Philip Martin, head of marketing at Amadeus and speaker at our upcoming conference, reveals what he believes makes a great B2B content marketing campaign
How can marketers cut through the content avalanche?
Biggest question would be in-house or sourced content? If in-house then you will need people that can write interesting content targeted to your audiences interests. We’ve made a big effort to ensure we tackle the things we have expertise in and focussing on customer’s challenges. From it we have been able to create our own niche. We outsource for forecasting by drawing on experts opinion as it helps raise discussion points and also as a strategic reference point. Main thing is to stick to a game plan and your area of expertise, build your niche!
What’s your number one tip to create good content?
It all boils down to your audience and what would make them read that particular piece of content, keep it relevant.
How can marketers ensure their content is shared/read?
It’s important to have a great website in place, supported by social media that really gives you a better opportunity than just press releases or waiting for some news/deliverable to happen – it allows you to engage with your customers and at the same time helps provide links to your website, meet new people and basically build you as the master of that particular niche.
What’s going to be the next big thing in content marketing?
It all depends on the company and resources at hand. Whitepapers and Infographics are very popular at the moment and unfortunately a lot of them are talking about the same thing. It’s a bit like golf magazines, there is only so many times that you can read about how to swing a driver for distance. I’d like to see the combination of white papers and infographics but animated including video which would make the subject matter much more interactive, a bit like the old pop up books but digitalised.
How can marketers measure content marketing ROI?
Some of it is difficult to measure or the return appears a few years after the seed was sown. We’ve been able to measure some of it by using a few metrics. The number of new contacts to our database has meant that when they keep coming back to the website we are able to track activity and qualify them as a marketing lead, depending on relevance they can then go into the sales pipeline. We have been invited to speak at industry events based on thought leadership papers. Great content can also get you articles in industry journals. This has a value to both you and the journalist! A surprise one and sometimes not a real target but it happens, converting strangers into employees.
What makes a great B2B content campaign?
We’ve got to the point now where we have a fully integrated communication system in place with a mix of online and offline both necessary for inbound marketing to work. Education and the buy in of all the touch points is imperative as from the website to the sales team you have to be in synch with the messaging and campaigns goals.
Philip Martin 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
