A blog allows a company to engage in two-way communication with customers, share content regularly to remain top-of-mind, and build relationships over time. Inbound marketing focuses on attracting organic traffic by creating helpful content for customers at each stage of their buying journey. Creating a buyer/content matrix involves deeply understanding customers' needs and mapping content ideas to address their questions and move them through the sales process. The goal is to position the company as a thought leader by providing high-value, educational content.
2. Why Inbound
Marketing &
What is a blog? B2B trends Content
Marketing is
key in this area
3. Wikipedia Definition:
a personal journal published on the World Wide
Web consisting of discrete entries ("posts")
WHAT IS typically displayed in reverse chronological order
so the most recent post appears first. Blogs are
A BLOG? usually the work of a single
individual, occasionally of a small group, and
often are themed on a single subject.
4. • A community formed around a
common interest
• A two-way communication
vehicle (interactive)
WHAT IS • Allows the company to be
A BLOG? “thought leaders”
• A way to promote, share, learn,
engage with CONTENT on a
regular basis, remain top-of-mind
6. • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)-
blogging helps you rank in search
engines and get found when people
WHAT IS search for industry-specific products
A BLOG? or services. Thus, enabling you to
attract organic traffic and familiarize
people with your business.
7. • Frequency Matters: Research shows that
businesses that blog 16 to 20 times per month
get over two times more traffic than those that
WHAT IS •
blog fewer than four times per month.
Keyword Posts: What is the most important
search engine keyword on your website? Take
A BLOG? that keyword, and write a blog post about it.
This helps drive search engine traffic.
• Optimization: Use titles that incorporate
industry keywords that people enter in search
engines as they conduct research.
8. • Not getting as much
B2B exposure
TRENDS • Not generating as many
leads
Sound familiar?
9. • How often does one proceed to a
B2B purchase decision with blogging
research? Research shows 71% say
TRENDS that blogs affect their purchasing
decisions either somewhat or very
much.
11. • Discovery
if you want to be found by your potential
customers and prospects when they’re looking,
B2B Know:
• who your audience members are
TRENDS • what kinds of things they are
reading
• what information they are looking
for
• where they are looking for it
12. Why Inbound Inbound Marketing is a marketing strategy that
focuses on getting found by customers. Inbound
Marketing is marketers “earn their way in” in contrast to
key in this outbound marketers that have to “buy, beg, or
area bug” their way in(Not good relationship building).
13. Why Inbound The change from outbound to inbound has shifted
because of consumer behavior. People want
Marketing is control- they are now more than ever in control of
key in this what information they want to receive and how,
area instead of the company being in control.
14. Why Inbound • 84% of 24-35 year olds have left a website
because of irrelevant information or advertising
Marketing is • 200 million Americans have registered their
key in this phones on FTC’s the Do-Not-Call list
area • 91% of email users have unsubscribed to
company emails that they opted into previously
• 86% of people skip television ads
• 44% of direct mail is never opened
15. Why Inbound Fundamental shifts in marketing are changing as
the internet continues to revolutionize how we
Marketing is find, buy, sell and interact with brands and their
key in this products and services. It is time we shift to
area “providing added value” and “earning customer
loyalty” to build strong relationships.
16. Why Inbound The B2B Buying Cycle in 2012
Marketing is While there are many variations of the B2B
key in this buying cycle, we describe the B2B buying cycle
area as having six primary stages.
18. Content Should Solve Problems in the Early Stages
In the early Problem Identification and Criteria
Creation stages, your potential customers are
educating themselves by:
Why Inbound • Reading blog posts
Marketing is • Downloading general whitepapers
• Following influencers and subject matter experts
key in this in social media
area • Visiting industry forums
• Asking questions on Quora
• Subscribing to industry newsletters
• Searching with broader, problem-oriented terms
19. Content in this stage needs to be:
• more general and very focused on your target
market’s problem or goal.
• Don’t talk about your product and services. People
Why Inbound already know you’re trying to sell something.
Marketing is Blog posts are ideal for this early stage content. They should be less than
key in this a thousand words, casual in tone yet informative. Again, no need to
explicitly sell your product. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and talk
area about how to solve the core problems your product offers.
Another great technique is to curate content from other sources. For
example when you see interesting articles and other content that might
help educate your community, share it. Tweet it. Link to it on the blog.
Making us thought leaders & an information source.
20. Content Should Get Specific in the Later Buying Cycle
Stages
In the Search and Evaluation stages your potential customers
are narrowing down their choices by:
• Watching vendor videos
• Downloading more technical whitepapers and product specs
Why Inbound • Attending webinars
• Seeking product reviews
Marketing is • Searching by using more detailed, long tail and-vendor
key in this specific terms
• Joining vendor communities to discuss your products
area • Participating in demos and free trials
While you should never abandon your core problem-solving focus,
understand that buyers have already answered many of their basic
questions and are now forming a solution. Vendor specific information
and technical discussions are usually welcome in these later stages.
Videos are always good to communicate large amounts of detailed
information quickly.
26. Why Inbound Content Marketing:
• When interesting, useful, educational content
Marketing is is combined with a strong presence in social
key in this media, its usefulness can increase
area substantially.
• As content is shared and spread through
social networks- the reach of the content
grows virally.
• Content is then picked up and syndicated
from site to site.
27. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
Step 1: Conduct Buyer Research
To build the Buyer/Content Matrix, in-depth, ongoing
buyer research such as Win/Loss interviews and
informational interviews.
Next Steps
The goal is to understand your 1 or 2 key buyers
extremely well including their buying process and
concerns at each sales stage. The more deeply you
understand their questions and concerns, the more on
target your content will be.
28. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
Consider these questions when researching buyers:
• What circumstances will cause them to look for a solution
like yours?
• What will drive them to change the status quo?
• What information do they need to adequately scope and
define their problem?
• What information do they need about possible solutions?
• How important are peer recommendations? When do they
Next Steps usually utilize peer recommendations in the sales cycle?
• How do they research solutions? What resources do they
typically use?
• How much is at stake for the buyer? Is this a major
purchasing decision?
• Who else is involved in the sales cycle, and what are their
information needs?
• What is the typical buying cycle length?
29. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
Sales team a huge involvement with this exercise:
Next Steps • Are there questions you regularly get from buyers
indicating a need for additional content?
• When do prospects ask these questions – early in
the sales cycle or later?
• What existing content seems to work well?
• What doesn’t work so well?
30. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
Step 2: Map Buyers’ Information Needs to Sales
Stages
Based on knowledge gathered during buyer research,
map your buyers’ information needs to each sales
Next Steps stage. Put yourself in their shoes and list their
concerns.
No more than two buyers in the Buyer/Content Matrix;
as it quickly becomes complex and requires building
more buyer-focused content than most companies can
resource.
31. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
Step 3: Define Content Goals
Define your content’s high-level goals for addressing
buyers’ questions.
• What information do they need in the Awareness
Next Steps stage when they’re still defining and understanding
their challenge?
• What do they need in the Evaluation stage when
they’ve defined objectives and are starting to
create a short list of vendors?
32. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
Step 4: Build a Content Path
List specific content ideas for each sales stage that
address the buyers’ questions and satisfy the content
goals. Focus on content that is high-value,
Next Steps educational, and helpful. Mix up content formats such
as written documents, video, interactive applications,
and webinars. A variety of formats keeps your content
interesting, and it addresses different learning styles.
33. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
As you develop content ideas, build a path of content
touch points that guides buyers from one sales stage
to the next. Thinking like a teacher creating a lesson
plan - what do your buyers want to learn, and what
can you create that helps?
Next Steps
For instance, if you plan to create a product launch evaluator’s guide for
the Scoping stage, think about the next logical piece of content. Perhaps
a video of a customer explaining why your solution is a good fit for their
environment? Or a multimedia tool that asks buyers questions about
their needs and makes helpful recommendations? Or an ROI white paper
illustrating various solutions in your product category?
34. Building the Buyer/Content Matrix
One application of content touch points is creating a
Next Steps lead nurturing campaign to educate buyers in different
buying stages. They sign up on the blog to receive
“specific” information geared towards their interests!
This is a great low-pressure, high-value method to
educate buyers.
35. Lets work together &…
Start Building the B2B Blog Community!
Given the changing sales process and our buyers’
desire to research and self-educate for a longer period
in the sales cycle, we need to embrace that shift and
provide buyers with the content they want and need.
Deeply understanding buyers is the first step.
Conclusion
Capturing that essential information in the
Buyer/Content Matrix helps us create high-value
content that really addresses our buyers’ information
needs. And that’s a key step to building relationships
and helping buyers know, like, and trust you.
Making you the “Thought Leader” & Building
Relationships!
