A recent study really got me thinking about the role of the sales team in the B2B content marketing process, and vice-versa.
The ITSMA 2012 How Buyers Consume Information study asked an interesting question: “At what stage in the buying process do you find it most useful to engage with sales reps?”
The top responses to this question stuck with me:
- Epiphany (24 percent): Keeping up with industry/technology news and events
- Awareness (23 percent): Learning more about potential solutions and solution providers
- Interest (24 percent): Identifying a shortlist of solution providers
Until I saw this data, I was under the impression that sales teams provide the greatest value to prospects who are at the final stages of the B2B buying process — those who are evaluating vendors and solutions and those who are ready to negotiate and close a deal. Continue Reading
These days, we hear a lot about the fact that content marketers need to be 
Every company has customer stories that could be fabulous marketing tools; but not every company uses them effectively in its content marketing program. The case study is the gold standard and something most marketers are familiar with. But customer stories can be just as much of a content gold mine.
The sheer volume of travel-related content available online can create challenges, both for consumers and for marketers. If you have ever searched for information about a destination or advice about something travel-related, you’ve no doubt had to scour through pages of results — some of questionable authority — to find information that’s useful and trustworthy enough to base your decisions on. On the other hand, for travel-related marketers the challenges lie in determining what information you’ll provide and planning a strategy that will distinguish your business as a trusted resource for travel-related content.
Have you experienced trouble with the social media side of your content marketing? Are you worried that you can’t maintain controls over the content produced under your company’s banner? Does the thought of using blog posts, Facebook, Twitter, or other forms of online conversation starters strike fear in your heart?
Smartphones and tablet computers are all the rage these days. So it’s no wonder marketers want to get on board by creating content for mobile sites and applications. When you think about it, though, do you wonder exactly how to get your educational content onto a mobile website or application in a usable way? It’s a valid concern.
Intranets are the lesser-known cousins of the public internet that we all know and love. Because the content on intranets is proprietary, they remain shrouded in mystery for those outside the organization. But sometimes, they are mysterious for those inside the organization, too — especially for employees who may not understand how powerfully intranets work to give them the tools and resources they need to do their jobs.
