SPEAKER Q&A: Gareth Case, director of marketing, Xuber

Gareth Case, director of marketing at Xuber and speaker at our upcoming conference, outlines how marketers can ensure their content is shared.

What’s your number one tip to create good content?
It has to be engaging and relevant. To achieve this you need to understand your audience explicitly. This means understanding not only the challenges they face in their roles but how they prefer being communicated to. We know, after a year of pushing our content that whitepapers appeal more to CIOs than CEOs and CEOs prefer video content over blog posts. We use this level of intelligence to segment our data and ensure our campaigns are carefully targeted, more relevant and therefore more engaging for the audience.

How can marketers ensure their content is shared/read?
You can never ensure content is consumed but there are many ways to give it its best chance. We have focussed heavily on building social communities and accurate contact information in our CRM. This means we can influence across every available channel from e-mail and DM, to LinkedIn Groups and Twitter feeds. It’s vital that you understand where your audience is and what channels they are most receptive to. We have had tremendous success through our social channels to date and I strongly believe that social will evolve and replace many traditional methods of communication in the next few years.
What’s going to be the next big thing in content marketing?
I think the B2B world is slowly waking up to the importance of content as part of the integrated marketing mix and feel the next big shift change will be the increase of Content Marketing Managers on the client side. We have relied heavily on agencies in the past but I feel its vital to have strong content specialists within the marketing team. The role is effectively one of a traditionally journalist/editor, they need to garner the right information from the right stakeholders and turn it into relevant marketing materials. The key is getting someone that can not only produce, but also understands what the market is looking for and how to reach them. If B2B businesses want to differentiate, influence and shape the perceptions of their audience, then  the Content Marketing Manager is an absolutely vital role.
How can marketers measure content marketing ROI?
In the digital world it’s easy, every share, like, RT, download, click and open can be tracked and if integrated properly with CRM can be attributed to growth in pipeline and hopefully closed business. Traditional media channels such as PR, press advertising and outdoor media are a little more tricky but we have devised ways to drive this traffic to dedicated landing pages to ensure we understand the impact of every individual piece of content we produce. If you can’t measure something, perhaps you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.

Gareth Case will be discussing content marketing futher at our upcoming B2B Marketing Conference, ‘The Content Avalanche’. The event offers a tour-de-force in content marketing excellence. Marketing leaders will share insights, outline best practices and offer actionable advice. Plus, the event offers a rare opportunity to network and share ideas with over 200 B2B marketers.
Book your ticket today by visiting  b2bmarketing/conference or calling: 0207 269 6590

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