Content Marketing, Again

Content Marketing isn't new.

Creating useful content with the goal of selling product has a rich tradition.

What’s different in the digital age is

1. buyers are much more empowered to drive their information gathering. And,
2. marketers now have much more data on who the buyer is and her place in the sales cycle.

The key to success is content created around buyers’ priorities--useful for them to do their jobs!

If you are useful to buyers, you will get the chance to change minds and to drive action.

Remember: it’s not about you; it’s about the the buyer.

Start by mapping your prospects buying process--from exploring to deciding to buy to selecting vendors, negotiating, installing and support.

What information needs do they have at each stage--by persona?

Fill those needs with expert answers and useful tools.

But be strategic for yourself too. Make differentiated content by persona and by buying stage.

This way, when visitors download, you know about their role: are they the tech buyer, the bean counter, the business manager? Don't wrap it all in one piece of content. You won't know who's reading it, because it could be any of your target personas.

When a business manager downloads your ROI calculator, she’s likely moved down the funnel far enough to qualify. And if you build your content right, you’ll know when she is.

That’s it from 50,000 feet: create content that is useful for your prospects AND helps you know who they are and where they are in their buying decision.

White Papers: Still King of Technology B2B Content

White Papers are still a staple of the Technology B2B technology content diet. Our research points this out, both behavioral metrics on the web and primary research surveys.
What is a White Paper?

White papers are topical reports, typically 8 – 12 pages long, on issues that require a lot of explanation. Also known as "conference papers," "research reports," or "technical briefs," they are perfect for demonstrating thought leadership on issues vital to your buyers.

But how to leverage them for all their worth?
Remember the mantra: Get found. Get read. Get shared.  
Get found: don’t write what you want to say. Write about what your target market searches for. Research it.  What problems do they have doing their jobs? Narrow this down to the topics and issues that relate to your product. If you execute well--on target and on vernacular--you will get found.
Get read: nobody finishes a badly written white paper. But this isn’t just about good writing. good writing is important. It’s necessary; but not sufficient.  Your coverage has to be useful to be read. Even if you’re engaging, you’d better be useful too--or else it’s just entertainment.
Get shared: this is part tactical and part an extension of the getting read. The tactical part is to make it technically easy to share. Have share links and buttons. Reward readers for sharing.  But remember, they won’t share some thing that sucks, other than to tell other people that it sucks. You don't want that, do you?
Get found. Get read. Get shared. 
Make sure your white papers hit all three.