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Introduction The Rise of Online Relationships Lay the Foundation for a Strong Connection Get to Know Your Buyer Have a Game Plan Catch Your Buyers Eye, Win Your Buyers Heart Build Trust and Nurture Your New Relationship Prove Youre the Perfect Match Foster Continued Commitment Youre Ready for Love!
Introduction
Relationships are hard. Just when youve finally figured them out, something shifts. She wont pick up the phone or return your emails. Communicating with him is suddenly difficult. You constantly reach out to keep conversations going. The two of you grow apart until, finally, the relationship ends. It doesnt have to be this way. Especially not for you, the modern marketer, and the buyers you hold dear. In order to build lasting relationships and earn the opportunity to prove your organization is the perfect fit, you need to learn how to communicate with buyers in a way that sparks interest, cultivates trust, and keeps them around for the long haul. But before we get into how you can build strong connections that move buyers toward I Do [want to purchase your product], lets discuss why relationships between brands and buyers have fundamentally changed.
In this workbook, youll learn how to use content to build strong, long-lasting relationships with your customers from awareness to advocacy. Each section comes with worksheets to help you organize your thoughts and, ultimately, foster trust and commitment through content.
Content is a very important part of demand throughout our funnel... Content drives a lot of website successes, opportunities, and ultimately revenue.
-Dayna Rothman, Content Marketing Manager at Marketo
Get started by asking yourself (and your team) the following questions:
Where does our company excel?
The answers to these questions will help you identify the topics and tactics that will guide your content marketing strategy.
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company against competitors?
How can we further exemplify our unique value proposition as buyers start to compare our
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Who else will be involved in our buyers decision? What types of topics do they care about?
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Where your buyers interests and needs overlap with your organizations expertise is known as the sweet spot. Within this intersection, youll find common ground on which to engage in meaningful conversations.
Exercise 1
Now its time to get to work! Take your buyer personas and the stages of the funnel, and fill out the grids below to help you map your content to each buyers journey. Personas
Buying Stages
[persona one]
[stage one]
[content topics]
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guide or an eBook) that can be broken into many pieces of related content. The beauty of a content pillar is that once created, it can fuel social media, provide fresh content for your marketing automation campaigns, and fill your editorial calendar with content that serves your organization and is also valuable to your buyers. Want to see how many pieces of content a single pillar can produce? One standard sized eBook can be broken down into: 4-7 blog posts from the text within the eBook 1-3 SlideShare presentations on the topics covered 2-5 videos of key thought leaders interviewed for the text 1-2 infographics and diagrams 1-3 webinars on the eBook topics At least 1 blog post for every SlideShare presentation, video, infographic, and webinar 1-3 email campaigns within marketing automation software to engage buyers at different stages of
the funnel
100-250 social media shares across platforms promoting each of these large and small pieces of
content.
Thats a lot of content, and every one of those pieces can be used to connect with your target buyers at various stages of the funnel. By engaging with buyers consistently throughout their journey, youll stay top of mind. After all, you dont want your buyers to be lured away by a competing suitor. You want them to keep coming back for more quality content. Before we get into just how to distribute your content assets, take a minute to complete this exercise. Ask yourself the following questions:
What content pillars do we already have completed or scheduled?
What processes need to be in place to create content pillars that fill our editorial calendar and fuel
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We map our content to different product or theme arcs throughout the year. Sometimes these arcs are centered around a product release, and sometimes they are just focused on a core competency.
This ensures that every content piece serves a purpose. None of their content sits unused, because its all appropriately timed with the needs and goals of the company. Marketo also focuses on large content assets and breaks them down into smaller chunks of relevant content to share at all stages. When they created the Definitive Guide to Social Marketing, that single piece fueled distribution at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. Here are all of the assets that came from a single and thorough content pillar, as well as the results of this approach: 1 Definitive Guide Result: 100,000 total views, 654 conversions 1 shorter eBook Result: 43,000 views 7 cheat sheets on specific topics pulled from the guide Result: 122,000 views 4 email promotions Result: 6,787 downloads from emails 2 webinars Result: 5,644 registrants, 1,156 attendees, 16,000 views of recorded assets 1 SlideShare presentation Result: 6,746 views, 291 downloads 4 blog posts Result: 819 reader shares Hundreds of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn shares Result: 4,791 resulting clicks
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Exercise 2
Now that youve seen how a single content asset can become many smaller derivative assets, think through a content pillar youve already created or are planning to create. Have one in mind? Great! Now, complete the exercise below to see how a single asset can fill your editorial and social media calendars.
[content pillar]
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...to strike up a relationship with the right people in a business context, you need to continuously show up where theyre already hanging out.
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Great top-of-the-funnel content includes social media shares, blog posts, webinars, infographics, and eBooks. At this stage, people coming across your content might not know anything about your company or the solutions you offer. And thats fine. This is not the time to push product-centric content. You want to let your buyers know that youre interested in the same things they are, and start to earn their trust by providing valuable information that resonates with their everyday lives. But dont forget to have a little fun, too! Incorporate unique, playful content assets into your strategy, such as fun visuals or videos, even if theyre not directly tied to a specific arc. These will help catch the eye of buyers at the top of the funnel and establish your organization as an approachable and enjoyable resource. Because your buyers are getting a first glimpse of you at the top of the funnel, there are some key ways you can stand out from the crowd.
Leveraging Influencers
Who are you more likely to go on a date with: a complete stranger or someone introduced to you through a friend? Most people, including your buyers, feel more comfortable with someone whos associated with a person they already trust. Because of this, influencers are incredibly powerful when it comes to establishing bonds at the top of the funnel. Once you start getting to know the people who are considered thought leaders in your space, theyll be more willing to share your content with their audiences (as long as its relevant...and good!). This brings new eyes and traffic to your work and website, and it also fosters immediate trust by association.
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To drive more traffic and leads at the top of the funnel, ask yourself the following questions:
Who are the key influencers in our space?
What platforms drive the most traffic and engagement with our target buyers?
What keywords are already driving people to our content, and what terms might our target buyers
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Where can we syndicate our content?
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Referral and sweepstakes on social: We leverage social to get our assets shared. We
often develop incentive-based sharing campaigns. Take a look at an example here of one of our Facebook referral campaigns for one of our fun content pieces.
Demand Generation Email Promotion Programs: We distribute relevant content to specific people
in our database based on persona, vertical, buying stage, and interest.
PPC Ads: We create landing pages and offer our content assets for download using PPC ads. Paid Email Programs: We work with relevant vendors and organizations to send out paid programs
offering our assets to their databases.
Content Syndication: We work with reputable content syndicators to post our gated content pieces
on their sites and do paid email programs.
Webinars: We often host webinars that are centered on a content asset. Sometimes we will even
host two if the content is particularly robust.
Speaking Sessions: We take the content of a good asset and use it in a speaking session if
applicable.
As youve already seen, Marketo creates major content assets that are informative and thorough. But on top of the serious stuff, they keep their content fresh, surprising, and playful:
We also integrate some chocolate cake pieces that might not necessarily map to core business capabilities, but are fun pieces that drive people to share our content on social channels.
For example, the Marketing Activity Book is full of creative exercises inspired by childhood activities such as word hunts, paper dolls, mazes, connect-the-dots, and more. But theres one key difference: its all about marketing.
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Exercise 3
So you know who your ideal match is. Now its time to investigate where they hang out. Do they love Twitter and LinkedIn? Media publications? Industry blogs? Make a list of where your buyers spend their time online. Next, circle the places your organizations should show up to meet them.
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Take the places you circled above and answer the questions below: Place 1 _______________________________
Whos hanging out here?
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Place 2 _______________________________
Whos hanging out here?
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Lead Nurturing
If a buyer has provided you with their contact information, theyve agreed to stay in touch with you. After all, they wouldnt give their email address to just any random vendor, right? They want updates, and to learn more about what you have to offer. But maybe it isnt the right time. Maybe theyre still in a relationship with your competitor, but are starting to look around for other options. Perhaps they havent decided what they want yet. By establishing persona and stage-based nurture tracks within your marketing automation software, youll be able to stay in touch with them until theyre ready to make a move. During these communications, send them content that addresses the specific questions they have at this point in their journey and gives them the information and reassurance they need to take the next step. Its all about delivering the right message at the right time.
Its all about delivering the right message at the right time.
Lead Scoring
But how will you know theyre ready to take the relationship to the next level? The answer is lead scoring. By identifying high-value characteristics and actions, you can score their data and behavior accordingly. Or, conversely, you can also negatively score information that indicates this buyer isnt a good match. Establishing these processes through your marketing automation software enables you to track their progress down the funnel and then deliver relevant content that will help them take the next step with you. Ask yourself:
What can I do to better convert site visitors into leads?
Do we have enough persona- and stage-based content for each of our buyers to fuel our nurture
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We use content in all of our nurture programs to move people down the funnel based on continued interest, which we track based on email conversion rates and hand-raisers.
And, as you just learned, its important to deliver content thats relevant to your buyers as they progress through the stages of the funnel. Marketo organizes their programs so that, at the middle of the funnel, leads start to get more specific content relating to marketing automation like buyers guides and templates. And if someone is downloading certain high-value assets or clicks to get a demo, theyre contacted by sales.
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Exercise 4
Heres an exercise to help you organize the main priorities for creating a successful lead scoring model. Go back to your buyer personas. What are the most indicative characteristics of a buyer? Which features and behaviors are most telling? Get started with the checklist below.
Check off the boxes you think should be included in the lead scoring model. Next to each checked-off score, mark whether the attribute is critical, important, influential, or negative.
FF Rankings/Stock Indexes:
Fortune 500/Inc
FF Years at current position FF Social network participation FF Social network connections FF Career interests FF Personal interests FF _____________________________ FF _____________________________
FF Customer FF Partner FF Competitor FF Prospect FF Previous relationship FF Ex-customer FF Lost opportunity FF Product(s) purchased FF Complementary technologies used (CRM, ESP, ERP, CMS, MRM, MA)
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Exercise 4, continued
Behavior-Based Scores to Consider
FF Livestreamed events FF Registered for FF Viewed FF Surveys FF Visited FF Completed FF Tradeshow FF Attended FF Watched demo FF Roadshow/Seminar FF Registered FF Attended FF _____________________________ FF _____________________________ FF Web pages FF Viewed landing page FF Viewed - product
specific
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When delivered correctly, the content at the bottom of the funnel helps sales be seen as thought leaders
Effective bottom-of-the-funnel content includes customer success stories and case studies, pricing and data sheets, competitive comparison, third-party vendor profiles, and FAQs. Sales can use these pieces to reach out to a prospect on topics they know theyre interested in and to better tailor their communications. For example, a buyer may be worried about the security of their data. The lead may mention this concern during a call, and the sales rep can provide content related to that specific issue and how your company ensures all information is secure. This builds trust and authority. It
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shows the buyer youre listening, that you care, and that youll take care of them if they do, indeed, say Yes to your solution. Ask yourself:
How can I establish a process to share new pieces of content with sales?
What does a buyer need to know before they say Yes to our solution?
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Exercise 5
For this exercise, get together with your sales team and create a list of the main questions and concerns buyers have at the bottom of the funnel. Next, identify whether or not you have a piece of content that addresses those issues. This will help close content gaps which, once filled, will help your sales team be more successful. Buyer questions and concerns
Do you have a piece of content that addresses these concerns? (Yes/No) If yes, what? If no, what will you create?
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Ask yourself:
How can we continue to communicate with current customers?
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and how can we create content around those topics?
Once a deal is closed, what are the most common questions our account and support teams hear
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What content will make our customers more successful?
How can we deliver information on new features and products to current customers?
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Exercise 6
For this exercise, first determine your current tactics for communicating with your customers. Work with your customer success and support teams to define the main topics and concerns arising for customers once a deal is completed. What content assets do you already have, and what do you need to create? How will you address the questions currently being answered on a one-off basis by customer success and support?
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Kapost, the worlds leading provider of content marketing software, enables brands to produce the content they need to generate and nurture leads. The Kapost platform organizes content marketing into a structured business process from planning and production through distribution and analysis for the full range of content types including blog posts, white papers, video, social media, landing pages, and emails. www.kapost.com marketeer.kapost.com response@kapost.com
Marketing Software. Easy, Powerful, Complete. Marketo (NASDAQ MKTO) uniquely provides an easy-to-use, powerful and complete marketing software platform that propels fast-growing small companies and global enterprises alike. Marketo marketing automation and sales effectiveness software streamlines marketing processes, delivers more campaigns, generates more win-ready leads, and improves sales performance. With proven technology, comprehensive services and expert guidance, Marketo helps thousands of companies around the world turn marketing from a cost center into a revenue driver. www.marketo.com blog.marketo.com sales@marketo.com