Harry Beck’s 1933 London underground map is considered a design classic. Despite many attempts at improvements, the map has largely remained unchanged throughout the years and is considered one the best graphic designs coming out of the UK.
At the time, however, the London map was considered revolutionary. Earlier map versions had literal representations of distances but were complicated and difficult to follow. Beck realized it was unnecessary for a map of an underground train to be cluttered with street names and surface geography. Accuracy of distances and physical location of stations were also unimportant. What mattered most was for the map to help the traveler get around – know which station came after which station, and where lines connected with one another. All other details simply created unnecessary noise.
This is Beck’s original 1933 map. Ignores geographical accuracy and instead only communicates data needed by passengers. Marketing content should do the same.
Seems almost trivial these days, doesn’t it? But perhaps it’s worth applying some of these common-sense principles to your own marketing communications:
1- It’s what matters most to your prospect that counts.Check each piece of communication – web page, white paper, presentation – and see whether it focuses on your prospects’ problems, point of view, and tasks, or is it centered around your product/technology instead.
2- Subtract your pitch points. Remove any piece of data that isn’t absolutely necessary to achieve the goal of the specific marketing tool. Are the detailed descriptions your technology needed at this specific stage of the sales cycle? Remember that each marketing piece should have a specific goal that’s related to the stage of the sales cycle. Don’t pour all your content just because it’s available. Check that your communication is uncluttered and functional.
3- Be different. Beck’s map was initially turned down with the argument that it was too revolutionary — “It wouldn’t mean anything to anybody.” In the high-tech world, executives are always innovative about technology. Less so when it comes to marketing and communications. Don’t listen. Harry Beck’s map was printed in a trial edition of 500 copies without much faith. All copies were devoured and second edition was immediately printed. Then a third, and here we are today, 80 years later with almost the identical map.
Regardless of the above, take a look at this wonderful story of the London underground map.
Can you generate qualified leads without purchasing expensive (and usually obsolete) mailing lists? With the the right content, you can. In this case, the content was packaged as a series of eBooks containing educational, non-promotional content focused on the target audience. The result – over 500 qualified leads.
Customer: Ayehu Software is a startup company operating in the IT Software Management space, providing solutions for automating IT tasks and responding to critical incidents. Ayehu’s objective (probably the most common marketing challenge on earth) – generate leads with minimal costs.
Solution: Together with Ayehu’s customer-facing team, we identified several topics and problems with high relevancy to prospects – mid-level IT managers running the day-to-day operation of data centers. We put together industry-specific content that helps IT personnel do their jobs better, and tried to aim high making the content not only usable but enjoyable. See some of the eBooks.
Next, eBooks were promoted via various LinkedIn groups related to the IT industry, as well as other channels.
Results: Over 1500 downloads, with a high percentage of qualified, top-of-the-funnel leads. With quality lead nurturing activities, some of these will eventually turn into sales prospects.
Compared to other lead generation alternatives, such as contact lists and cold calling, our eBooks are considerably more cost effective, producing surprisingly high-quality leads.” – Gabby Nizri, Ayehu, CEO
I’m privileged with having access to the Analytics data of several B2B companies for whom I provide services. This allows me to view, re-view, and analyze the results of online content.
Today, at about the time my head started spinning from all the data, I noticed something. Or at least, I think I did. While US visitors are always the majority of users (compared to other countries), they seemed to spend the least time on the site.
This got me curious and I looked at at the web site statistics from ~10 different companies. These companies have nothing in common in terms of their markets, just that they all appear in my Google Analytics account list. I did not write the content for all of them, so unfortunately, I cannot be blamed for the short attention span. In any case, below are the results from 3 of those companies. (Not enough space for all data.)
While this is by no means a scientific process, it seemed that a similar trend existed in multiple sites — visitors from the US spent on average the least time on site.
Am I missing something? You could initially argue that this was a language problem (it took more time for non native speakers to read). But this argument collapses when comparing visitors from the UK, Australia. or India
I guess this means you need to keep your content short if the majority of your target audience is in North America.
Articles, blog posts, ebooks, targeted email, FAQs, infographics, podcasts, reference guides, video demos, webinars, white papers. So many words, so little time. Is it worth it?
Seems it does. Here’s why.
Customer case studies are one of your strongest marketing tools. A success story delivers the credibility of a 3rd party and can speed up the sales cycle. Unsurprisingly, prospects place more weight on what others say about you, rather than what you say about yourself.
So, how about making sure you make the most out of your case studies?
Getting Clients to agree to a case study
How do you get customers to agree to give you data and approve a case study? In many cases, companies remember to request that permission well after the project is complete and payments have been made. Life is much easier if you set the terms for a case study during pre-negotiations. So that at the last ‘nibble’ stage of negotiations, when the client asks to knock off a bit more from your price, you can suggest a tradeoff and set the terms for sharing the data for a case study. Take a look at this short video segment of sales manager Vince Thompson, formerly of AOL and Facebook.
Video or text?
Probably both. Use a text version case study so prospects can download and sales people can distribute during meetings. However, video case studies are powerful, as they provide an immediacy and authenticity, which written copy cannot provide. Here are some examples of good video customer testimonials from Riverbed. Box is another company that does excellent video customer case studies.
How long?
As short as possible. Regardless of the format you select, stick to the facts and what would interest your prospects. Use a very short into about the customer, and move quickly to the challenge/problem. The solutions section should only include relevant/interesting facts — whether about the implementation process (only if relevant), or how your customer uses your solution/service today. And the most important part is the results, which many times are not convincing enough. Yes, that’s the most difficult part to put together, but that’s the most important part too.
Length wise, a written case study should not be more than a double sided page.
Results/Benefits
What can you (or a prospect) make of benefits like “dramatic productivity improvements,” “significant cost reduction,” “shorter sales cycle,” or my favorite, “enhanced visibility.”
Yes. In many cases, it’s difficult to get hard number from clients, but unless results can be quantified, they do not mean much. So your objective is to get some numbers from your client. And by the way, percentages are good enough (30% productivity improvement).
Customer quotes
Here’s the thing. We all know that in many cases, you’re the one writing the quote, and the customer only approves it. But if that’s the case, at least try to make it sound like a customer. A customer does not use wild adjectives to product features, but usually describes in a down-to-earth way how a product/service helped them solve some problem.
Personally, I prefer leaving customer quotes almost as is, even if not grammatically polished, to maintain authenticity.
If you’re a new SaaS company, or a web2.o type of company, then content marketing and social media tools all seem quite natural. But for some (maybe most?) B2B companies who have been around for a while, the transition from outbound marketing practices (you know – ppts, brochures, white papers, PR) to inbound marketing, or content marketing is not that natural. Why is that? Because it’s counterintuitive.
In case you’re not fully clear on definitions, then content marketing focuses on pulling prospects when they research online for products and services your business also has to offer. It includes lead generation, blogging, SEO, social media, and more. Take a look at this infographic to learn about inbound vs. outbound marketing. (Yes. I’m using ‘inbound marketing’ and ‘content marketing’ interchangeably, though they are not exactly the same. But for this context, they’re pretty close).
Back to our revelation – why is content marketing couterintuitive?
Well, if you’ve been talking about your product/service all your life, how can you suddenly market it without talking about it? With content marketing, you’re essentially ‘not selling’. Your product/service is no longer in the spotlight, but rather your prospects’ problems, pains, questions and concerns.
So when it comes to planning the content of your next lead generation item, such as a paper, webinar, or blog post, it’s not features, benefits and ‘competitive advantages’ you’ll be talking about. Instead, you need to identify a topic (within your domain of course) that would educate and interest your prospects. For some, it’s not that natural to grasp. As one customer asked me the other week – “but how will the reader get interested in our product if we’re not talking about it?
Your current direct sales force is expensive and un-scalable. What you really need are some online leads. So how do you grow your 250 visitors per month (and < 1% conversion) to… well much more? Can you do it on your own? Here’s a short checklist to get you started. Even if you’ll need some help with some of the steps, this may help you ask your vendors the right questions.
Step 0 – Set your expectations
You’ll find many online resources about how inbound marketing is much more cost effective, measurable and so on. But keep in mind that it’s still a process. Just like your top sales person did not get the PO on the first phone call, your inbound marketing efforts will take some time to mature.
Step 1 – Evaluate your existing online content
Before you invest in bringing in more prospects to your site, how about making sure you have the right content, so your visitors don’t bounce off before converting?
Content quality. Even though you already have some content – consider that it was supplemented, expanded, and explained by your sales force, at events, and during meetings. Not anymore. Your online content is all your prospect has before reaching a decision. It needs to be focused, clear, and deliver the right message.
Keep it simple. Speak the language of your audience, minimize the technical jargon, and eliminate the buzzwords that don’t mean much. (Does ‘revolutionary’ or ‘next generation’ ring a bell?)
Be different. Just like your sales person has a ‘competition’ slide in the deck, your web copy should communicate your differentiation. Here’s a small test – if you place your copy on your competitor’s site – would it still work?
Less is more. No one has time to read lots of copy. “You need better content not more,” is the way Wendy Clark, VP of Integrated Marketing and Communications at Coca-Cola, phrases this.
Step 2 – Analyze keywords for search engine optimization (SEO).
Before revising or generating new content, make sure you’re using the right keywords to bring in traffic. Not the phrases you think customers are using, but rather those terms that actually have search volume.
Use the Google keyword tool to search for different variations and combinations of keywords, and examine the search volumes for each and the competitiveness. This step is obviously a bit more complex, but you can still perform a quick analysis to optimize your content. More about this in a future post.
Step 3 – Fine-tune your content
Based on the previous two steps, revise your web site’s content (using the optimized keywords). This may mean web copy, product demos, written/video case studies, etc. Where should you begin, and how should you prioritize, with only one (or no) writer? That depends. But start with items you believe are most important and interesting to your prospects, that would make theme leave their contact details. See next step.
Step 4 – Implement content to convert visitors to leads
Bringing in traffic to your site is only the start. What you really want is to turn qualified visitors into sales leads. You should generate premium content that provides useful data (rather than sales content) to your visitors, and for which they’ll be willing to give you their contact details. For example, offer a white paper that provides tips and advice for overcoming problems, or reaching decisions (as opposed to a white paper explaining your technology…). Or offer a webinar that provides insight into an industry survey, showing how other companies are handling your customer’s problem.
Non-marketing content. Your blog must be interesting and useful to your target audience. If it simply contains more marketing & sales pitches in a more friendly voice, then you’re missing the point.
It’s a joint effort. Blog content should arrive from multiple roles in your company. Marketing, sales, R&D, and the CEO. Get suggestions for blog topics from all members and have one person coordinate the effort and edit the content.
Keywords. Like on your web site, make sure to use the keywords from your analysis, and place them in the headings of your posts, as well as within the copy.
Step 6 – Promote content and interact with prospects and customers
Next is to promote your content via mutlliple channels – LinkedIn, Twitter, PPC & landing pages, and relevant online forums and sites. More about this in a separate post.
Step 7 – Test, measure and revise
Only by measuring your results you’ll know whether you’re in the right direction. Like with many a-bit-more-complex projects, it’s best to start small. Track your visitors, sources, and conversion on an ongoing basis and see what works and what doesn’t.
The unpleasant layoffs are behind you and the marketing writer (whom you never liked anyhow) is finally out the door. The bad news? You’re the only one left to write that one pager for next week’s event. Shouldn’t take too long, should it? Here are a few tips to get you started, increasing the chances that your prospects read beyond the first paragraph…
1-What’s the problem?
Your reader/prospect couldn’t care less about your sophisticated technology, ‘end-to-end’ solution, ‘groundbreaking paradigm’, or ‘revolutionary’ feature. The reader only cares about one thing, and one thing only – his/her problem, and how can you solve it. Always begin the first paragraph stating the clear benefits your product/service offers. e.g., what’s the problem you are solving, and how/why will it make the life of the reader better/easier? The focus of the first paragraph, then, is not your product, but your customer.
BAD – “XYZ is a web-based, multidisciplinary, sophisticated, and adaptive software platform that integrates state of the art sensors and services in order to cover both patients and healthcare professional’s needs.”
Good – “Take control of your retail sales channel with real-time brand and product publishing capabilities from XYZ.”
2 – You talkin’ to me?
With the less formal online marketing, try first person (“you/we”) rather than third person (“product xyz”). Except for a few opening paragraphs in which you introduce the offering/product/company, try to addresses the customer in a personal voice, which is more effective.
3 – What’s your point?
If I’m in the telco business, I already know that churn and customer retention are major challenges; If I’m in IT, I’m aware that TCO is important; and if I’m in the ASIC business, I’ve already learned that managing an ASIC supply chain is complex. So what’s the point? Tell me (quickly) something new. Engage your reader and get quickly to the point. If you start your pitch at 30,000 feet, describing the state of the union, your reader will not stay till the 5th paragraph where you reach the point.
So here’s a ‘BAD’ example for you. I’m sure you’ll write the good one.
BAD – “The telecommunications industry is in a constant state of transition – always moving forward with greater technological discoveries. As network operators bundle multiple services into easy-to-activate commercial packages, the individual customer begins to represent an increasingly complex and important revenue stream that needs to be protected by the operator.”
4 – Why You?
Regardless of your industry, your prospect always has alternatives to your offering. I mean, if there are none, then there’s probably no market… So, make sure your copy highlights the key differentiator(s) and advantages that will cause a potential customer to choose you over competitors. Particularly if you’re a small player competing against large, well-known companies. Here’s how to test it. Can you place your copy also on your 3 competitor sites and it would still work? If so, something’s wrong. Now, hopefully, all the segmentation, competitive analysis, positioning, messaging and that good stuff has been clearly defined long time ago. I’ve heard, though, that this is not always the case…
5 – Less is more
Long, unending sentences with multiple adjectives violate human rights, and mean nothing to the reader. Use simple sentence structure, and make sure you can still identify the subject of your sentence when you reach the period. What this basically means is that you’ll have to get rid of some of the adjectives (does ‘next-generation’, or ‘groundbreaking’ ring a bell?). For a nice list of buzzwords you can get rid of, see this great post by Mashable editor, Ben Parr – “The List of Buzzwords You Should Never Use In a Pitch”
