Featuring:
VP Phyllis Davidson and Principal Analyst Lisa Gately
Show Notes:
Despite growing investments in content marketing, many B2B companies still aren’t producing content that resonates with their target audiences. In a recent Forrester study, nearly two-thirds of B2B buyers said their vendors give them too much content; the same percentage said that content is more style than substance. What’s going wrong, and how can marketers improve? VP and Principal Analyst Phyllis Davidson and Principal Analyst Lisa Gately provide insight on this week’s podcast.
Marketers struggle in these areas for a simple reason, Davidson notes: Companies exist to sell products or services. That inevitably shapes the content that marketers create. Many also lack data that shows what types of content buyers interact with during their purchasing journey. When companies do attempt to implement content best practices, such as personalization, the results can be ham-handed. Davidson recalls one company whose website forced visitors to make a series of choices before they could view any of its content.
For global companies, customizing content for specific regions presents other challenges. Centralized content planning approaches intended to yield efficiencies may at times be counterproductive. “Regional marketers may not know what content is coming, when,” Gately says. Assets may need to be translated or localized before they can be used; in some cases, they may not be relevant to a local audience. Gathering input from central and local teams at the outset of content planning and maintaining a shared calendar can help ensure that each team has what it needs.
Davidson and Gately also recommend continually sharpening buyer insights — understanding who your buyers are and what information they’re seeking. Marketers should track which assets buyers use and at what point in the buying process they’re using them. These insights can help to refine approaches going forward.
