This blog was originally published on the Content4Demand blog. 

I’m not going to lie, I’m a sucker for a good Instagrammable moment. I’ll take a snap of my breakfast (no shame), revel in some post-workout pride and venture to the latest pop-up experience promising an “immersive experience.” That’s why the Rosé Mansion has become a go-to for me and my friend, who is a graphic designer turned art teacher. We’re both are passionate about user experience, branding and, well, wine.

The Rosé Mansion is marketed as equal parts wine bar, amusement park and museum of science for wine. It seems like a big promise, but the team delivers, creating a series of themed rooms. In each room, you get to taste test a specific type of wine, learn about how it is created and how others enjoy it. Once you get your sample, you get to interact with the room, which has a fun design theme, series of props and Instagrammable opportunities. 

I’m riding high on all the fun my friend and I had, and all the interesting things we learned. The most surprising takeaway: how I can apply some of the design concepts from the experience to my everyday work as a content creator. For instance, one room was designed to act as a live-action board game. You walk the path, answer a series of questions about how you like your coffee, your ideal music volume and more. In the end, you get a recommendation for the type of rosé that’s right for you: sweet, semi-sweet and dry. Then, you get to taste-test your selection. Super fun, right?

Well, the easy and rewarding experience got me thinking about how we can make B2B interactive experiences just as enjoyable as this one. You may think it’s a stretch, but here are some things I think we can apply as we attempt to design quizzes and assessments that are rich, engaging and valuable for everyone: 

Take Some Creative Risks 

The reason why the mansion’s board game is so effective is that the design is so fun and compelling. Bright colors and vibrant visuals scatter the floor, making you truly feel like you’re in the game. If you want to drive people to take the time to share information about them, you have to make it interesting. Plus, it’s a good time to embrace a fun theme or creative concept to see if it resonates with your audience. You may find you can push more creative boundaries and it‘ll actually pay off.  

Connect To A Greater Purpose

The entire goal of the Rosé Mansion is to educate visitors about the pink drink’s history and teach them how to find the right wine for their unique palette. The game supports this broader mission in a fun and actionable way. Your quiz or assessment should do the same, connecting to a broader campaign objective that is valuable for your business. Additionally, it should connect to a broader story that is relevant and entertaining for your audience. 

Make The Journey As Seamless As Possible

This refers equally to the copy and the overall experience. How many times have you seen "quick quizzes" that end up having 15 questions and five potential answers for each? Talk about misleading and frustrating. Don’t give your audience a reason to abandon your experience. Make the questions quick and easy, and the responses even easier. Bonus points if you can make them all yes/no! 

Give Them A Solid Send-Off

You don’t want your buyer to go through a quiz or assessment only to think, "now what?" You want to have a payoff that’s equal to or greater than the time and effort they spent going through the experience. In the mansion, we receive a wine tasting that aligned with our unique preferences. With my clients, I always recommend a higher value outcome, such as a benchmark analysis, recommendations based on maturity levels, or a more detailed piece of content. These provide a clear next step in the decision journey, and empower buyers to consume more information if they so choose. 

Too many times I’ve seen brands try to force an interactive experience that ends up being overly complex and worst of all, not valuable for the buyer. They end up wasting valuable time and marketing budget on something that ultimately doesn’t perform or fit into their campaign goals. But the Rosé Mansion shows that there is a better way and that you can find incredible interactive content inspiration in unlikely places. Sometimes you just need a cocktail…

 

As digital marketing continues to evolve and change, the need to engage customers in unique ways becomes even more vital. While new tools and technology emerge seemingly every day, two trends are commanding the B2B world’s attention: augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR). In fact, according to a report from Statista, the economic impact of AR and VR is forecast to amount to $29.5 billion in 2020.

The value of content marketing extends beyond just a top-of-funnel activity. When leveraged correctly, content insights can provide critical intent and account data that can be used throughout the funnel to move buyers towards a sale. B2B companies such as SAP, IHS Markit and Blackbaud are investing their marketing dollars towards interactive content and content syndication networks to extend content reach, garner greater insights and refine their go-to-market strategies. The results are higher engagement, improved lead generation and better data on prospective buyers.

Personalization is no longer just a buzzword in marketing. It’s becoming table stakes as more buyers expect relevant messaging that caters to their business needs. Personalization also is one of the biggest ways to gain audience attention and make your business stand out among a sea of incoming sales and marketing messages.

JotForm Cards are designed to interact with respondents like a real person would. JotForm Cards are forms that aim to be motivational, friendly and easy compared to other types of forms. The end result is greatly improved response rates.

With 2018 in full effect, I’d hate to see killer content from 2017 and earlier get lost or forgotten. I’m a big believer in the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model, so naturally, content repurposing is a big deal to me. Why create a completely new piece of content about a topic when you already have content that could be tweaked for relevancy? And why should you work so hard on a strong, extra-long asset if it’s only going to be used in one format?

Resolutions are one thing, but planning out and developing real-world marketing strategies for a New Year are different ball games. So, what are the top tools and tactics for today’s B2B marketers?

During an interview with Demand Gen Report, Alex Schutte, Principal Digital Marketing Strategist at Paycor, shared a step-by-step process of how he and his team incorporated interactive content into their go-to-market strategy. Additionally, Shutte shared how to maximize the overall value of interactive content and tips on leveraging interactive elements in new ways.

During my morning peruse through the latest tech announcements in the B2B marketplace, I often come across new technologies geared toward consumers that can have vast similarities in the B2B world.

SnapApp is designed to help marketers create personalized interactive experiences that engage buyers, accelerates leads through the funnel and promote growth.

FEATURES/FUNCTIONALITY:

SnapApp’s recently enhanced platform adds features for easier navigation, faster content creation and a more intuitive layout to help marketers create more engaging interactive user experiences.

Key features and functionality include:

• Robust integration into the technology stack, particularly top marketing automation tools;
• The ability to create a wide variety of interactive content types in a single platform;
• Intuitive interface and templates to accelerate content creation;
• A dedicated interactive content strategist and onboarding team available to help from ideation to promotion; and
• Marketing best practices based on the company’s experience with customers.

TARGETED USERS:

SnapApp’s platform is used by modern B2B marketers at companies of all sizes looking to improve the user experience.

COMPATIBILITY:

SnapApp integrates with all major marketing automation platforms and a variety of other technologies, including Oracle, Marketo, Salesforce Pardot and Marketing Cloud, HubSpot, Act-On, Vidyard and more.

DELIVERY/PRICING MODELS:

Customers can choose from pricing packages that align with their content needs, ranging from targeted interactive program packages for specific use cases to annual licenses. Pricing varies based on number of users and content pieces.

COMPETITIVE POSITIONING:

With SnapApp, customers don’t need to be a designers or developers to create a wide variety of engaging interactive content types. The company said the platform empowers marketers to quickly create engaging, dynamic experiences that improves marketing efforts and accelerates leads.

CONTACT INFO: