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4 Ways to Combat Elusive ROI in B2B Marketing

The majority of business-to-business (B2B) technology companies now invest in content creation, search optimization, social media engagement and digital communications.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 72 percent of those surveyed report a heavy focus on content creation as part of their overall mix of communications activities. Marketing vendor Kapost recently found that two thirds of B2B companies distribute content across multiple channels, including events, social and demand generation activities.

Yet, many of the B2B marketing and sales professionals I speak with struggle with how to derive measurable value from this ongoing spend. Like a myriad of things in the marketers’ world, ROI remains painfully elusive.

Here are four best practices a company can employ to ratchet up the impact of their investment:

  1. Develop a company-wide strategy and editorial structure that is informed by overarching industry trends. For many, content, search, social and digital is treated like a bag of tactics. Get strategic and integrate.
  2. Accelerate content creation to at least four to six new pieces of thought leadership content per month. This seems to be the necessary cadence to maximize readership and interest.
  3. Consider an additional investment in a content distribution service, such as Outbrain or Taboola. This has proven to be a sure-fire way to bring new readers to your content…quickly.
  4. Monetize through an alignment with lead generation and account based marketing programs, as well as the incorporation of partners, industry groups and complimentary vendors into the program.

Admittedly, this is the most challenging aspect of any program. At Strategic Communications Group, this is the “2Sales” part of our Web2Sales methodology.

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Today’s Top Tweets from “Eloqua Experience”

If there’s one thing corporate marketers attending Eloqua’s annual user conference have in common, it’s how much they love to tweet. If you haven’t been glued to Twitter today, chances are you’ll have a hard time catching up, especially as the continuous stream of tweets continues to pour in. Not to worry, however, as we, the editors of All About Experience have been faithfully monitoring the social media activity throughout the day.

Today’s panel discussion, “How Brands Become Publishers and Create Customers” featured several industry leaders including Toby Murdock, CEO of Kapost, who left attendees a-buzz with this key takeaway: “Content is the force that moves the buyer down the funnel.”

Readers may recall the recent Q&A we posted featuring Michelle Burrows, Vice President of Demand Marketing at inContact, in which she previews the presentation she gave earlier today on aligning marketing and sales departments. Attendees gave rave reviews:

And last, but far from least for the day, was marketing guru, Charlene Li, Founder of the Altimeter Group, who wowed attendees with her presentation on the modern marketer. Key takeaway: “Modern marketing is all about relationships and mastering the art of failure.”

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“All About Experience” Spotlight Shines on Joe Chernov

To create and market content that will engage an audience and produce business results is no easy task. There are many intricacies involved when deciding which content development and content marketing strategy to pursue. The right combination can increase awareness, engagement and lead generation for companies.

We recently had the pleasure of connecting with Joe Chernov, Vice President of Content Marketing at Eloqua. Joe spoke with us about his role at Eloqua and the valuable content he and his team develop to produce results. Joe also pointed to a few sessions corporate marketers should check out at the highly anticipated Eloqua Experience 2012 event in November.

Can you provide us a little background on your role at Eloqua?

My role is essentially to get new DNA into Eloqua’s prospect gene pool. This is accomplished through articles secured via PR, recommendations made by analysts, and content that we publish for others to consume and share. I see my role as an advocate for the prospective customer by making sure the content we produce is faithful to their interests – not our own.

What do you want your readers to walk away with from the content you produce?

I want our readers to think of Eloqua’s content as performing a service. I want them to feel a sense of pride when they discover – and help others discover – an infographic or video. I want them to feel a burst of confidence when they learn something new in one of our eBooks or presentations. Regardless of the format, I want them to walk away thinking, “I would have paid for this stuff, and yet these guys gave it away–for free!”

What are some of the sessions you recommend marketers check out at the Eloqua Experience 2012 (EE12NA) conference in November? Are there any sessions that you will host?

Our sessions on measuring the impact of modern marketing are very strong. Eloqua is inherently a very analytical company, and marketing analytics has truly “come of age.” I honestly can’t think of an organization better suited than Eloqua to present credibly on measuring the business impact of marketing. Also, our Markie Awards are always a hit. It’s probably the most inspirational three hours of the year for Eloqua staff and customers.

I will be hosting a session with Kapost and Compendium on the topic of content marketing.

Do you have plans to extend content leading up to and following the conference?

We are working on several pieces of content leading up to Eloqua Experience. One particular project, which I cannot reveal just yet, is something I am uniquely proud of. We are trying to fuse several content types into a new format, and, in doing so, deliver value and create a community. Like I said, it’s a real mash-up!

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