Hey, MarCom!

Content à la carte

In our recent white paper on white papers, we introduce a new concept that really changes how marketers should approach B2B marketing collateral. We call it "content à la carte."

Let's say you're developing a white paper. Are you making the business case for some kind of security service? Rather than go into a page-long description of the latest advancements in encryption, try linking to a deeper discussion on your website. Or link to a datasheet or a product brochure or a case study. Maybe your CTO can explain the nitty-gritty of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) in a podcast. This allows your technophile readers to get their fix while your higher-level business audience can move right on to the cost benefits of enhanced security. This individualized approach to white paper consumption serves as the basis for content à la carte.

Rather than telling your audience what to consume, let them choose cafeteria-style. Maybe divide your white paper into three separate documents, all linked together, then let your audience choose where they’d like to start exploring. This modular approach to collateral delivery acknowledges a simple fact about your audience: many of them only want to pursue just one or two aspects of whatever you’re discussing in your white paper. So instead of forcing them to interact with your collateral in a single prescribed way, make it easy for them to pursue only what they’re looking for.

In other words, stop thinking of the white paper as an airtight entity that must be consumed in a particular way. Think of it instead as a succession of value-added copy blocks—thought-leadership nuggets that can be lifted wholesale from the white paper and repurposed for maximum sales enablement.

We have a lot more to say about new strategies for adapting white papers to new and emerging audiences. To read more, pop over to our website get your free download of our white paper on white papers.

The one where we talk about what we've already done

You know those episodes of Friends where the writers basically just string a bunch of old clips together, then frame the clips with a lame storyline in which the characters reminisce about their various shenanigans? You know, the episodes where it's very clear that the writers just needed a break?

That's kind of the space we're in at the end of this very, very busy week. So we're treating you to Hey Marcom!'s Greatest Hits—because you know, we've been up to a lot over the past few weeks, and it wouldn't hurt to give you a recap.

• At the beginning of April, Lorie presented our survey results to the Bay Area Reference Professionals SIG, and they went gaga.
• On April 1, we published our very first Eccolo Media white paper all about...white papers. You can download it for free on our website.
• We recently began a short series of blog posts on the importance of merchandising your content.
• Lorie managed to pick up a lot of new ideas at the 2009 Customer Reference Forum in Berkeley.
• At the end of February, we published the last in a long series of posts highlighting some of the most exciting findings from our first-ever survey report.   

Well—those are the highlights. We'll be back next week with some fresh content for you!

Merchandising your collateral: Give your audience options

You've just completed a brilliant white paper. You're very excited about using it to capture the attention of prospects. So you promote the heck out of it, create a gorgeous landing page, send out a series of eye-catching email blasts. You do everything you can to draw as many eyes as possible to your new collateral.

The problem is that not every prospect wants to read a white paper. So why make them?

In our previous posts on the importance of merchandising your collateral, we've discussed the importance of providing readers with access to your entire collateral library. The point is that your marketing campaigns shouldn't be one-size-fits-all: instead, your white paper's landing page should offer multiple options for reading or hearing about your products and solutions, from brochures to blog posts to audio podcasts. 

It's all about options. We just released a white paper on white papers in which we discuss the importance of making the white paper a more flexible, user-friendly document that appeals to multiple audiences. That emphasis on flexibility can be extended across your collateral system, and it can inform your strategy for developing and promoting new collateral: the more options you provide, and the more channels you make available to prospective readers, the more chances you have to get their attention and make the sale.

Bay Area Reference Professionals go gaga for our survey results

This post offers Lorie’s thoughts on presenting our survey results to the Bay Area Reference Professionals SIG.

I blogged in March that, following the Customer Reference Forum (CRF) in February, I would be presenting some of the data from our annual B2B Technology Collateral Survey to the Bay Area Reference Professionals SIG on April 2. The SIG’s 12 or so attendees (representing some of the most well-known technology brands in Silicon Valley) were gaga for the data we’d collected around the use and influence of case studies, podcasts, and videos.

They also had lots of recommendations for refining the focus of the report as we prepare to conduct our next survey this summer. Thanks to their feedback, we’re going to expand the audience profiling section with more granular questions to better analyze the data against respondent age, role, title, and size of business. We’re going to ask how the content delivery channel affects influence and uptake, and we’re working hard to design questions that actually provide some actionable insight on content either delivered through or developed using social media. We’re also looking at how we can segment against global markets—an idea we are excited about, though we would need to apply some problem-solving to navigate the logistics of multiple languages, etc.

The SIG’s enthusiasm was so high (and their appetite for the data so rabid) that they discussed a proposal to direct reference program budgets to help sponsor some of the costs of the next survey. We feel this would go a long way toward shoring up the credibility of the survey—and would help us get a presentation slot for the survey at next year’s CRF.

I wrapped up by committing to a SIG input session during our survey planning stage, which would give us additional input for an even more hard-hitting report. Stay tuned!

We've written a white paper...on white papers!

Last November, we released our first survey report on emerging trends in technology collateral. Now we're following that up with a new publication—a white paper all about the latest trends in white papers, available for free download right now on our website.

Highlights from the paper include a discussion of the increasingly viral nature of white papers. Our research indicates that these documents are more digital and viral than ever—so there’s no need for today’s white paper to mimic traditional print collateral in form and function. We suggest a modular, cafeteria-style approach to collateral: when you start approaching your content as a series of "copy blocks" aimed at particular audiences, you can then maximize your content by re-deploying those copy blocks in blog entries, webinars, or sales pitches.

Other key discussion points include a look at the migration and expansion of the white paper’s main audience: traditionally, these documents were pitched at technology decision makers (TDMs), but in recent years they have been aimed more and more at business decision makers (BDMs).

The report concludes with best practices for better white papers. Give it a read and let us know what you think.