How to Create Dynamic Marketing Stories
If ROI is the most used term in B2B marketing, content is a very close second. There now exists a veritable tsunami of whitepapers, blogs, vlogs, infographics, videographics, animations – the list is endless.
Achieving cut through is trickier than ever, and it’s rare to find new and innovative approaches among the noise – but Louise Radoor Larsen, Digital & Content Marketing expert – thinks differently.
I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Louise to talk all things content, her refreshing approach and the related challenges / opportunities therein.
Let’s talk about the seed of the idea for a different way of creating and delivering content…
The starting point was to map out what stories you as a company have to tell. Today we all know what problems we’re here to fix but how do we share that? It needs to be done in a way that is easy to understand for people to learn about this for the 1st time. I’ve been in B2B tech for about 10 years now and one of the things that I’ve noticed is that we live in marketing bubbles. We are totally immersed in our own messaging and in what we can do as a company, and sometimes we have the assumption that this will be easy for other people to understand as well, because it’s obvious: “this is how it works”.
We need to start looking at content from the audience’s perspective and understand that it takes multiple messaging across different formats for the human brain to start recognising and resonating with that message. That then can be a good starting point for building out a strategy.
The next step is to keep the overriding messaging simple. It needs to be educational, entertaining and problem solving, and if a 10 year old can understand it that’s a good barometer! Then you have something that is attention grabbing.
What has been a typical example of an existing story you were working with, and did it need changing?
A typical story changing scenario is when a tech startup evolves into a larger global enterprise organisation, and even more so if it goes public; that’s a hyper growth position. If you are on that trajectory, it is necessary for your continued success to adapt to the constant change in the market environment, and that means a shift of focus for your story.
In startup mode we tend to focus on product & tech features – which is really effective as you build a group of customer ‘champions’ and can collaborate with those to put together case studies, further technology developments, industry reputation, etc. However once you grow to enterprise level the attention needs to shift away from product and more toward what we are solving from a business & strategic perspective.
Your target audience changes as well, and so your stories need to be told in the language that the new, wider and more strategic audience understands. One of the tactics you can deploy here is to bring in external industry experts on occasion. As an example from a cybersecurity angle, you can bring in cyber-crime experts to show how large enterprise organisations could be breached; they can demonstrate a step-by-step guide that shows where the cybersecurity weak spots could be.
None of this kind of content talks about the selling organisation and that is key; it is purely about the problem and where the gaps lay. Once that has been established it becomes far easier to then engage potential prospects around providing a solution.
Do you need or have internal buy-in to this change of approach, knowing that you are also about to swim in far bigger competitive waters?
I haven’t experienced this as a challenge internally. I think it is important to make it clear that this is an evolution of the approach vs a completely new strategy. It is still important and highly relevant to produce the product / technical content as we know that this has value further down the buying funnel, but now we need to add in more overarching themes to engage a wider buying group. As for the competition, one should always be aware of their activities, messaging & positioning – and a good way of figuring that out is at key industry events where it is on full display – it’s then a case of how do we differentiate ourselves?
That’s a tough ask in such a mature, saturated market such as cybersecurity, so do you focus on USPs or the story around the problem, then attach your USPs to that?
Definitely the latter. You have to ensure you don’t lose sight of the fact you are only a component of a growing business, and to recognise your part in the bigger business goals. I always find it really important to collaborate closely with sales to provide a fully rounded approach to go to market with. I like to think of the dynamic between marketing and sales as: We are the Openers, You are the Closers. We need each other to make this work.
I’ve been fortunate to work with sales teams and leadership that are fully appreciative of what we in marketing can do – and I think that this is in part because of how I approach the partnership. If you approach them and ask them questions such as ‘what’s working for you?’ ‘what can we do to help speed up the process for you?’ etc. BEFORE we start our marketing magic, it creates a co-ownership and collaboration that will work all the way across the finish line. And, in turn I find that it has helped reshape and optimise campaigns and programs before, during and even after their activation.
Was there ever also a need to cover off wider industry-related issues?
Absolutely – any organisation needs to engage in broader conversations that address pain points like regulatory compliance, which are universally relevant – especially right now and in the coming years with the EU introducing new data regulations. This affects every organisation, regardless of industry. The key is to enter yourself into existing conversations and show that your organisation can help alleviate these challenges efficiently and cost-effectively, rather than just pushing the technology. This approach breaks through the noise and starts a meaningful dialogue.
Once you’ve created these compelling stories and aligned with sales, how do you handle the actual content creation, given the common resource and skill gaps in marketing teams?
This is where it gets exciting. Once you have a solid understanding of what’s needed and what works, it’s about bridging ideas and executing them tactically. I like to start with webinars featuring subject matter experts, industry experts, or analysts. From one webinar you can generate multiple content assets: white papers, blog posts, video clips for YouTube, and content for landing pages, which supports SEO and SEM efforts, and so much more! This approach scales your tactics and constantly tests what works best on different channels.
Focusing on creating those forms of high-quality content helps you stand out in the market and surrounds your audience with consistent messaging, eventually making the messaging stick.
How long have you been implementing this strategy?
For many years now, even before I joined B2B tech. But it’s a continuous learning and adaptation process, aligned with organisational changes and sales needs. It’s a constant evolution that includes anything from small tactics to comprehensive campaigns that support sales and business goals consistently.
Were there any significant learnings from your early webinars that shaped your current approach?
Audience segmentation is crucial. I see this quite a bit and I’ll admit to have done it myself as well – we often mix thought leadership with product demos, which works for a technical audience but not for strategic decision-makers, or vice versa. You’d want to blend subject matter expertise with industry insights and lightly touch on our solutions, encouraging deeper engagement when you target your strategic decision-makers Very rarely should one piece of content be shown to everyone.
Do you maintain an always-on approach alongside specific campaigns, and how does that integrate with digital marketing efforts?
Yes, always-on programs are in support of campaigns, which typically change quarterly, half-yearly or yearly. Digital engagement and nurturing are constant, with specific offers and campaigns adjusted accordingly. Collaboration across teams ensures alignment and effectiveness. There has to be a tight collaboration with digital channels and strategic 3rd party vendors, with ongoing alignment across product marketing, content marketing, and social media for this to work really well.
So once this ecosystem is starting to demonstrate its worth and is supported by senior management, what’s next? Is it a case of rinse and repeat or are you able to further evolve the principles you’ve put in place?
It flows in alignment with the business’ needs, as there may be new and different goals to attain in the coming months and years ahead. As a marketing organisation there will always be pressure to deliver more, but once you have proven the model works you will get the opportunity to evolve it and have an element of control over how it’s deployed. That’s the part I find very exciting!
Summary
- Creating fully-formed and simple-to-understand stories around your solutions and how organisations can benefit is critical to any content strategy
- Ensure the stories are focused on the problem and attach your USPs as a solution – not the other way around
- Don’t be afraid to try new things; remember if they don’t work it’s part of a key test-and-learn approach which will inform your strategy in the right ways
- Repurpose, repurpose and repurpose; time spent on ‘hero’ content such as webinars can be reshaped into a myriad of different content
- Don’t be a silo Part 1: fold your content into messaging for any digital campaign support and shift your focus where necessary to dovetail across the wider marketing effort
- Don’t be a silo Part 2: encourage a close working approach with the Sales organisation which nurtures mutual understanding and a ‘single-goal’ mentality
- Have fun with it – once you have proven an approach works it should provide a platform for further interesting approaches