The Content Continuum: Winning The Hidden Sales Cycle With The Right Answer

PRESENTED BY!

#C2C14!

The Content Continuum!Winning the Hidden Sales Cycle with the Right Answer!!!!

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VALUE

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PLEASE QUEUE UP THIS VIDEO AT 2M15S

Play: http://youtu.be/cV0tCphFMr8?t=2m15s

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OUR VALUE EXCHANGE

A framework for developing a content marketing strategy that matters in the context of demand gen Look at and beyond assets Tons of data

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CONTENT CONTINUUM

•  This is the story of the content continuum. How companies win the hidden sales cycles along the road to revenue.

•  Each toll gate represents a milestone moment in the buyer’s journey. To achieve the value exchange, content marketers must successfully answer the buyer’s question.

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PACE: ABERDEEN’S MATURITY CLASS FRAMEWORK

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PRESSURES ACTIONS CAPABILITIES ENABLERS

External and internal forces that impact an organization’s market

position, competitiveness, or

business operations.

The strategic approaches that an

organization takes in response to industry

pressures.

The business competencies (organization,

process, etc…) required to execute corporate strategy.

The key technology solutions required to

support the organization’s

business practices.

What are Best-in-Class Companies doing

differently?

What pitfalls are they avoiding?

Why are they achieving greater success?

What technologies and services are enabling

them to succeed?

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TRIP KUCERA

VP & CMO-in-Residence Aberdeen Group / Harte Hanks

Over 15 years experience in B2B Marketing Industry Experience:

➔  Sr. Research Analyst; Aberdeen Group ➔  Corporate Communications; Successfactors / Plateau ➔  Corporate Communications; LogMeIn ➔  Product Marketng; Progress Software ➔  PR; Sonic Software

Principle Marketing Research Analyst Lead Aberdeen’ client delivery & success team

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Today's Road to Value

The Content Continuum

Recap: Hidden Sales

Cycle

Content Competition

What’s the Question?

Content Marketing

Stats

Recommendations

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Con

trol

of M

essa

ge &

Vis

ibili

ty

Competitors Content + Community Marketer (You)

Discovery Consideration Evaluation Selection

What’s my problem?

How do I solve this?

What tools do I need

for success?

What are the risks?

REVISITING THE HIDDEN SALES CYCLE ANSWER THE QUESTION

Marketing’s Imperative: Get Vision-Shaping Content In the Path of the Buyer

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CONTENT MARKETING PRESSURES

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CONTENT COMPETITION

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IN A WORLD…

80%

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CONTENT VS. ATTENTION

Availability of Attention

Content Competition

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THREE “Fs” OF CONTENT SUCCESS

•  Fine – Beautiful, smart, highly-creative content will find an audience.

•  Fit – Content must have utility to be effective. Beautiful content that doesn’t move the buyer to action (eventually) isn’t going to be seen as beautiful for long.

•  Findable– Being there is 90% of success… (but

Google takes care of this, right?)

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A BIAS FOR FIT AS SUSTAINABLE DIFFERENTIATOR

HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE FIT?

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NOT EASY STUFF

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BUT BEST-IN-CLASS ARE BETTER AT IT

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WHAT’S THE QUESTION?

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WHAT ARE CRITICAL QUESTIONS?

•  The question must be answered to progress through the gate stage (or false positive results)

•  Questions are often implied, if not explicit (especially in early stages)

•  The answer is generally contained in content (especially in early stages)

•  Some buyers may pass go (they may already know the answer)

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WHAT’S THE QUESTION?

Buyer’s stage: Discovery!!Critical questions: What don’t I know? How can I be successful at work? What skills do I need to be competitive?!!Content criteria: vision forming, challenges status quo, benchmarks performance (generally shorter-form) !!!

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WHAT’S THE QUESTION?

Buyer’s stage: Consideration!!Critical questions: Which problem should I solve now? How do I solve the problem? Which capabilities are important?!!Content criteria: Capabilities and best practices (buyer begins to become mental user), use-case examples (longer-form content emerges)!

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CONTENT’S ROLE IN LEAD NURTURING

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CONTENT’S ROLE IN LEAD SCORING

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WHAT’S THE QUESTION?

Buyer’s stage: Evaluation!!Critical questions: Who can help me solve this problem? How can I reduce risk, maximize ROI?!!Content criteria: Solution-centric; ROI (risk of doing nothing perceived as higher than risk of action)!!

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WHAT’S THE QUESTION?

Buyer’s stage: Selection!!Critical questions: How will I succeed? Are we making the right choice? !!Content criteria: Customer success, peer-driven insights!!

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CONTENT ANALYTICS WORK IN PROGRESS

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RECOMMENDATIONS

•  Consider your buyers’ information needs – they’re critical questions – at each stage of the discovery/decision cycle

•  Make content more than clever (create bias in favor of your solution)

•  Extend the conversation thru to Sales

•  Measure the impact of content based on this model

PRESENTED BY!

#C2C14!

THANK YOU!For more information on this and other topics, please visit aberdeen.com!