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Attract and Retain Customers with Content NOW - A Complimentary White Paper

Today’s Internet-savvy buyers are hungry for content. And not just any content...valuable, relevant content that offers solutions to their problems and helps them lead successful, productive, enjoyable jobs and lives. However, they are also inundated by thousands of marketing messages every day, most of which they ignore. To get through, you need to communicate differently—you need to do more than just sell products and services. You need to provide information. Smart marketers know this and are creating strong brand relationships by providing good, authoritative, even leadership-type content.

For that very reason, Junta42 is offering this complimentary white paper entitled, "How to Attract and Retain Customers with Content NOW."

The majority of companies are set up to sell products and services, not to create valuable, relevant and compelling content on a consistent basis. To deliver content that has a chance to create long-term relationships with customers and prospects, businesses need to develop a new content mindset.  This free white paper will help you get there.

Here are just a few of the content marketing issues that are covered in this white paper:

• Content marketing defined
• Why companies have to "Be the Media"
• Six reasons why you need to begin today
• How to develop a content strategy
• Putting the plan in motion
• How to measure your success
• Content + Marketing = Customers

We also include a few case studies from leading brands that are making it work today.

If you are signed in as a Junta42 member, you'll go straight to the white paper.  If not, your name and email address will direct you to the white paper download.

Download your complimentary white paper now! For all you media types and publishers out there, make sure you check out the sister-white paper to this document - "The New Rules of Custom Publishing: Nine Strategies to Create a World-Class Content Marketing Organization." Enjoy.

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5 Important, Yet Often Overlooked, Content and Conversation Marketing Questions

In working with our clients, as well as dealing with our own content and custom publishing practices, here are some key questions that businesses need to continually remind themselves of in order to grow.  Often, these are overlooked, but are extremely important.

1. Are you and your executives easily reachable by phone or email? Many businesses make it extremely difficult for their executives to be contacted directly. Consumers now expect that they can reach anyone at any time. This is the new reality we live in. Make sure that your contact information is current and that your employees can be easily contacted by customers and prospective buyers. Email addresses and direct contact information is a must.
2. Are you keeping your content promises? If you deliver consistent information to your customers via email or print, are you staying on schedule? You have made a commitment as an organization and a business partner to keep set dates, whether daily, weekly or monthly. Be sure to adhere to your editorial calendars. By missing dates, you fall off the radar screen, which makes it difficult to continue long-term relationships.
3. Are you honest with yourself about your content expertise? Most businesses are set up to create and distribute products and services, not consistent, valuable and relevant content. Most marketing departments are not equipped with the journalistic talent to make sure that the content you are creating is as good or better than anything else out there. Is your content first rate? If not, look into hiring a journalist or content team to manage your content projects (which is why we created Junta42 Match).
4. Are you expecting the media companies in your industry to keep your customers and prospects educated on the information that is important to your business? If you are, don't rely on outside sources. Shouldn't you be providing this type of information? Shouldn't you be the expert resource that your customer and prospects turn to?
5. Are you on the cutting edge of your customers' behavioral patterns? How are they making their decisions? What information are they using to make those decisions? Are they starting with the web first, as most seem to be (IBM notes that 95% of buying decisions in their sectors start on the web)? To find this out, you need to be talking with your customers on a consistent basis (talk to them, don't just sell them). What are their challenges and pain points? How can you solve their problems, not just with services, but the content and information you create on a consistent basis?

By answering and continually monitoring these questions, you WILL grow and be successful. Simple, yet complicated, at the same time. The information you create and distribute as a corporation is what fosters the customer conversation. If you don't consistently create valuable, relevant and compelling content, why would anyone want to have a conversation with you?

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Marketing Around Products or Customers

I just finished speaking at the sold-out Web Content 2008 conference in Chicago where quite a few questions revolved around organizing content (and thus businesses) around product groups vs. customer groups/segments.

Here are some key takeaways.

What do you mean? Product groups versus customer groups?

Motorola is a good example of an organization that is in the process of switching to a focus on customer segments versus product groups. A few years back, everything on Motorola's b2b side was set up with the product being the center of the strategy.  Customers were targeted by what product they purchased, or what Motorola "thought" they would purchase. The sales force was set up by the products they sold.

What happened?  By focusing on products, Motorola didn't have a good grasp on customer needs. The sales force was pushing product, and not listening to the informational needs and challenges of its customers. It happens in every industry, and is natural for salespeople to do when organized in such a way.

Take the Razr - I sat in on a presentation by Motorola's consumer-side CMO at the Association of National Advertisers meeting a few years back.  At that time, the Razr was the hottest thing going.  He talked about innovation and design and the "big idea" of the Razr.

Motorola focused on the product and not the needs of the customer. Over the next few years, the "idea" of the Razr became old and customer needs went in a different direction.  Motorola is still trying to catch up on the consumer side.

By focusing on customer groupings or segments, everything the company does must follow the needs of the customer. Constant research and "talking" with customers must happen in order for processes to work. "Listening posts" are set up and the Internet is used first and foremost as a research and learning tool (via social networks, blogs, forums, etc.). The sales force is set up by different "types" of customers or buyer persona. It's a solutions mindset vs. a product mindset. Listen to the customer, listen again, and look at what you can offer or create out of your portfolio of products and assets to solve the problem. Then listen some more. This is the service mindset - and where most of the leading brands are going.

What happens in the content marketing process if our strategy revolves around our products and not our customers?

It's challenging for a company centered around their products to create relevant and valuable content. Why? Since the product is the center of their universe, the information coming from the business always revolves around the product. It becomes difficult to keep product and sales messaging out of educational information.  Spin is everywhere. Even customer research, that may have the best intentions, is manipulated in the marketing process in order to "position" the product - instead of using that information to solve customer needs and challenges.

It's a fine line, and not an easy process, but the mindset of a product-run organization limits how much you can truly get involved in the customers' lives.

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Hats off to Michael Silverman of Duo Consulting and Scott Abel from The Content Wrangler for holding an outstanding conference.  Truly enjoyed it. First-class audience.

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Why It's Bad to Be a Large Brand: Opportunity Abounds for Small Business

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The March, 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review has a very interesting article entitled "When Growth Stalls," by Matthew S. Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry.

The article’s research focuses on top organizations, which they refer to as “premium position” companies.  Premium position companies hold leadership positions in their markets, records of past success, etc.  But the fact that they have held these premium positions is what attributed to their downfall, or plain old revenue drop.  Examples included are Levi Strauss, Kodak and Caterpillar.

While the concepts do not specifically refer to marketing and communications, the reasons for decline that they discuss could easily be applied to marketing concepts.

Below are some interesting quotes with commentary:

"Premium position captivity is the inability of a firm to respond effectively to new, low-cost competitive challenges or to a significant shift in customer valuation of product feature."

This should sound eerily familiar to CMOs in large organizations. It is the successful, large businesses that are having difficulty grasping new media formats. As it relates to this article, premium position companies have a long track record of success, so it is inherently more challenging to divert from what previously worked. Advantage: small and mid-sized companies.

"We use the term 'captivity' because it suggests how management teams can be hemmed in by a long history of success.  A company that solidly occupies a premium market position remains insulated longer than its competitors against evolution in the external environment.  It has less reason to doubt its business model, which has historically provided a competitive advantage…..when the towering strengths of a firm are transformed into towering weaknesses, it’s a cruel reversal." 

Translation: "We're really smart so don't try to tell us how to do it." Arrogance, with a dash of bureaucracy, will hamper, or even destroy, the longest running, most dependable brands over the next five years.   

"We saw a cycle of disdain, denial, and rationalization that kept many management teams from responding meaningfully to market changes." 

Have you ever had a conversation with a marketing executive from a large company about the new rules of media and marketing? For the most part, those people are relying on a set of believes and practices that may not apply in the future (In doubt? Read IBM's "The End of Advertising as We Know It.").

"Organizations simply don’t recognize the importance of an emerging behavior or customer preference in their core markets.  They continue to place their bets on product or service attributes that are in decline, while disruptive entrants emphasizing different, under recognized features gain ground."

Companies need to be particularly attuned to the new forms of communications demanded by the customer, and recognize the many options consumers now have to seek out information on their terms. A great example of this is in traditional media. The great media companies in the world grew to powerhouses as the distributors of content throughout the world. Why? Because they (and only they) had the ability to connect customers with valuable information. Today, anyone can do that. The business model that was once so profitable, is today obsolete.

"Levi Strauss…illustrates how difficult it is to respond to a threat in the absence of a burning platform.  If your sales are continuing to rise, how do you focus concern?"

Think about this one. Many firms don’t realize the bridge they are standing on is burning down, and by the time they find out, it may be too late.

One of the things that strikes me about these concepts is how they apply to communications.  If companies have been very successful in the past with dominating their markets, they probably assume that the forms of communications they use will continue to serve them well in the future. 

Communications get blind sided along with rest of firm’s strategies.

As we have discussed many times, disruptive technology in communications is the ability of smaller, less well-funded firms to develop great communications at a fraction of past costs.  They can now compete toe-to-toe in the communications arena, making decisions faster and being inherently more flexible due to the lack of management layers. That is why companies who are only a decade old like Google can become the most dominant brand in the world.

I wonder what will happen in the next 10 years?

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Top 10 B2B Product Launch Factors - The Case of the Missing Content

Schneider Associates recently surveyed 98 business-to-business marketers on their product launch practices. The results are included in this executive summary and this press release. Out of the findings, here are the ten suggestions from Schneider on how to improve your product launch success:

1. Create a documented launch process.
2. Set a separate launch budget and make sure it is adequate to meet the launch challenges you face.
3. Establish your launch budget as early in the product development phase as possible.
4. Keep your launch budget stable throughout the implementation phase.
5. Determine your launch performance measures before the launch begins.
6. Measure the “right” success metrics.
7. Include the “right” external launch professionals on your team.
8. Fight for bigger budgets.
9. Educate your sales force and other internal audiences about your new product or service. Also focus on distributor, retailer or dealer education.
10. Spend money on word-of-mouth campaigns rather than on advertising.

I'm not sure there is anything earth-shattering here (outside of #10 on WOM campaigns. For more on that, check out CK's blog reaction about this survey.). But, I must say I'm very surprised by a few things:

• I've seen many a product launch die because of a lack of communication with not only the sales team, but the entire employee base. I'm glad to see this make the list, but this is #1 or #2 in my opinion. Internal marketing is more important than external marketing - ALL THE TIME. This is especially true for a product launch. What's the use of creating the perfect external launch plan if customer service isn't clear on the vision. Say goodbye sale. Customer touch points are still as important as ever (maybe more important). Invest first internally, prepare the troops, then create demand generation.
• Lots of focus on budget here (and rightfully so), but very little focus on the customer (which is scary). At the very top of the list should be in-depth research on the buyer. What are the buyer personas we are dealing with? Have we set up listening posts (feedback channels) to properly get the feedback we need? With the new product launch, have we focused entirely on what the customer wants (not necessarily what we have)?
• In the summary, it was noted that those that prepare earlier for the launch were more successful. This obviously makes sense. I guess I'm interested in what the preparation entails. We've all seen (and maybe done) the marketing launch that floods the product message through print, web, in-person without the upfront "nurturing" that is needed. What do I mean by nurturing? Before the product is ever mentioned, we better be targeting the core buyer with content that meets their informational needs. That means starting early with blogs, white papers, eBooks, a print magazine, an eNewsletter, an in-person roundtable, etc., discussing key industry issues with customers and prospects and developing a dialogue with them. Yes, this kind of effort takes time, but it should be the second or third issue on the table (after internal communication) when you are discussing your product launch plans. Product launches become much easier if you already have built-in communication channels with your customers and prospects.

Here is a short list of what I would like to see as the results of the next survey:

1. Invest in buyer research to understand the buyer persona and decision-making cycle for your product. Set up feedback channels throughout current communications, as well as launching new research initiatives. Flowchart the buying process for the product (often times six or seven people in a business-to-business organization).
2. Clearly educate all internal employees on the new product, how it affects them, and how the new product aligns with the needs of the customer and the culture of the organization.
3. Set up a documented launch process as early as possible in the process.
4. Determine the ultimate success of the program. What are the conversions that need to happen throughout the buying cycle that define success?
5. Define the budget for the program at 25% higher than anticipated.
6. Develop a highly-targeted content plan to deliver consistently valuable information to the target buyer (this should be integrated with your current plan if you have one). Through your buyer research, you should have the data to know how your buyers interact with content. Once you have that information, deliver consistent and ongoing content through the channels they use the most. Be sure to integrate the communication effort within all channels.
7. Find "outsource" professionals to assist in both your content creation/execution and your product messaging execution (might be the same or different).

Final note: The more a company pushes a product, the more sales information tends to flow from the company to the buyer. Be sure your communications don't become constant solicitations. Continue to deliver quality content to them, and they will open their eyes to your product offerings. Better yet, if you clearly understand your buyer, your product will be a true solution.

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Related Articles:

• 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Project
• Stop Shouting Features: 5 Tips To Create a Knowledge Marketing Program
• 4 Content Marketing Essentials for Every Business

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A Corporate Media Checklist...Content Marketing On the Rise

Jeremiah Owyang, Sr. Analyst and Forrester Research, provides this excellent starter checklist for launching a corporate media strategy. Jeremiah hits on a few of the key points that we've been preaching for a while, including:

• All companies are media companies. He uses a quote from Dan Scheinman, a VP at Cisco, who stated, "All companies are media companies, they just don’t know it yet."
• Outsourcing is Key. Man, I love this post by Jeremiah. I've always been a huge believer in outsourcing content initiatives. Why? For the most part, organizations are set up to sell products and services, not to communicate and publish a consistent message. That's where the experts come in. Also, internal pipelines and resources (communications and eMedia) are often challenging to deal with (or nonexistent). Work with an outside provider who adheres to your production schedule.
• Media is not channel specific. When you are considering launching a content marketing initiative, you can not be limited by a certain set of channels (no matter what you think about your audience). Key here is, don't think, know your audience. Then, meet that audience with valuable information where they are at.

I made a few additional comments to Jeremiah's post, which I'm including here.  For the most part, he hit the nail on the head...but I felt the need to add a few key items.

• Pinpoint the buyer persona you are after. This could be done by setting up listening posts (feedback loops) throughout your current media, or by conducting some research. Before any content marketing initiative launches, the business must have a very good idea of the informational needs of the buyer (If not, wait or don't do it).
• The content must be consistently delivered and not a one off. So many companies are looking for that big viral hit, but what works most often is delivering consistently valuable information to buyers, which is available through a variety of channels.
• There is a distinct difference between what I call sales collateral and content marketing (corporate media). Product demos and feature-driven content should be considered sales collateral. Content marketing is information that makes your buyer more intelligent. If that’s done, then you have a content formula for success that will drive business growth.

Of course, those of you that have been reading this blog know that this industry is huge, but recognition and organization of these activities are still in the early adopter state. What has been really interesting over the past couple months is to see the growing amount of blog and keyword activity around content marketing. Just take a look at this three-month trend line for "content marketing" in IceRocket. Definitely seeing this catching on in the marketing community. Exciting stuff!

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Related Articles:

• 42 Content-Building Ways to Attract and Retain Buyers
• 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Project
• Content is King, But What Is It Really?
• Stop Shouting Features: 5 Tips To Create a Knowledge Marketing Program
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Organizational Critical Success Factors a Must for Marketing

The marketing function in a business often develops and evolves in a silo. Sales messaging becomes the predominant communications to customers, and overall communications initiatives become tactical and short-term in nature. After a while, management begins to forget if they ever had a marketing strategy in the first place.

In order to market effectively, and focus on the ongoing communication needs of the customer, the entire marketing organization must be aware of the organization's critical success factors (CSFs).

By defining these CSFs, the marketing team has much of the information it needs to create an effective long-term marketing strategy.

Below are a list of key questions that must be communicated within your management team. Best case scenario is if the answers to these questions come directly from the CEO.

1. What are the organization's top priority business goals, both short and long term?
2. Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are the key elements that must go right for your organization to succeed. Which factors do you consider critical to accomplishing the goals of the business? Can you quantify any of these?
   
3. What obstacles stand in the way of achieving the goals and CSFs you've noted above?
4. What are the business implications if these obstacles are not overcome?
5. What information is required for you to justify any solution that would assist you in meeting you goals and Critical Success Factors? (i.e., overcome your obstacles and avoid the implications?)
6. In your opinion, how have your existing business systems changed the way you do business? For example, have they helped to improve productivity, increase revenues, or avoid costs?
   
   (adapted from IMC-The Next Generation by Don Schultz)

By completing and referencing the above, the business has the background it needs to understand the purpose behind traditional and content marketing initiatives, which leads to measurement.

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• Key Questions When Launching a Content Marketing Initiative
• Why Most Custom Publications Aren't Measured
• Content is King, But What Is It Really?
• Stop Shouting Features: 5 Tips To Create a Knowledge Marketing Program
• Want Customer Loyalty? Create Customer Wins With Content

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