In our ongoing series, we’re helping B2B marketers overcome the challenges highlighted in our recent B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends. Most recently, our contributors are providing insights and examples to help you make the case for content marketing in your organization.
Contributors have answered the questions:
- Content marketing can be a new way of thinking for some marketing teams. How would you explain the value of content marketing to a manager or executive who is primarily familiar with traditional advertising approaches?
- If a marketing organization is new to content marketing, how do you suggest they get started?
- How can marketers measure – and present – the effectiveness of their content marketing programs to their management teams?
- What other areas of the organization can help build loyalty/buy-in to the content marketing program? Who will be your allies outside the marketing department?
This week: “Sometimes the best way to understand the power of content marketing is to see it in action. To help someone see the value of this discipline, share an example of a company who is using content marketing effectively. What are they doing, and how do they know it is working?”
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Will it blend? is a classic example of content marketing using video to build a brand and sell product. This series started on YouTube and took off with the blending of an iPhone. As a result, Blendtec, the industrial blender manufacturer behind Will It Blend, started a related website. Consistent in look and feel, the videos look like a real experiment while tapping into current popular trends. Here’s an example of Blendtec’s Old Spice spoof that ends with three calls-to-action. |
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At the risk of appearing to be a shameless self-promoter, our own B2B Marketing Manifesto campaign has been really successful for us. And we share the ins and outs of the campaign itself in Project Open Kimono. We’ve either hit all our stated goals or are well on the way. |
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– Ahava Leibtag (@ahaval) |
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In response, Microsoft created the “Simple to Save” content marketing campaign. It provides the research, advice and personalized analysis tools these executives needed to identify cost-saving IT projects that could deliver tangible IT and business savings with fast payback, and as little up-front investment as possible. To help engage with these executives and to illuminate the research, recommendations and tools, Microsoft developed a special portal with the centerpiece being an interactive on-line assessment tool. Using the Simple to Save tool, executives could answer a few questions about their organization and opportunities, and obtain personalized project recommendations and quantified potential savings and return on investment (ROI) analysis, all documented in a customized 20+ page report. The content and tools were used by CIOs and IT executives directly, as well as by Microsoft channel partners and direct enterprise sales reps in interactive client workshops. On average, over 800 personalized Simple to Save assessment reports have been delivered monthly using the interactive analysis tools. – Tom Pisello (@tpisello) |
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On the internal side, they are using a culture-centric Facebook page to distribute content that is related to their brand and services, which is positioned to help educate their internal audience on best practice stories in conversational marketing. They use video interviews with company leaders and top performers to share tips on how to each of those high performers are getting results. They also average five to seven new posts on their company blog. Those posts are a mix of internal communications and outbound marketing-related posts and are also distributed on the Facebook page. The Facebook page is open to the public as well. We’ve seen that Incept’s clients and potential prospects have “liked” the page and follow updates, sometimes even participating in the discussion with their own comments. Creating this type of transparency and accessibility to what’s going on inside the company has helped to put Incept on the radar as an innovative company with a strong culture. – Nate Riggs (@nateriggs) |
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It is constantly experimenting, such as by offering valuable content without requiring registration in exchange. It openly shares its experiences and results with content marketing, and has determined that content downloads and sharing have led to growing awareness of its brand, better engagement on its site, and higher-quality leads. Working with JESS3, Joe created “The Content Grid,” an infographic intended to articulate what content marketing is and why it matters, and to help distinguish content type from channel. [Full disclosure: I help Eloqua develop content.] |
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I particularly admire that Heather uses a variety of content forms to create community around her products and the lifestyle that she and everyone at Wiggly Wigglers enables. In addition to the weekly Wiggly Podcast which recreates a fully sensory experience reminiscent of old-time radio broadcasts, the Wiggly Blog, a robust content-rich website, and a vibrant Facebook group, you can now watch The Wiggly Cinema. Success? Wiggly Wigglers is listed as one of the top five best international brand campaigns with Zappos. Better yet, Wiggly Wigglers has successfully reinvented organic farming. |
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Their People Against Dirty community opens the doors to the entire company, where you can “meet” their employees, hear personal stories and see what goes on behind the scenes at Method, from daily work life to outside charity projects and events. There is also an open invitation for anyone to join People Against Dirty, where you can create a profile and become an involved part of the Method community, sharing stories and ideas. The Method blog, Dirty Little Secret, is also very engaging and allows their community members to offer tips and insights along with their employee experts. Method is great company doing great things, and doing it right. |
