Personas and Content Marketing
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The document outlines a webinar on personas and content marketing, emphasizing the evolving importance of understanding buyers for effective marketing strategies. It details the characteristics of successful buyer personas, the significance of customer and sales interviews, and the integration of external research to enhance content relevance. The ultimate goal is to create a content strategy that resonates with buyers and drives engagement throughout the purchasing process.
Personas and Content Marketing
- 1. Personas & Content Marketing Ardath Albee CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist @ardath421
- 2. • This webinar is being recorded! Slides and recordings will be sent to you later today • Questions? Type them into the chat box and we will get to them after the webinar is over • Posting to social! Make sure to use #mktgnation and @ardath421 Housekeeping
- 3. Thank you to our partners!!!!
- 4. Personas & Content Marketing Ardath Albee CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist @ardath421
- 5. Content output increased by 78% Content engagement decreased by 60% TrackMaven – Content Paradox 2015
- 6. 43%of professionally marketed blog posts receive fewer than 10 views TrackMaven – Content Paradox 2015
- 7. Buyers Are NOT Impressed Forrester
- 8. B2B Buyer’s Primary Reason for Seeking Content Economist – Executive Perceptions of Content 2014 16% 75% 8%
- 9. 85%of marketers say that understanding buyers will be their #1 responsibility in two years. ITSMA
- 10. A persona is a composite sketch of a target market based on validated commonalities that actively informs content strategy to drive productive buyer engagement.
- 12. Characteristics: Specific Situational NO: Grow Revenues YES: Eliminate inefficiency to speed time to market
- 13. Characteristics: Not obvious to buyers Workarounds in place NO: Inefficiency YES: Lack of automated workflows adds months to product launches
- 14. Characteristics: Stall progress Hinder decisions Create uncertainty NO: Price YES: What do I need to know to convince Tom? What if our people won’t adopt the new workflows?
- 15. Characteristics: What buyers need to know to gain the confidence to change NO: What features does your product have? YES: Given my situation, why should I care? How do I eliminate X to achieve Y? What can I do now that I couldn’t do before?
- 16. Characteristics: Professional demeanor Career background NO: Married with 2 kids + dog YES: 20 years in career Confident leader Mentors her team
- 17. Characteristics: Reflect objectives Describe problems / goals Longer tail early Shorter late stage NO: Product related words YES: Reduce time to market Product launch best practices
- 18. Characteristics: Continuous flow Crosses channels Connects the story NO: One-off, short-term campaigns YES: Continuum experience across the entirety of the buying process
- 19. Characteristics: Written from their perspective Could be read out loud as a dialogue Puts you in their “shoes” NO: Sally is a hard worker who is determined to make product launches more efficient. YES: I’m struggling to get products to market faster because our processes are too convoluted but my boss is worried that changing them will create more chaos.
- 20. Characteristics: Where your buyers are What they will engage with in each place NO: Pinterest is cool! We have to be there! YES: LinkedIn – these groups / topics Twitter for blogs & infographics
- 21. Interviews are conversations, not interrogations
- 22. • Tell me about your job… (A Day in the Life) • What happened that made you look for a solution? (Problem) • What was the outcome you were trying to achieve? (Objective) • What did you need to learn about? (Questions) • Why couldn’t you solve this internally? (A Day in the Life) • Who else was involved? (Persona identification) • Where did you find the most useful information? (Engagement, channels) • What kind of pushback did you get? (Obstacles, Questions) • Do you remember the turning point when everyone got on board? What happened? (Engagement scenarios, Sales enablement) Customer Interviews
- 23. • Who do you interact with at a prospect company? • Who influences them? Or who do they need to influence? • What questions do they ask? • How do they describe the problems they’re solving? • Why haven’t they solved it already? • What do they need to build the business case? • What types of pushback do you get? Sales Interviews
- 24. • LinkedIn – review profiles for people like your personas • Responsibilities • Orientation – look at their recommendations, length in career • Groups • Analyst & Research reports on the industry • Leading industry, thought leader blogs • Competitor websites, blogs, social media profiles, case studies • Adwords Keyword Tool External Research
- 25. • Actively inform content strategy • Increase relevance by showcasing value • Make buyers the hero of the story • Help drive buyer outreach • A Flexible Framework for building relationships • Alignment with sales teams What to Expect from Buyer Personas
- 26. Thank You! Ardath Albee CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist Marketing Interactions, Inc. @ardath421 [email protected]
- 27. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- #2: Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for joining us today! We are thrilled to have Ardath Albee here today to speak on Personas and Content Marketing. Ardath Albee brings over 30 years of business management and marketing experience to help companies with digital marketing strategy and compelling content to turn prospects into buyers. Ardath has written two books about her obsession, Digital Relevance and eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. She’s been recognized as a 2014 Woman to Watch in B2B by FierceCMO and spent the last four years on the 50 Most Influential People in Sales and Lead Management list.
- #5: And now onto Ardath!