Q&A: Making The Move To A Buyer-Centric Content Strategy

Published: July 5, 2017
SteveVoithThere is a shift taking place among B2B marketers, moving from simply driving leads to developing deeper dialogs with key decision makers. And marketers are also quickly realizing that true “dialog” can now be built with a product pitch. To create real conversations with buying groups, marketers are focusing much more on the unique needs and pain points of different stakeholders.
During the Buyer Insights & Intelligence Series, Content4Demand’s Steve Voith will present alongside Jessica Lavery, Sr. Manager of Content & Corporate Communications at Veracode, to share examples of how content and campaign strategy can pivot from product-centric marketing to audience-centric marketing.
 
In this pre-series Q&A, Voith provided a sneak peek into his session with Lavery, and how developing a buyer-driven content strategy is essential for success. 
 
Demand Gen Report: You are presenting with Jessica from Veracode. What can attendees look forward to during your session?

Steve Voith: Jessica Lavery manages a strong content program and she’s a seasoned marketer with tons of insight and experiences to share. Content4Demand is thrilled to have her join us for our session.

Jessica and I will be focusing on what it takes to implement an actionable and effective content framework. Spoiler alert: understanding Veracode’s buyer is Jessica’s secret weapon. Taking an audience-centric approach to content and campaign development is a long-standing best practice for both Jessica and Veracode. More importantly, focusing on buyer needs and pain points has paid dividends in terms of increased audience engagement and marketing-generated revenue for Veracode.

Our webinar session introduces seven best practices B2B marketers can apply to evolve their content strategy to be more audience-centric. I’m most excited to showcase how Jessica and her team track and respond to buyer “signals” to inform their content and increase conversion. To get the details, you’ll have to join us for the full webinar!

DGR: Why is it important for B2B brands to make the switch to a buyer-driven content strategy?

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SV: Understanding buyer insights, pain points and priorities is no longer an option; it’s a requirement. Failure to gather intelligence on who your target buyers are and what motivates them will result in low engagement and, ultimately, wasted effort. Today’s marketers don’t have time for wasted effort.

Taking the time to research and develop personas and buyer-specific messaging may seem painful and worth skipping. But it ensures you’re speaking in terms your buyers will understand and receive. Sharing product features and benefits must be communicated in ways that are relevant to buyers, and marketers can’t do that effectively without taking the time to research and understand their audience.

Ultimately, an upfront understanding of your buyer ensures the content you build downstream works and generates the business results marketers are increasingly pressured to generate.

DGR: What is one thing companies can change in their content strategies to help make that switch right now?

SV: Marketing teams must operationalize (read: share) their buyer personas and audience-centric messaging across the organization. Hopefully, sales and product teams were involved in the development of your target buyer profiles. If not, your first step as a marketer should be to go back and socialize those documents to capture and incorporate feedback. You may be surprised with the nuances your internal teams share with you.

Once you’ve gotten all the input on your personas, the next step is to share those insights in the format each stakeholder group needs. As an example, sales teams won’t be able to do much with a traditional marketing buyer persona. Sales needs marketing to break down the persona into statements, statistics and value propositions that can support them in their conversations with prospects and clients.


Interested in learning more? Check out this session and others during the Buyer Insights & Intelligence Series July 24-28, 2017. See the full agenda and register here.

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