Help Your Prospects Find the Rest of the Story

One nice thing about publishing a blog is that it allows me to share the insights of really smart people. I frequently use blog posts to point readers to books, research reports, and other content that I believe is valuable. There's also a great deal of value to be found in other blogs, and I realize that I haven't pointed readers to this kind of content as often as I should. So, I'm now planning to devote about one post each month to a discussion of content I've discovered at other blogs.

Ardath Albee and Eric Wittlake are two B2B marketing thought leaders and practitioners that I follow closely. Ardath publishes the Marketing Interactions blog, and she is also the author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. Eric Wittlake publishes the B2B Digital Marketing blog, and he heads up the media practice at Babcock & Jenkins.

Both Ardath and Eric recently published blog posts that address the importance of making it easy for prospects to stay engaged with your marketing content.

In New Research:  B2B Content is a Dead End, Eric wrote that many B2B content assets fail to provide readers/viewers/listeners a path for continuing their research. He reviewed white papers published by 10 large B2B marketers and found that:

• Only two of the white papers provided a link to another content resource
• Only one of the papers included a link to a web page where more recent content might be found
• Five of the papers did not include links to a specific product/service page

Eric contends that by not including links to other resources in every content asset, marketers are missing the opportunity to keep prospects engaged with their content.

Ardath makes a similar point in Designing Calls to Action for B2B Marketing Content. She argues that a call to action should be a core component of every marketing content resource. It's important to understand, however, that a call to action doesn't only mean things like, "Have a salesperson call me," or "Schedule a demo now!" Ardath contends that most calls to action should be based on what will be helpful to prospective buyers. That usually means a link to other content resources that will take potential buyers to the next logical step in their decision making process.

Ardath and Eric are making an important point in these blog posts. We now know that most prospects prefer to learn about business problems and possible solutions in bite-sized chunks. For example, research by Eccolo Media and others shows that most buyers prefer white papers that are 4 to 8 pages long. I'm also seeing more and more 30-minute (as opposed to 1-hour) webinars. Delivering content in smaller "pieces" means that no single content resource will tell your prospects everything they need to know.

What you need to do is treat each content resource as one chapter of a novel or one episode of a TV miniseries. Always let your prospects know where to find the next chapter or the next episode.

The Value of Persistence in Lead Generation

In an earlier post, I argued that persistence is critical for effective lead generation in today's B2B marketing environment. Business buyers now have access to a wealth of online information, and they can easily perform research and gather information about products or services on their own. As a result, they are less likely to respond to lead generation campaigns, and this means you usually need to touch prospects multiple times to entice them to respond.

An article in the May issue of Deliver magazine ("Box of Cheer") provides a great example of the power of persistence in B2B lead generation. The article describes a very successful lead generation campaign run by Nuance Communications, a provider of customer service automation products. The target audience for the campaign was 1,416 directors and vice presidents who manage contact (call) centers at 497 US companies. The objective of the campaign was to secure sales meetings with new prospects.

The campaign began with a dimensional mailer that contained several items, including a large printed piece in the form of a "foam finger" (like those seen at sporting events), a customized letter, and three printed magnets. These materials featured a PURL that would take responders to a robust microsite that contained multiple content resources such as articles, reports, and webcasts.

About two weeks after the mailer arrived, Nuance launched a series of four follow-up e-mails featuring an offer of an additional content resource that could be accessed by visiting the microsite. After these four e-mails, Nuance sent the target audience a second personalized letter and a book that included a customer case study. A final e-mail was sent two weeks after this personalized letter.

The campaign produced an overall response rate of 21.7% and generated 48 sales meetings.

The Nuance campaign illustrates the importance of persistence in B2B lead generation. The campaign was designed to include seven coordinated outbound touches over a period of about three months. While the Deliver article did not provide a breakdown showing the response rates for the individual campaign components, it's clear that Nuance believes that all of the touches were critical. The article quoted Marcie Lascher, Nuance's director of enterprise marketing, on this specific point:  "There were many top-tier targets who didn't respond until the fifth or sixth touch that we sent them, so you could make the argument if we had just sent them one or two things, we never would have realized that benefit."

The Nuance campaign provides an outstanding model for B2B lead generation marketing. This kind of multitouch campaign is both necessary and appropriate for companies that (a) need to reach management- or executive-level buyers, and (b) sell more expensive products or services.

As I wrote in my earlier post, there are several ways to bolster the effectiveness of outbound B2B lead generation marketing, and you'll certainly want to apply those principles to your lead generation programs. However, for many B2B companies, nothing contributes more to effective lead generation than persistence.

Why You Need More Than Case Studies

Customer case studies are one of the most popular types of marketing content used by B2B companies. According to research by Eccolo Media, case studies are the fourth most widely consumed type of marketing collateral (behind product brochures, white papers, and video/multimedia files) and the second most influential type of marketing collateral (trailing only white papers). (Eccolo Media 2011 B2B Technology Collateral Report)

Case studies are potent marketing tools because they're good at performing several jobs.

• They help establish your credibility.
• They educate prospects about the benefits of your product or service.
• Most importantly, they can help lower a prospect's perception of the risk associated with purchasing your product or service.

Because case studies can do so many things well, it's easy (and tempting) to conclude that they're the only type of marketing content you need. That's understandable, but it's wrong.

To market effectively, you need content for all parts of your prospects' decision-making process. That's because the questions that your prospects need to answer change as they move through the buying process. The diagram below depicts the six steps of the B2B buying process suggested by marketing and sales research firm SiriusDecisions. These six steps can be grouped into three buying process phases - Discovery, Consideration, and Decision.

During the Discovery phase, a potential buyer becomes aware of a problem or need and recognizes that the negative effects of the status quo make change a priority. For this to happen, prospects need answers to several questions, including:

• Why should I change, and why should I change now?
• How is the problem or challenge adversely affecting my company and/or industry?
• What will happen if I don't change?
• What events or circumstances would force me to address this problem or challenge?

Once a potential buyer has committed to addressing a problem or need, he or she will conduct research to identify possible solutions. During this Consideration phase, one of the most important questions a prospect will have is:  How have companies like mine successfully dealt with this problem or challenge?

Customer case studies don't do a particularly good job of answering Discovery-phase questions, but they excel at answering one of the most critical questions that will arise during the Consideration phase of the buying process. This means that case studies can be great lead nurturing tools, but not necessarily great lead acquisition tools.

So, by all means, make sure that your company has several well-written and compelling case studies. But also keep in mind that you need other types of content (white papers, etc.) for effective lead acquisition.

Why "Connecting the Dots" is Key to Marketing Credibility

Seventy-three percent of CEO's think marketers lack business credibility, according to a study released last year by The Fournaise Marketing Group. The study was based on interviews of more than 600 CEO's and decision makers in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

This lack of credibility is one of the main reasons that marketers often find it difficult to win adequate financial support for important marketing programs and to successfully resist budget cuts whenever CEO's and CFO's are looking to reduce expenses.

If we look at a few of the specific findings in the Fournaise study, it's easy to see that marketers' lack of credibility results primarily from their inability or failure to demonstrate the connection between marketing programs and important business outcomes. For example:

• 77% of interviewees said that marketers talk a lot about brand, brand equity, and other similar concepts that top managers have difficulty linking to results that matter such as sales or profits.
• 74% said that marketers focus on new marketing trends or channels, but can rarely demonstrate how these new tools will generate business for the company.
• 72% said that marketers are always asking for more money, but can rarely explain how much incremental revenue the increased investment will produce.

Why Connecting the Dots is Critical

The mission of marketing is to generate revenues and drive revenue growth. This is why companies invest in marketing in the first place. Every marketing activity or program is (or should be) linked to the production of revenues. Marketers must understand how each and every marketing program contributes (or will contribute) to revenue generation. Just as important, it's up to marketers to explain this linkage and make it visible and understandable to the CEO and other senior company leaders. This is what I mean by "connecting the dots." Nothing will enhance your credibility as a marketer more than being able to explain, clearly and persuasively, how your marketing efforts are driving revenue growth.

Connecting the dots for senior company leaders is necessary because the impact of a marketing program on revenue is not always apparent. Many marketing activities do not produce revenue directly or immediately. For example, a company blog rarely produces revenue directly for a B2B company. Not many people will read your blog and immediately visit your website or call you up to make a purchase. A blog can, however, be an effective lead generation tool that will contribute to higher revenues. The "equation" looks like this:  An effective blog = more sales leads = more qualified sales opportunities = more closed deals = higher revenues. The connection between your blog and your company's top-line revenues may be obvious to you, but it won't necessarily be obvious to your CEO.

Your credibility as a marketer ultimately depends on your ability to deliver results in the form of revenues. But your credibility also depends on your ability to explain why and how what you're doing is working.

Why You Need "Blue Ocean" Content

Content marketing is now a core marketing strategy for many B2B companies. Research shows that 9 out of 10 B2B companies are using content marketing in some form. The irony is that the popularity of content marketing makes it more challenging to create content that will enable your company to stand out from the crowd. The job has become more difficult for two reasons.

First, there's more "good" content available. As companies gain experience using educational, informative, and customer-focused content, many get better at creating it. Therefore, potential buyers are now exposed to more relevant and well-prepared content than ever before.

The second factor is that companies operating in the same market segments usually offer products or services that address the same or similar business issues and produce value in similar ways. When these companies create marketing content, it tends to deal with the same general group of business issues or topics. Therefore, the content offered by competitors will often look (or sound) a lot alike.

To capture prospects' attention and set your company apart from competitors, you need to create and use marketing content that provides fresh and valuable insights. This is not easy to do, but one solution is to always be looking for opportunities to create what I call blue ocean content.

The defining characteristic of blue ocean content is that it deals with important, but under appreciated, issues, problems, or ways that your product or service will create value. The matrix shown below illustrates what I mean.

The vertical axis of the matrix represents the importance of a business issue or problem or the significance of a way that your product or service creates value. The horizontal axis represents how knowledgeable potential buyers are about the issue, problem, or value opportunity.

Red ocean content (the upper right quadrant) is content that addresses important or significant issues, problems, or value that potential buyers already know about. (Note:  I've borrowed the red ocean-blue ocean metaphor from Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.)

Red ocean content, when it's done well, has significant value, but it isn't particularly effective at helping to differentiate your company.  That's because (a) potential buyers are already aware of the problem, issue, or value the content addresses, so you aren't really providing new information, and (b) your competitors are probably offering similar content.

Blue ocean content (the upper left quadrant) describes and explains important or significant problems, issues, or value that potential buyers do not already know about or fully appreciate. Blue ocean content is also more likely to address topics that your competitors aren't dealing with. Therefore, blue ocean content offers prospects new and valuable insights.

Content can achieve blue ocean status in several ways:

• It can identify and describe the causes and effects of a previously unrecognized problem.
• It can make the full ramifications of a known issue or problem visible.
• It can describe a new solution for an issue or problem.
• It can provide new perspectives on industry issues or problems.

Red ocean content is and will remain valuable in your marketing efforts. Most of your content will be red ocean content because it will always be essential to provide information about basic, known problems, issues, and value. But you need some blue ocean content to effectively capture your prospects' attention and set your company apart from competitors.

Can You Win the Zero Moment of Truth?

Regular readers of this blog know that I write frequently about how new buyer behaviors are driving far-reaching changes in what is required to make B2B marketing and sales effective. In my view, this is the single most significant issue facing B2B marketing and sales professionals.

Google weighed in on this topic last year when it published an excellent e-book titled, Winning the Zero Moment of Truth. The e-book was written by Jim Lecinski, Google's Managing Director of U.S. Sales & Service, and it is based on an analysis of Google's voluminous data regarding internet searches and on primary research Google commissioned.

The primary message of Winning the Zero Moment of Truth is both simple and profound. Lecinski writes that the traditional mental model of marketing contains three components.

• Stimulus - Typically, this is an advertising/marketing message such as a TV/radio/print ad, a direct mail communication, or an e-mail marketing message.
• First Moment of Truth - This is the moment at which a consumer stands in front of your product in a store or views your product in an online store and decides to buy. . . or not. For many B2B companies, the First Moment of Truth is not when a prospect decides whether or not to buy. Instead, it is when a prospect registers for one of your white papers or webinars, or when a prospect accepts a meeting with your sales rep. In B2B, the First Moment of Truth is that moment when a prospect decides to identify himself/herself and engage with a company. . . or not.
• Second Moment of Truth - This is when a buyer actually uses a product or service and is happy/delighted/satisfied. . . or not.

A.G. Lafley, the former chairman, president, and CEO of Procter & Gamble, has written that the best brands consistently win both of these "moments of truth."

Lecinski argues that the development of internet technologies and the explosion of online information have added a new moment of truth to the traditional model, what he calls the Zero Moment of Truth, or ZMOT. The ZMOT occurs after the stimulus and before the First Moment of Truth, as shown below.

The ZMOT is where potential buyers take initial steps to learn about the products they may be interested in purchasing. Most of this research is performed online, via web searches, anonymous visits to company websites, reading online user reviews, and, increasingly, through social media. Whatever you sell, whether it's complex industrial equipment or sophisticated computer software or marketing services, your prospects will form their first impression of your company and what you offer at this moment, the ZMOT.

This has two major implications for B2B marketers. First, it means that a prospect's first impression of your company and your products or services will be based on the content that you publish. And second, it means that if your content doesn't pass the "ZMOT test," you may never be given the opportunity to create a relationship with a prospect, much less make a sale.

What about your online presence? Can your company be found when potential buyers search online for information about the products or services you provide? If a prospect visits your website or your Facebook page or your blog, what kind of content will he/she find? Will it be self-promotional content that's mostly about your company? Or, will it be content designed to demonstrate that you understand your prospects' problems and that you have the requisite expertise to help solve those problems? Will your content pass the ZMOT test?

The old saying is absolutely true:  You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

For Great Marketing Content, Focus on the Jobs Prospects Need to Get Done

The first step to creating compelling marketing content is to understand what your prospects are trying to accomplish when they purchase products or services like those you provide. Most buyers, particularly business buyers, don't purchase a product or service because they want that product or service itself. Instead, when they become aware of a job that they need to get done, they look for a product or service that they can "hire" to perform the job. Theodore Levitt, the legendary marketing professor at the Harvard Business School, captured this concept in a memorable way when he said, "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole."

In The Innovator's Solution, Clatyon Christensen and Michael Raynor provide an interesting example of hiring a product to get a job done. A fast-food restaurant chain wanted to increase sales of milkshakes, and it commissioned market research to better understand how to accomplish this goal. The most surprising finding of the research was that almost half of all milkshakes were purchased in the early morning. The milkshakes were usually the only item purchased, and they were rarely consumed on the premises.

The researchers found that most of the morning milkshake customers were people on their way to work. They faced a long commute, and they needed something to make the drive more interesting. In addition, while they weren't necessarily hungry when they bought the shake, they knew if they didn't eat something, they would be hungry by mid-morning. Most of these customers also faced similar constraints. They were in a hurry, they were usually wearing their business clothes, and they only had one free hand.

These customers sometimes "hired" other foods to fill their morning needs, but most of the alternatives had significant disadvantages. Bagels got crumbs on their clothes, bananas were eaten too quickly to last for the whole commute, and breakfast sandwiches made their hands and the steering wheel greasy. It wasn't so much that these customers "liked" milkshakes better than bagels or bananas or breakfast sandwiches, but milkshakes were better than these alternatives at performing the job the customers needed to get done.

It's not hard to find examples of this idea in the business world:

• No business owner really wants accounting software, but many buy such software because they realize they need to generate invoices faster, know how much they owe to vendors, and understand how well their company is performing financially. Accounting software enables them to perform these jobs more efficiently than a manaul bookkeeping system.
• No business owner really wants property insurance, but most will purchase insurance because they know they need to protect themselves financially in case of a fire. Insurance is the best-available tool for performing this job.
• No business owner really wants a company brochure, or a direct mail campaign, or for that matter, a website, but many will invest in those things because they see them as effective tools for performing the job of increasing sales.

As businesspeople and marketers, it's easy for us to forget that most potential buyers aren't really interested in our products or services per se. What they are (or can become) interested in is what our products or services can help them accomplish. Our products or services are simply the means to an end, and this fact should determine the primary focus of our marketing content. To use Levitt's analogy, our marketing content needs to be more about quarter-inch holes than about quarter-inch drills.

To create such content, you have to know what jobs your prospects are trying to get done, why those jobs are important, what happens if those jobs don't get done, and what issues or problems can prevent prospects from performing those jobs. The answers to these questions will provide the basis for your marketing content.