B2B Business Marketing: The Continued Importance of Content Development - Televerde

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B2B Business Marketing

• The Continued Importance of Content Development

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B2B Business Marketing

• During the past couple of years, content
  development has surfaced as a major topic in B2B
  business marketing circles. Solid content geared
  to the interests of prospects can jump-start any
  marketing program and improve conversion rates.
  Today, many companies are setting their sights on
  developing the best content marketing program
  possible. But, how do they accomplish that feat?

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B2B Business Marketing

• One way to determine how to create successful
  content for B2B business marketing is to look at
  past performance of previous programs. In 2011,
  the Content Marketing Institute conducted a study
  to evaluate performance and identify trends to
  expect this year. This article will focus on the
  studys conclusion relative to content
  development programs.

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B2B Business Marketing

• Content Development Still King in B2B Business
  Marketing
• First, we need to define content marketing or
  content development as its interpreted by B2B
  marketing professionals. A common definition
  refers to it as a marketing function in which
  professionals create and distribute content of
  interest to a companys target audiences.
  Content marketers use a variety of formats to
  attract and retain customers.

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B2B Business Marketing

• B2B marketers rank content development and
  alignment as a must-do strategy, and its here to
  stay. Some interesting findings supporting this
  continued and increased dedication to content
  development include the following
• Nine out of 10 B2B marketing professionals use
  content development to increase leads and close
  new business.

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B2B Business Marketing

• During 2012, 60 percent of respondents said they
  plan to increase their spending on content
  marketing. And, these marketers expect to spend
  over 25 percent of their marketing budget on
  content development projects.
• The average B2B marketing program will use eight
  different content marketing tactics. The most
  popular tactics include article posting, social
  media, blogs, eNewsletters, case studies and
  in-person events.

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B2B Business Marketing

• Successful B2B marketers are creating content
  based on the stage the prospect is in the sales
  cycle. Tailoring content is a key strategy for a
  results-oriented program.
• An increased number of B2B companies are
  outsourcing content development projects. This
  particular study found over 60 percent of
  companies hire outside consultants to develop
  content.

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B2B Business Marketing

• How Do B2B Marketers Know Content Development is
  Working?
• As with any marketing program, marketers need to
  measure results objectively. So how do they do
  that with content development projects?
• According to the Content Marketing Institute
  study, more respondents than the previous years
  findings believe content marketing is effective.
  But what about objective data to support
  performance?

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B2B Business Marketing

• Web traffic was the success metric most
  respondents used to gauge content marketing
  success. Increases in site visits and specific
  downloads of content can provide a more objective
  look at the level of interest in any particular
  form of content.
• Another metric being used more is sales lead
  quality. As prospects access content developed
  by B2B marketing professionals, they can be
  measured to determine how closely matched they
  are to the companys lead scoring. The higher
  the score of any prospect, the better quality
  lead the content has generated.

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B2B Business Marketing

• In B2B marketing, this measurement criterion
  seems to provide greater insight into the success
  of a content development program. After all,
  companies need to attract qualified leads that
  can be worked through the sales pipeline, not
  just a high volume of downloads.
• The feedback from the Content Marketing
  Institutes annual report along with the findings
  in other studies conclude that content
  development is here to stay as a must-have
  component for effective marketing, lead
  generation and lead nurturing. Its an
  established, accepted practice that generates
  stronger results. And, more and more companies
  will jump on the bandwagon and expand their
  content marketing into a core strategy for B2B
  business marketing.

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About the Author

• Larry Fleischman is Director of Marketing for
  Televerde, a leading B2B provider of sales
  pipeline development solutions. For more
  information about B2B Business Marketing , visit
  http//www.Televerde.com today.