extension products to currentcustomers.

ItcouldbethatyourprospectistheCEOandresponsibleforincreasing

stock value or investors through continuous growth milestones the

company must achieve.

To each o these people, the concept o driving revenues has a dierent context.

The reasons supporting the goal are dierent. Their role and responsibilities

within the company are dierent. I youre trying to reach all o these buyers with

the same content, its less likely to be ound and assigned the attention required

to build and sustain engagement across the buying process.

Buyers top complaints about

content include:

33% say theres too much

content thats not useful

29% say content is not

relevant

24% say content does not

meet the needs of all the

people involved in the

decision

23% say theres not enough

educational content

IDG Connect, 2011

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Now think about the how. How can the prospect best contribute to the overall objective o driving revenues?

Fortheproductmanager,perhapsthesolutionisnewpackagingtomakethe product more appealing or improve

training or salespeople in how to sell it. Maybe its improved management o production to better meet demand.

Fortheinsidesalesmanager,apossiblesolutioncouldbeprovidingfasteraccess to inormation that enables her reps

to have better conversations with prospects, improving quality and prioritization.

Forthecallcentermanager,perhapsitsimprovingtheabilityforheragents to easily know what products the

customer already has and which are appropriate add-ons or advances relevant to their business needs. This

could mean integrating data silos.

FortheCEO,perhapstheanswerisbetterdashboardsorinformationvisibility that enables better and aster decisions

to be made or volumes o data.

When you can get specifc enough to narrow your ocus to the who, the why and the how that relates to the what (drivingrevenues), then you can create messaging and content that rises above the noise to get ound by your buyers. Once again,

the best way to accomplish this is to get to know your buyers.

When creating content with dierentiation and specifcity, make sure that it delivers on buyers needs by:

Showingthereaderwhyheshouldcareatthestart.Dontburyyourhook.

Educatingthemwithinformationtheyneedtoknowaboutsolvingaspecicproblem.

Makingyourcalltoactioneasytounderstandandsimpletorespondto.

Demonstratingtheimpactyoupromiseinsimpletermsandshowthemwheretondit.

Ignitingurgencyontheirparttolearnmoreandtakenextstepsbecauseitseemslikethenaturaloutcomeforthem

ater reading your content.

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Tools to Increase Relevance

Engaging B2B buyers across the entirety o the purchasing process must be the goal o marketers. In todays online business

environment, this means not only the ability to create digital dialogues, but to sustain them over the long term. By ipping

your ocus rom the way your company defnes the sales process to how buyers engage in the buying experience, youll gain a

better understanding o how to make this happen.

Instead o orienting your unnel to a sales perspective, ocus the stages o

the unnel on your B2B buyers experience. When your unnel is ocused

on meeting the needs o all the people involved in the decision, youll see a

swelling in the middle, instead o the constriction that indicates allout, or

leakage, in traditional unnels.

In the buyer-experience unnel, notice the buyer/customer and marketing

are interwoven throughout the entire buying experienceand beyond.

Salespeople enter the process around the 5th stage and are usually out o

the equation ater the buyer purchases. But most importantly, recognize the

expansion that happens in the middle o the buying process during buying

committee involvement. This is where knowing who else is involved in the

processand addressing their interestsis critical to continuing the ow o

buying momentum. Todays buyer experience is quite dierent rom the

process most marketers have enabled and supported in the past.

The Buyer-Experience Funnel

stages include:

Interest: Get buyers to take a

look at how you can solve theproblems they face.

Attention: Convince them to

opt-in. Fallout occurs if they

choose not to continue.

Value: Instantly recognizable

value increases willingness

to engage.

Engagement: Prospects spend

more time & mindshare with

your content.

Buying committee involvement:

Your funnel swells as inuencers

interact to gain consensus by

building and validating the

business case.

Conversations: Sales steps in to

drive momentum to purchase

based on interests expressed.

The funnel narrows to core

decision maker participation.

Purchase: Buyers choose to

partner with your company.

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A disconnect occurs because marketers havent changed in response to how their buyers have shited. The fgure below shows

how the majority o marketers are responding to the buyer experience according to a poll taken with attendees o the Sirius

Decisions Summit in 2011.

According to the poll, 79 percent o marketers are only addressing a raction, i any, o the buying experience thats pivotal to

generating the increased demand that leads to customer acquisition. This presents a huge opportunity or the marketers who

recognize and address the importance o addressing the variety o activities and needs that arise across the entire buyer

experience unnel.

The buyer experience unnel has a direct overlay to the stages o the buying process and the questions your prospects will

need answered as they move rom stage to stage.

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In the table above, note the parallels between the buyer experience, stages in the process and the corresponding questions.

Theres a uency o progression rom the top to the bottom.

Buyer Personas

To coordinate the experience, stages and questions into a consistent process that meets the needs o your buyers, use buyer

personas as the oundation. Personas do not need to be difcult, but they do require that you step into the shoes o your target

market to create them.

A persona is a composite sketch of a type of customer your company serves.

When creating a persona, its best to ocus it on one segment with one problem-to-solution journey. I you ocus more broadly, its

hard to tell a consistent story that builds momentum over time. Once youve used the problem to defne scope, decide who the

issue is most important to and begin to build your persona ollowing these fve steps.

Buyer Experience Buying Stages Buyer Questions

Interest: Im curious enough to take a

look.

Status Quo: Problem not yet recog-

nized as painful enough to x.

Why should I care?

Attention: I like what I see so far. Priority: Problem recognized but un-

sure how to proceed.

What should I know?

Value: This can really help me achieve

goals.

Research: Actively engaged in learn-

ing what they need to know to take

action.

What are best practices?

Engagement: I need to nd out more

about how they deliver what they

promise.

Options: Identifying solution sets that

can provide the most value for now

and future.

Who has the expertise?

Buying Committee Involvement:

Everyone needs to get on board.

Step backs: Stops to verify beliefs or

nd answers to new questions.

What if?

Conversations: I want to make sure I

can work with you trust you.

Validation: Exploring evidence that

supports vendor promises.

Why should I believe you?

Purchase Choice: Deciding to buy. Youll bring the most value.

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Five Steps to Building a Buyer Persona

Step 1: Defne their current situation

Whatistheirpriorityandwhatdotheydoorusetoachieve

their goal today?

Whatworkaround(s)couldbeinplace?

Whatproblemislimitingtheirsuccess?

Step 2: Defne their demographics

JobTitle(s)

Yearsincurrentpositionandplaceincareerwhethertheyreyoung

and just starting or have spent most o their career with the same

company can provide insight on risk tolerance, inuence in

creating change within the company, etc.

Companysizeandrevenues

Industry

Step 3: Identiy their attributes

RoleTheirplaceinthecompanyandwhotheyanswerto.

ResponsibilitiesWhatorwhotheymanageandwhatoutcomesthey

must achieve.

Threatswhatcouldderailthedeal?

Motivationsbothprofessionallyandbasedoncompanyobjectives

could also be what they want to avoid.

Inuencerswhocanaidinafrmingtheprojectorstallitfrom

moving orward?

Step 4: Understand their preerences

Wheredotheyspendtimeonline?Ofine?

Howdotheyparticipatewithsocialmedia?Dothey?

Whatkeywords,phrasesandsearchtermsresonatewiththem?

Use Business Intelligence

Portals:

Search by industry, size, title.

Assess proles, click through to

review LinkedIn proles.

Use at least 20 proles to

identify common themes.

Access the industry information

to gain insight to challenges and

opportunities.

BI portals also offer in-depth

research on specic industries,

helping you to dene priorities

and challenges quickly.

Talk to Salespeople:

What areas of the business are

they focused on?

Who are they speaking with?

How do prospects frame the

problem?

What stops them from taking

next steps?

Who else do they have to

convince?

Talk to Customers:

What problem did we solve?

What else did that enable? Why did they choose us?

What obstacles did they have to

overcome to buy?

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Step 5: Drat the buyer persona value statement

Ineedtosolve(problem)____________inordertoachieve(solution/goal)___________.

Four Types of Prospect Attention

Attention is the capacity to maintain selective or sustained concentration. The amount o attention your prospects attribute to

your digital dialogue will be indicative o their propensity to buy rom your company. But, its important to consider that not

all the types o attention are the right kind o attention to contribute to purchase decisions.

As you create content marketing strategies to provide a better buying experience,

consider which types o attention you could be generating and how only one type

will truly inuence purchase decisions.

1. Cursory attention This attention is the equivalent o curiosity in the

Interest stage o the buyer experience unnel. This is your buyer telling you

that he or she may be interested in what you have to say, but they are thus

ar unconvinced o how much o their time your content and dialogue

warrants. This is status quo and where you start.

2. Misleading attention The buyer thought he was interested, but his

attention wandered and he may possibly still be staring at your content,

but thinking that he needs to pick up his dry cleaning on the way home

rom work and wondering what his wie is cooking or dinner. This

attention can also be rom people who want a content oer or the

inormation it promises, but not because theyre interested in buying

rom you.

Catch Factorsare the

preferences and aversions

that form a prospects gut

reaction to your content and

communications.

Urgency: Is it a priority

right now?

Effort: How hard will it be to

access, understand and use the

information?

Reputation: What do I know and

think about your company?

Intent: What do you want

from me?

By addressing Catch Factors

within your content, you will

not only catch, but keep,

attention across the buying

process, transitioning it from

cursory to intentional attention

that turns prospects into buyers

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3. Voluntary attention These are the people who subscribe to everything you publish. They read your blog, sign up to

attend webinars, but always stop short o taking a next step that would indicate momentum in the buying process. This

said, this is the type o attention that results in earned media, reerrals and advocates, so its wise to cultivate it.

4. Intentional attention BINGO! This is the type o attention you want to achieve. These are the buyers who are intent on

learning what they need to know to make a purchase decision. They interact purposeully with your content and

proactively access it, even without prompting rom nurturing emails. You can see a pattern in the content theyre

accessing and the dialogue they participate in, or ollow. These are the buyers that will invite sales into conversations

when they reach that stage in their buying process.

The Importance of Integrating Marketing Channels

With the increasing comort B2B buyers have or sourcing inormation online and participating in social medianot to

mention using search enginesthe quality o your digital dialogue must be impeccable. Its imperative that your content

marketing programs show buyers the consistency and expertise that demonstrates the traits o a partner theyd choose

to help them solve their highest-priority problems.

Online publishing has enabled marketers to expand the distribution channels they use to share content and reach buyers.

Unortunately, the norm is that these channels are executed as silos, rather than as one comprehensive program. Sometimes this

is due to how marketing tasks are distributed across the company. Sometimes its simply that no strategy exists to execute

channels in sync with overall objectives and goals.

This needs to change. And change quickly.

Lets say that your company has a website, an expertise micro-site, a company

blog, several employees who both Tweet and blog personally, a group on LinkedIn,

a YouTube channel and nurturing programs designed to engage three dierent

personas. These channels are executed by three dierent marketing groups;

demand generation, web marketing and social media.

Whens the last time you typed

your companys name into a

search engine?

What about the keywords and

phrases your buyers use?

Have you experienced your

marketing programs as your

buyers do?

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How likely is it that each o these three marketing groups knows what the others are doing? The reality is that prospects will

traverse a variety o channels during their research or problem solving. Theyre likely to encounter content and dialogue

placed online by each o the three groups. Will their experience be consistent? Or will the contrast be so ragmented that these

experiences culminate with a diminishing level o interest in doing business with your company?

Each channel requires a unique ormat, tone and style o content. The key is to make sure that the message experience is

consistent, encouraging a higher level o engagement and intent.

Why Segmentation Marketing is the New Black

In every client engagement, I have yet to fnd only one persona, or target market. Most companies have at least two or three

audiences that must be addressed or each solution. Addressing those audiences based on their specifc needs and interests is

usually constrained by marketing resources, rather than due to prospect similarities.

Segmentation must reach beyond job titles and industry to incorporate the knowledge gained rom creating personas.

Unortunately, as youll see in the chart below, research rom Marketing Sherpa fnds that segmentation is still a top

relevance challenge or marketers.

The purpose o segmentation is to match

content with the interests and needs o the

audience. Ultimate segmentation is whenmarketers can implement strategic responses

based on behavior, rather than just a category

such as role, title or industry. High relevance

directly correlates to level o engagement.

As you can see in the chart, segmentation and

interactions based on behavior, triggers and

place in the sales (buying) cycle are three o

the top our challenges stated by marketers

that keep them rom improving the perception

o relevance by their prospects.

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Its also important to realize that segmentation is not just or email campaigns. It applies to how marketers address each

audience they wish to engage. Consider new orms o segmentation that marketers can use:

HashtagsonTwitterforspecicinterests

LinkedInGroups

Participationontopic-drivencommunitysites

Categoriesandtagsoncompany-ownedblogs

RSSfeedsforspecictopicareasonwebsites

How and Why to Narrow Your Focus

Segmentation can also be thought o in terms o a niche.

A niche, by its very nature, catches the attention o those it appeals to.

These people are the ones who will go out o their way to participate

and interact with it. And with others who have the same interests.

Youll fnd it easier to generate relationships because your

communications and content relevance will be so high they will spawn

interactions based on the establishment o a common oundation or

dialogue. And a niche ocus increases your prospects view o your

company as a specialist with expertise they need. This is because you

are perceived to be ocused solely on them.

Think about the beauty (and the potential payos) o a niche. Niches

come to lie when you add personas. A persona takes a segment o your

companys aggregate customer profle and eshes it out with detailed

inormation that represents real prospects in specifc circumstances.

The more specifc you can get about the boundaries o your niche, the

more your persona can become a viable representation o your

prospective customers. Consider as a simple example o narrowing to a

niche ocus that all people who drive SUVs is not the same market as

those who drive Hummers. And remember that a niche is dierent

than a persona. One niche can have a variety o personas. You would

market dierently to emale buyers o Hummers than to men who drive

hummers, or example. Or, a Director o IT will have dierent interests

than a CIO.

Excerpt from eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale

53% of marketers say their

primary concern is meeting the

growth agenda by establishing

a differentiated brand position.

Only 10% ranked their

organizations well equipped to

target customers and market

to them in innovative ways.

Prophets 2011 State of Marketing Study

86% of respondents say

customer engagement is

essential or important down

2% from last year.

However, only 6% say that they

know all of their customer

touch-points and 34% say they

dont know how many customer

touch-points they have.

eConsultancy,

Customer Engagement Report, 2011
http://www.prophet.com/thinking/view/586-prophets-2011-state-of-marketing-studyhttp://www.prophet.com/thinking/view/586-prophets-2011-state-of-marketing-study

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Payos rom narrowing your ocus include:

Higherengagement,interestanddialogue

Increasedmomentumacrossthebuyingprocess

Gettingbuyerstoinvolvesalespeopleearlierintheconversation

Competitiveadvantagebasedonincreasedcredibilityandtrust

Messaging to Multiple Target Segments

According to DemandGen Report, 43.7% o buyers say theyre taking more time to research purchases. This is likely related to

research by IDG Connect that fnds 62% o buyers say the content they fnd is not relevant or useul.

To get the eel or how messaging is refned to address specifc target segments, take a look at how Apple has created successul

engagement across our segments, excerpted rom Prophets 2011 State o Marketing Study:

Notice the dierences in the positioning message or each segment:

Each o these messages, while specifc to a target audience, carries the style, tone and passion o the Apple brand. The messages

ocus on a want, need and priority or each segment. With each o these positioning statements, Apple can match them up

against all the content and messaging developed or each segment to ensure that the messaging stays on point, delivering high

relevance with each interaction and dialogue.

Consider the potential dierences in priorities between sales and operations as another example. Salespeople are ocused

on driving revenue and increasing customer acquisition. Operations managers are concerned about increasing profts,

which usually translates to reducing bottom-line expenses. Revenue is not the same as proft and requires a dierent message.

Reducing bottom-line expense is oten about process efciency. Increasing revenues is based on the eectiveness o salespeople

to create high-value perception coupled with low risk or buyers to help them make a purchase decision in your

companys avor.

Consumers: Devices should help you experience your life exactly the way you want to.

App Developers: You can be part of the future, have an impact on peoples lives, and generate value

along the way.

Media companies: Your business will thrive and your content will be experienced better than ever before.

Tech bloggers: You win when you make the future understandable to the masses.

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Design Content Flows for Target Segments

A content ow is the storyline marketers must create to engage a prospective

buyer over the course o their buying process by providing the right

inormation at the right time. Think about how you go about buying some-

thing beyond a transactional purchase today. Its likely that the frst place you

turn to is an online search to learn more about your options. This is also true

or your buyers.

What marketers ail to understand is that search queries are the digital

version o a question and answer session. Each query is based on a question the buyer is seeking inormation to answer. Once

one answer has been ound, the path is cleared or the next question, and so on.

Content marketing storylines based on this type o ebb and ow will get ound, create engagement and qualiy leads.

Determining the questions your buyers have during their buying process will help you to create content that answers those

questionsincreasing relevance.

Lets say were a customer analytics sotware company constructing a content ow or customer service executives o large

telecommunications companies. Below is an example o the types o questions prospects may have and ideas or content that

might address them.

Segmented emails garner 50%

more clicks than general mass

email blasts.

Marketing Sherpa

Questions (priorities) Answers (content premise)

Why is rst-call-resolution eroding? The increasing complexity of service calls for customers with

multiple devices.

How can I increase customer satisfaction? The power has shifted: how to answer the needs of todays mobile

and social customers.

How can my team reduce truck rolls? Skills for better remote problem diagnosis.

How can we better handle spikes in volume due

to new product launches?

Advance planning strategies for stafng in response to product

launches in telecom.

What can I do to improve cross sell and up-sell

across product lines?

Give your customers what they want even if they dont know it yet.

What information can I produce to help the

company better connect with our customers?

How a reporting dashboard helps you analyze data to extract

actionable insights quickly.

What KPIs should I be monitoring to improve

customer loyalty?

Todays customers switch on a dime 5 new metrics for loyalty and

how to use them.

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Every question that your buyers have can be answered directly with a content

asset. Discovering all the questions they will need to answer during their

buying process should be part o the persona development process. When

buyers fnd answers to the questions they have about resolving high-priorityissues, they develop confdence that helps them to take next steps, increasing

momentum toward purchase due to a compelling buying experience.

What becomes evident quickly is that the amount o content it takes to develop

programs or a number o target segments to meet the needs o both buyers

and inuencers can add up to a mountain o assets. With limited resources,

marketers must get creative to extract more value.

How to Improve the ROI on Marketing ContentInvestments

Content must be considered an investment rather than an expense. In order or that to be true, marketers must learn how to gain

more output rom their content development processes and make wise choices about how content assets can provide extension

uses beyond the original goal or the development o each asset.

Here are three ways to get more rom your content:

Reinvention. Content that currently exists must be audited and re-imagined to provide coverage in more than one

channel. Oten, marketers will create a big asset such as a white paper, use it once in a lead generation campaign and

then relegate it to the resources section o the corporate website. With all the new channels in the marketing mix,

marketers can use that white paper or much more. For example:

Pullachartusedinawhitepaperandwriteabitofcommentaryaddressingthendingsandpostittothe

corporate blog. Link back to the white paper to encourage more downloads.

Whitepapersareusuallywritteninsections.Pulleachsectionandturnitintoastandalonearticle.

Use the articles as a series or a nurturing program or in your monthly newsletter.

Tweetwitharelated#hashtagtoexpandthereachofthewhitepaper.

UsethewhitepapertocreateaslidedeckyoucanshareonSlideshareaswellasembedinablogpostora

related section on the corporate website.

Createanotherversionoftheslidedecktohostawebinaronthetopiccovered.

Top 3 Marketing Challenges

Lack of budget, time and

resources (62%)

Inability to stop executing and

think strategically (39%)

Limited ability to develop

content (35%)

Marketing Sherpa

2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey

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Repurposing. As has been discussed previously, content is more eective when its ocus is narrowed to address

the needs o one target segment. What may not be readily apparent is that there may be overlays across industries

or segments.

Takealookatyourpersonaortargetsegmentquestionstoseeifversionsofthesamequestionareaskedby

dierent personas. It may be that a content asset designed or one persona can be quickly revised to address

the version o the question asked by another.

Manycompaniesaddressthesametargetaudienceinavarietyofverticalindustries.Maketheappropriate

changes to the content to position it or each additional industry where it applies. I will caution you that just

changing the reerences to the industry is not enough. Make sure to address the subtle dierences and

phrasing that expresses your understanding o each industry and audience.

Repetition. Using the ideas shared in your content more than once is how

marketers should rame the context or repetition. New ideas take time to

take hold.

Heres a basic example: Lets say the main idea is The expectations o the new

buyer. The original idea is to write an article about how the buyer has changed,

backed up with industry statistics and examples that are relevant or the

target market youve selected.

To put repetition into play, determine other ways to spin this main idea. Examples

might include:

10reasonsyouneedtochangewhatyouretellingbuyers Whyyourcustomerstrustlevelhasdeclined

Howtohaveaconversationwithtodaysbuyer

Whatsalesneedstoclosethenewbuyer

Now you have 5 topics based on one main idea that you can develop into marketing content using the same research youll do

to develop the content asset around the main idea. All with a dierent take or spin, each one reinorcing your expertise on

the topic.

Shifts in Skills Needed to Market to the New BuyerMaking the shit rom static B2B marketing to dynamic B2B eMarketing not only requires the appropriate technology and

tools, but a change to the marketers mindset. Companies are recognizing there are dierences to be addressed as they realize

the power has shited rom their companies to their buyers. The Internet has unleashed a torrent o inormation, changing

orever the ways in which complex sales are conducted. To reach and engage the new buyer, marketers must develop and tune

What Repetition is Not:

Using the same piece of

content over and over.

Saying the same things

everyone else in your market

is saying.

Using the same self-serving

calls to action (Schedule a

demo today!)

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new skills quite dierent rom those theyve relied on in the past. The ollowing

shits in skills will help marketers capitalize on the content marketing

continuum.

From Talking to Listening

Traditional marketing was predicated on companies controlling which

inormation was available or consumption by prospective customers. Due to

this perceived control over the inormational ow, marketers ocused on talking

about how cool their products were, how groundbreaking and how their

prospects would perish without these solutions.

Companies waxed poetic about how they were the leading providers o and

the awards theyd won. They talked about the eeds and speeds o their prod-

ucts, unaware that this wasnt doing a thing to help their buyers actually buy

anything. In the past, salespeople built the relationships one prospect at a time.

They established the relationship and guided the buyer through their

purchasing process.

Todays buyer has frmly expressed their displeasure with that process by taking advantage o the wealth o available

inormation to do their own research and make their own decisions. Their opinion o salespeople has been expressed by

limiting their participation to the end o the buying process, oten ater the short list o potential vendors has been

determined.

This shits a bulk o responsibility rom sales to marketing, although many salespeople would argue theyve not seen the

gauntlet picked up or this challenge. The frst shit that marketers need to embrace is the ability to stop talking and start

listening. Not only have buyers taken control, but theyre more talkative than ever, thanks to social media and the ease o

publishing. I marketers take the time to listen to whats being said, marketing content and nurturing programs can be

developed that resonate with buyers based on matching content to expressed interests.

Several ways to listen include:

FollowingtargeteddiscussionsingroupsonLinkedIn

Determiningtheinuentialbloggersinyourspaceandmonitoringtheinteractionontheirblogscommentsmost

especially.

AttendingwebinarsproducedbycompetitorsforthecontentandtheQ&Aattheend.

Monitoring#hashtagsforkeywordsonTwitterforinsightsaboutspecictopics.

CMOs think market and

technology factors are the two

most powerful external forcesaffecting their organizations.

Four out of ve CMOs we

talked with anticipate a high or

very high level of complexity

over the next ve years,

but only half feel ready to

handle it.

From Stretched to StrengthenedInsights from the IBM Global CMO

Study
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.htmlhttp://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.htmlhttp://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.htmlhttp://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.htmlhttp://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.htmlhttp://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.html

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From Packaged Campaigns to Tuning on the Fly

The days o perecting a campaign (or thinking we have), then executing and

waiting to see how it turns out are over. The beauty o marketing automation isthat it enables marketers to view real-time results and responses to each step o

a marketing program as its rolled out. Marketers can tune, tweak and take

corrective actions to ensure they get the best results as they go.

Theres no need to sit helplessly by and watch a campaign intended to generate

100 leads run its course generating only 25 that may not turn out to be actual

leads. The ability to see prospect behavior in response to content and messag-

ing will help marketers make adjustments that increase relevance to get things

back on trackgenerating more qualifed leads rather than solely ocusing on

quantity.

Marketing today means taking your best shot and proactively improving results

during the execution in response to audience behavior and eedback. This

also means that marketers need to learn how to use the metrics compiled by

technology to inorm their decisions. The 2011 Customer Engagement Report rom eConsultancy learned that 57% o marketers

have ound web analytics to be among the most useul methods or gathering intelligence in the context o customer

engagement.

The other change that marketers should consider in relation to the content marketing continuum is that the nature o

campaigns has changedorever. Marketers who ocus on a dialogue with buyers involved in a complex purchase, or example,

must be able to create and sustain those dialogues over the entirety o the buying experience. The days o generating contact

inormation and passing that to sales are over.

When you actor in the preerences o the new buyer, this means that instead o a campaign with the usual three touches and

a sales pitch, marketers must plan or many more touches and interactions that help buyers make progress toward sales

conversationsand beyond.

As priorities and challenges become more complex to solve, so to do the solutions we provide to serve our customers.

Distilling our messaging down to clarity that persuades buyers to take next steps is the issue marketers must address to

embrace the content marketing continuum.

In the next three years, more

diverse skills and capabilities

will need to be demonstrated.

Chief among them, according

to 84 percent of the survey

group, will be more innovative

approaches to targeting and

marketing. Sixty-eight percent

cited capabilities in digital

media strategies.

Prophets 2011 State of Marketing

Study
http://www.prophet.com/thinking/view/586-prophets-2011-state-of-marketing-studyhttp://www.prophet.com/thinking/view/586-prophets-2011-state-of-marketing-studyhttp://www.prophet.com/thinking/view/586-prophets-2011-state-of-marketing-studyhttp://www.prophet.com/thinking/view/586-prophets-2011-state-of-marketing-study

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From Big-bang PR to Continuous Publishing

It used to be that marketers would spend months planning or a product launch. Wed have spread sheets and be working

under the cone o silence to get the media coverage that would help us reveal our new product with the loudest amount onoise and coverage we could musterscheduled to go live all at once. The next day wed congratulate ourselves and go back to

our status quo operational routines. That approach no longer works.

To create engagement, marketers must learn to publish contagious content continuously to build relationships with target

segments. The once and done campaigns o the past wont do that. The dierence to note is earn rather than buy. Instead

o attempting to orm instant relationships with a big bang based mainly on paid media, marketers must ocus on building

rapport incrementally through continuous content publishing that expandsand reinorcesour story over time.

Big-bang PR is developed or our companys beneft. Its our shout out to the world that weve done something noteworthy.

Continuous publishing with contagious content is about being perceived as noteworthy all the time. With the new buyer, every

impression counts.

By developing a publishing mindset, marketers are better able to plan or and manage the content creation process with the

aim to grow a network that will be motivated to help us share our ideas because weve made them continuously valuable and

relevant. This way, when we launch something new, our audience is predisposed to pay attention because weve taken the time

to build credibility with them. Weve shown them we understand their issues and their business; and that were invested in

their success or the long haul.

From One-of Blasts to Serial Storytelling

The content marketing continuum is not about sending whatever is at hand just to keep our name and logo in ront o our

audience. Its not about the sales oer avor o the month or product eeds and speeds. Research by the CMO Council

discovered that the top three pet peeves o buyers in relation to marketing content are:

Contagious content gains the attention of the prospects you know about and helps your ideas spread

to others who havent yet raised their hands and identied themselves. Content that is contagious

speaks directly to your target marketsengaging prospects as if it were written just for them.

eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale

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1. Hype and Puery Content thats all about how great your company

and products are with little regard or what your audience will fnd

relevant or valuable. Its all about you.

2. Lack o Business Value Proposition In other words, content must

provide clarity around what your product enables prospects to dothat

they cant do nowthat will help them achieve critical business

objectives.

3. Not enough Proo o ROI Buyers dont just believe you because you say

its so. Vague statements about how your product or solution positions

your customers to reap uture benefts wont cut it. Give them meaty

statistics and examples they can use to build a business case and model

potential impact based on their unique situations.

Marketers who embrace serial storytelling can reverse buyers perceptions o

irrelevance. Serial storytelling during a complex B2B buying process means

answering your buyers questions as they move through the buying process,

starting rom status quo. From educating them about why they should solve the

problem to sharing how your expertise adds valuein addition to your productto sharing the evidence o the results your

customers have achieved with your help, you tell them the story about why youre the best partner they can choose.

The goal is to help your prospects connect the dots and take next steps with the insights each content asset provides.

Storytelling or marketing is not just realized with case studies, testimonials and executive anecdotes. Content that helps

buyers visualize how their world can change productively with your companys expertise, see themselves becoming the heroo the story.

From Clicks and Opens to Mindshareand Momentum

It used to be that companies judged the success o online marketing programs

based on impressions, or even opt-ins. But opt-ins dont count or much unless

they move through the pipeline. The beauty o rich profles and activity histo-

ries provided to us by marketing automation is that we can now develop lead

scoring models to gauge prospect interest. The goal o content marketing is to

get your prospects to spend more o their attention on your content and engage

with your company more intentionally than they do with competitors.

Marketers who ocus on becoming the anchor (the relied-upon resource) or

how their prospects think about solving their problems will see an increase

44% of surveyed marketers

said prospects view

communications from their

companies as disjointed

or hit and miss.

Only 3% of surveyed

marketers think they wow

prospects by knowing what

information customers need

and giving it to them.

The State Of B2B Demand Generation:

Disjointed, Forrester Research, Inc.

June 28, 2011

58% of buyers say that

thought leadership content

from solution providers plays

a critical or important role in

their buying process.

This includes the research,

analysis and advice found in

content such as reports, white

papers, webcasts and articles.

ITSMA and PAC


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to pipeline momentum. They will also see a higher rate o sales acceptance, opportunities and contribution to downstream

revenues. Building mindshare is the equivalent o building credibility, reliance and trusted-advisor status. Thats what leads to

revenues.

Accordingto61%ofmarketerssurveyedbyBtoBMagazinerecently,contributiontorevenuesisthe#1metricthatmarketers

are ocused on improving.Market2Lead (prior to acquisition by Oracle) analyzed internal data to report that nurtured leads have

an average deal size 9% higher, with a 23% shorter time to purchase.

But perhaps one o the most important behaviors that evidences the eect o mindshare on momentum is the increase in sales

call acceptance by leads who have been nurtured with relevant content. Sales Engine International partnered with

ebQuickstarttorunanexperimentontheeffectivenessofleadnurturinginrelationtosalescalls.Theywereabletovalidate

a 9X improvement to call receptiveness or leads who had repeatedly responded to email content oers in comparison to the

results o cold calls to those whod not received the emails. Todays buyers have changed. Marketing approaches must shit as

wellincluding our objectives.

From One-way Communications to Two-way Conversations

This shit in marketing skills highlights the dierence between static and dynamic communications. Staticalso known as

pushis sel-ocused, without the intention to establish a dialogue. Dynamic communications are interactive. A conversational

intent creates the orce and power to drive unnel momentum.

To achieve two-way conversations, marketers need to give up the outdated idea that they have control over the message.

In the digital world, companies that wont enable their prospective buyers to interact with them on their terms will lose tocompetitors who will. Think o it this way: would you rather have someone speaking at you, blathering on about their opinion

without respect or yours, or would you preer to be involved in an exchange o ideas? The latter is more appealing, obviously.

Buyer knowledge will help marketers increase their comort zone or letting go. The better you know them, the more relevant

you can be. This knowledge also serves to prepare marketers to react appropriately when buyers decide to respond. Its just good

common sense that the better we know people, the easier it is to engage them.

With a strategic plan, marketers can not only engage in conversations more easily with their prospects and customers, but they

can design interactive exchanges to gain actionable insights used to extend attention and encourage prospects to take next

steps. Marketing across a complex sale is an iterative process that develops one step at a time with an increasing number o

people involved.

Its also interesting to note that the research into buyers done by DemandGen ound that the majority o buyers are not

ollowing a traditional buying process. This being said, the report also ound that 66% o buyers indicate that consistent and

relevant communication provided by both sales and marketing organizations is a key inuence in choosing a solution

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provider. Marketers need to learn to take cues rom our buyers to achieve the quantifable results that contribute to

downstream revenues. And that requires two-way conversations.

Creating Synergy with Sales

The issue o marketing and sales alignment has been the white elephant in

the room or about as long as anyone can remember. The crux is that the

responsibilities o the two unctions are dierent. They will always be dier-

ent. But theres one thing that wont change or most B2B companies: without

salespeople, there is no business.

Unarguably, the buyer has wrested control o how they buy, source inorma-

tion and make purchase decisions. Buyers have pushed salespeople to the end

o their buying process, transerring much o the weight and responsibility

or educating them onto marketing. But, lets be reasonable, salespeople are

Today, up to 70% of a

customers buying decision

is now made based on

information he or she nds

online well before a

salesperson has a chance

to get involved.

Selling Power

4 Leadership Trends in

B2B Sales & Marketing

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still the ones most likely to have the insights and knowledge that marketing needs to perorm that unction well. Contrast that

with the opportunity marketers have to reach and digitally interact with buyers during a longer chunk o the buying

experience and youll begin to see the disconnect. For some reason, marketers oten choose to operate independently o sales

and vice versawithout either side understanding the benefts o collaboration that theyre so consciously avoiding.

Synergy is a more appropriate term than alignment because it ocuses on cooperative action, rather than trying to orce both

unctions to operate with the same goals, under the same responsibilities. Sales and marketing will never be equal in that

regard. This is not said to belittle either side, but to point out that cooperation and collaboration can help each role unction to

their highest capability in regards to creating a productive and unique buyer experience that produces shorter time to

customer acquisition and revenues. Marketing must ocus on supporting that objective in concert with sales.

Producing Leads Worthy of Sales Pursuit

A majority o marketing and sales organizations have not done the work necessary to create qualifed leads o interest to

salespeople. I you ask either side what actors are necessary or a qualifed lead, youll either hear a sketchy demographic

description, or criteria based on the antiquated notion o BANT (i.e., budget, authority, need, timeline). Its also likely that

how sales responds to the question will dier rom the way marketers will answer it. This must be rectifed.

There are at least two o the BANT criteria that no longer defne the buyers

o today:

Budget. Research has repeatedly ound that budgets did not exist

prior to building a business case and establishing proo o concept.

I sales reps reject leads based on budget, they could be giving yourcompetitors a git.

Authority. Research also fnds that the buying committee or a B2B

complex purchase is growing. This means that, although technically

one person will ink the deal, there are a number o other people

who must reach consensus or a purchase decision to be made.

Timeline is also blurring as a actor, or i a budget has not been established

prior to searching or resolution to a problem, there wont be a timeline.

Based on urgency, level o pain, or depth o opportunity, the timeline could

be accelerated once the business case is developed.

The only element o BANT thats absolutely critical or producing a qualifed

buyer is need. I they dont need what you sell, they obviously wont ever

become your customer.

Sales Reps believe roughly

70% of the leads they receive

have a low probability topurchase.

Vorsight & The Bridge Group, Inc.

Sales Speaks: Perceptions and

Ponderings on Marketing Leads, 2011

The number of inuencers

involved in a purchase decision

has increased by 20%.

IDG Connect

July 2011

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The Sales Speaks report, reerenced at right, also ound that salespeople preer to be put in touch with decision makers, but

that the leads marketing eorts provide are usually inuencers. The report concludes, Sales reps must be coached to qualiy

the company, rather than disqualiying the contact.

This being said, with a buying process conducted mainly online prior to sales involvement, technology and tools will oten

dictate the visibility into lead activity and behavior that indicates sales readiness. Lead scoring, a component o marketing

automation platorms, can provide a steady barometer o lead progression. Tuning the process over time with eedback rom

sales can help the process become a reliable indicator o pipeline momentum and lead quality.

The inputs that help marketers determine the quality o leads includes:

Demographic profles to indicate whether the company fts your customer profle.

Activity in response to content marketing oers. Does the lead only respond when you prompt them via an email?

Or do they proactively engage with your content?

Frequency o activitycan indicate the dierence between casual or cursory attention and intentional activity that

indicates the urgency to solve the problem is escalatingalong with their interest in your companys expertise.

Time spent with contentis an indication o the importance the lead has associated to the inormation marketing is

providing. Are they scanning or reading? Are they committing an hour o their time to your webinars? Are they asking

questions?

Topics that they access can be indicative o where a lead is in their

buying processi marketing has mapped the content to the buying

stages. Not all leads start at square one with your content. They may

already be convinced they need to solve the problem by the time they

fnd your company. Having the capability to identiy how ar along

they are can help to ensure that sales-ready leads are not overlooked

due to a low score.

Human touchis still an important part o the lead qualifcation

process. Marketing programs, no matter how strategically designed,

will not impact each lead in the same way. Follow-up by an inside sales

rep can help to validate assumptions made via analytics and activity

reports, and arrange a hando to sales should the lead be ready.

Type o contentaccessed can also be indicative o a change in

qualifcation. For example, i the lead has been reading thought

leadership content and is now engaging with product and solution

inormation, sales involvement may be warranted.

Lead scoring is still in its

infancy, but it is encouraging

to see that 27% of sales reps

report that scoring is accurate,

with 57% reporting somewhat

accurate.

6% report that scoring is very

accurate, offering proof that

renement and tuning the

process can pay off.

Vorsight & The Bridge Group, Inc.Sales Speaks: Perceptions and

Ponderings on Marketing Leads, 2011

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Why the Toss Over the Wall is OUT and the BatonPass is IN

Technology can become a double-edged sword when

its used to replace process with unction. An example

is the automation o the lead hando rom marketing

automation systems to CRM systems. The lead hando is

not just about the technology that elevates a lead status

or shues it rom system to system. Lead qualifcation

criteria and timing are important, but not all thats

required or a smooth transition. Marketers need to

orchestrate the hando in a way that provides value or

both the buyer and the salesperson. Not check o a boxthat the task is done.

Yet, according to the chart, lead hando and

management is the least challenging marketing-to-sales

unnel process identifed in a Marketing Sherpa survey.

Since most marketers say they have lead management

in hand, they should know a whole lot about their prospectsespecially activity history. Given what a lead has shown

interest in, whats the next step that a salesperson can expose them to that makes sense? Marketers need to set that up.

Otherwise salespeople will start over, halting all the momentum the buyer has made in order to ask questions we may already

have the answers to, rather than providing value and insights that buyers have come to expect.

Buyers dont care what a salesperson wants to know. They expect sales to step in with resh ideas and perspective that aligns

with where they are in their buying process. Marketers should be positioning salespeople to do this rom the transition, as well

as providing support through to purchase, and beyond.

Marketing is a continuum that never endswith a lot o moving parts. Its highly questionable that lead hando is being done

well when the top challenge is converting qualifed leads into customers. The hando is about more than who has custody o

the lead.

Marketers need to start addressing the buying experience unnel in its entiretyas an integrated, strategic processnot a

short-term role that ends at the hando.

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Give Sales a Conversational Toolkit

Its long been known that salespeople dont use two thirds o the content that

marketing provides them with. When asked why not, 41% o salespeople told

IDG Connect that they dont know what to use, how to use it eectively, or when

to use it. The research also ound that salespeople spend less than 7 hours each

week preparing or customer or prospect interactions. Salespeople are doers, not

researchers. They will not dig through marketing content to fgure out what to

use, when, or how to use it most eectively. Marketers need to provide an assist

in this area.

Given the late stage that buyers invite salespeople into conversations, the quality

o the conversations that salespeople have with them are critical. Salespeople

need to be able to generate conversations that seamlessly connect rom where

the buyer transitioned o the marketing program. The transition itsel signifes

a shit in ocus. In the fnal stages o the buying cycle, the decision maker and

the most prominent inuencers are evaluating the companyassessing viability,

working relationships, partner value add, and deciding i they trust your

company to deliver on the promises made by marketing.

In addition to the buyers activity, demographic and psychographic profle, sales

needs the ollowing resources that weave the earlier stages o the marketing process with the end stages o the sales process to

complete the buyers experience. The conversational toolkit may include:

Valuepropositionsfocusedonthebuyersgoalsinrelationtothe problem theyre solving

Campaign-basedFAQsthinkthecliffnotesversionofcontentthebuyer has viewed

Arecapofthelastinteractionthebuyerhadwithsuggestionsforthe next movement in the relationshipincluding

both conversational prompts and appropriate content

Conversationalpromptsbasedonthebuyersindustryandcompanydemographics

Minislidedecksfocusedonhelpingthesalespersontellavalue-added story about the problem-to-solution scenario the

buyer is involved with including validation or results

All o the above are customer ocusednot product oriented. Marketing cannot just reload lead generation and transitional

content into the sales portal/system and expect that to carry sales through closing the deal.

Sales content deserves to be created just or sales conversations. And its not a one-time thing. Just as marketing content evolves

when buyers change, sales content must, as well. In order to tune sales content, its imperative that marketing get eedback

When buyers were asked what

set the best salespeople apart,

this is what they said:

Understand our business (51%)

Listened extremely well (43%)

Provided relevant content to

help our decision (42%)

Stayed with us every step of

the way (37%)

Focused on educating us rather

than trying to close the sale

(35%)

IDG Connect

July 2011

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and monitor content use and eectiveness to learn whats working or sales. Marketing needs to take responsibility or tuning

whats working and removing, or replacing, whats not.

In act, marketing should treat sales content like a continuous campaign, paying the same attention to the metrics o sales orce

use and activity in relation to content as they do to lead generation and nurturing campaigns. Ater all, the role o a salesperson

is not to call on leads, but to generate opportunities that drive business. I sales content isnt supporting that role, fnd out why

not and fx it.

Position Salespeople as Valuable Experts

Depending on whom you ask, salespeople have either become more valuable or, well, not. You can see two contrasting views

represented in the call-out boxes on the right. This being said, the indication that buyers only spend 21% o the buying

experience with salespeople, could be indicative o the rising level o their importance during that shorter validation period

as the complexity o solutions continues to increase.

With buyers placing increasing importance on thought leadership,

marketers should take heed and work toward helping salespeople be seen as

such. Your salespeople likely have a lot o valuable ideas that could be extracted

and showcased to support their expertise in more concrete ways. Not just or

your companys beneft, but to help sales reps prove they dierentiate your

company rom others, and that theyre worth the buyers time. The net is

credibility and trust or your company via your salespeople. Thats what wins

complex sales in todays market.

Several ideas or positioning your salespeople as experts include:

HelpingthemtoeditandupdatetheirLinkedInproletoemphasize

expertise in a conversational way. Check their other social media

profles used proessionally or consistency.

Providewebpagesdevelopedtoshowcaseeachrepwithcustomer

testimonials and brie insights that share their expertise in

understanding the buyers industry and business. Most salespeople

have areas o ocus such as industry. Focus their signature web pages

on whats most relevant to buyers and have them use a link to the page

in their email communications. Link to the page rom related customer

case studies, as well.

58% of executives say sales

reps occasionally or never

bring thoughtful, relevant ideas

about solving business

problems.

ITSMA and PAC


68% of buyers say their sales

reps have become more

important to them as a source

of insight and guidance over

the last three years in relation

to other sources.

IDG Connect

July, 2011

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Givesalespeoplesomecoachinginparticipatingonsocialplatforms.Make sure they understand how marketing is

engaging on social networks and coordinate the eorts on both sides to produce consistency in the buyers experience.

Interviewsalespeopletogaintheirinsightsaboutwhatbuyersneedtourther understand to solve their problems and

use the inormation to create a bylined blog post or article on the subject. Link to it rom their web profle page. There

are many who would argue this is not a wise use o a salespersons time, but a 30 minute interview that produces a

content asset that helps late-stage buyers, is a boon or both marketing and the buyers perception o the value the

salesperson brings.

Salespeople must know the products and solutions they sell very well. They must be able to apply what those solutions do to

the situations buyers are acing. But they also must learn to provide strategic value in the eyes o the buyer. Personalization and

instant gratifcation are critical across every stage o the buying experience. Where sales can help to inorm marketers about

the reality or buyers, marketers can help salespeople understand whats relevant or the buyer at the time o transition. There

is value to be gained or each side rom the other.

IDC defnes sales enablement as:

The delivery o the right inormation to the right person at the right time in the right ormat and in the right place to assist in moving a specifc

sales opportunity orward.

Nowhere in this defnition does it say that sales enablement is about marketing or sales, but rather the indication is that sales

enablement is squarely ocused on acilitating the buyer experienceby whichever role is best positioned to do so.

Capitalize on the Content Marketing ContinuumAs digital channels and social platorms become more embedded in business, marketers and salespeople alike must become

profcient with the skills necessary to address their companys strategic objectives. The ability or buyers and customers to

interactively exchange inormation with their peers, colleagues and partners will only increase. This reality can be extremely

liberating or buyers, but also serves to introduce conusion by stretching their ability to flter inormation to determine what

is credible and whatand whothey should ignore.

This inormational ow never stops. Thereore, marketing and sales must be diligent, consistent and continuous in their eorts

to interact with the people who can beneft the most rom the products and solutions your company provides. Sustainable

marketing and sales programs that deliver on objectives must put buyers at the center o strategy.

With the ramework and tools presented in this eBook series, marketers and salespeople can collaboratively build the

oundation they need to successully:

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Befoundwiththerightinformationinthechannelsbuyersprefer

Attractandkeeptheattentionofbuyersandinuencers

Respondappropriatelywithdigitaldialoguesthatmotivatebuyerintent

Elevatetheperceivedvalueofeveryinteractionwhetherwithmarketingorsales

By knowing your buyers and understanding their needs, preerences, priorities and aversions, marketing and sales can provide

the education, expertise and evidence needed to become strategic resources and partners that buyers choose to engage with

and buy rom.

Its time to make the move rom static to dynamic. Theres no going back.

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About the Author

Ardath Albee, CEO o her frm Marketing Interactions, Inc., applies 25 years o business management

and marketing experience to help B2B companies with complex sales create eMarketing strategies

that use contagious content to turn prospects into buyers. Ardath authors the popular Marketing

Interactions blog and is a requent industry speaker. Her book, eMarketing Strategies or the

Complex Sale was published by McGraw-Hill. Ardath was recently selected as one o the Top 20

Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management or 2011.

Please visit herWebsite and ollow her onTwitter.

About Hoovers, Inc.

Hoovers, ounded in 1990, is a D&B company that provides its customers with insight and actionable inormation about

companies, industries and key decision makers, along with the powerul tools to fnd and connect to the right people to get

business done. Hoovers provides this inormation or sales, marketing, business development, and other proessionals who

need intelligence on U.S. and global companies, industries, and the people who lead them. Hoovers unique combination o

editorial expertise and one-o-a-kind data collection with user-generated and company-supplied content gives customers a

360-degree view and competitive edge. This inormation, along with powerul tools to search, sort, download and integrate

the content, is available through Hoovers subscriptions. Hoovers is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Follow Hoovers on

Twitter, Facebookand LinkedIn.
http://marektingintereactions.typepad.com/http://marektingintereactions.typepad.com/http://emarketingstrategiesbook.com/http://emarketingstrategiesbook.com/http://marketinginteractions.com/http://twitter.com/ardath421http://www.hoovers.com/http://www.hoovers.com/products/100000859-1.htmlhttp://twitter.com/hoovershttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Hoovers/96955415262?ref=tshttp://www.linkedin.com/company/hoovers-inc.http://www.linkedin.com/company/hoovers-inc.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hoovers/96955415262?ref=tshttp://twitter.com/hoovershttp://www.hoovers.com/products/100000859-1.htmlhttp://www.hoovers.com/http://twitter.com/ardath421http://marketinginteractions.com/http://emarketingstrategiesbook.com/http://emarketingstrategiesbook.com/http://marektingintereactions.typepad.com/http://marektingintereactions.typepad.com/

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