Proving the Worth of Content Marketing

On the other hand Brenner says stories that are forcefed to people think online popup ads or are too selfservicing are doomed to fail He has seen many BtoB brands make this mistake over the years not because of marketing dysfunction but because they didnamp8217t put the customer at the center of their content marketing effortsamp8220You need to careamp8221 he says amp8220You need to have empathy for your audience You need to want to help your customers Thatamp8217s how Iamp8217ve always approached writing speaking and marketing And Iamp8217m grateful for any connections Iamp8217ve made along the wayamp8221In this interview with Ken Beaulieu of the ANA Brenner who will speak at ANABMA16 Masters of BtoB Marketing June 13 in Chicago IL shares his thoughts on the wasteful nature of content how to measure content marketing success and the strides BtoB marketers are making to elevate the value of the disciplineKen Beaulieu In your book you state that unused and wasted content costs BtoB marketers alone 50 billion a year What do you perceive as the main problem areasMichael Brenner The core problem is that when we take the role of tactical order taker we create stuff that no one wants needs or that ever gets used In many companies BtoB marketing grew out of the need for sales support We created brochures We stood at the booth at industry trade shows And we did these things because sales told us to Later executives started to see the value of brand awareness So we started hanging our logos on stadiums because they asked us to When marketing defines the strategic value it brings to the business and then delivers on that value in the form of leads sales and higher retention then we can start to have those often difficult conversations within the business This takes courage and sometime it means reversing decadesold tactical marketing thinking inside many BtoB organizationsKen In light of these issues how can marketers build a strong business case for content marketing within the CsuiteMichael The business case for content marketing is pretty straight forward Advertising and other promotional tactics are exactly the things that buyers are increasingly avoiding Content marketing seeks to attract new customers instead of buying or interrupting them Content marketing allows your company to reach engage and convert buyers that your company would never have reached And content marketing programs are assets with real value that grow over time unlike campaigns which often have a short shelf lifeKen How are bestinclass marketers measuring the ROI of their content marketingMichael The best content marketers are using subscribers to measure the ROI of content marketing Vanity metrics like page views and visitors are tough to value And tracking content marketing to revenue can be difficult to measure due to the multitouch and multichannel nature of todayamp8217s buyer In addition to this sales cycles for many BtoB firms can be six months or longer But subscribers sit between vanity metrics and sales revenue Subscribers have value Just look at the revenue any company can achieve with its email list But subscribers can also help you determine how to optimize content topics types and paid promotion channels to maximize the return on the investment youamp8217re making in content marketingKen In what discernable ways are BtoB marketers making progress in elevating the value of marketing as a business growth driverMichael BtoB marketers are increasingly focusing on the value they provide to the CSuite and the business overall Digital has allowed marketers to move away from the myth that marketing value canamp8217t be measured Itamp8217s also providing us with insights into buyer behavior that the entire business can useKen What additional actions must marketers take to maintain the positive momentumMichael BtoB marketers need to continue to focus on measurable results that executives and sales can understand Itamp8217s these same executives who often ask us to put logos on stadiums and create brochures no one wants or needs We need to define our mission as a strategic asset to the business and refocus the conversation on helping our buyers in their journey to becoming our customers We also need to continue to focus on building the digital marketing skill sets that are absolutely necessary in today39s environmentImage at top courtesy of the ANAamp160The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Proving the Worth of Content Marketing

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Ken Beaulieu

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