Here is what Vonn Weisenberger and I did with the thesis that I wrote at Kalamazoo College based on my experiences at TechValidate Software and what I’ve learned about content marketing from Kapost's content! We made our own content in the name of “personal branding” and hiring differentiation. Check out the blog! → http://bit.ly/1hKJEBC

1. An Introduction to Content Marketing 1
CONTENT
MARKETING:
An Introduction to B2B
Marketing
Alex Burkholder

2. An Introduction to Content Marketing
CONTENTS
Introduction
B2B vs. B2C
Content Marketing
The Empowered Buyer
Outbound Marketing
One-Touch Outbound Email Campaign
Inbound Marketing
Marketing Automation
Lead Scoring + Lead Qualification
Lead Nurturing
One-Touch Inbound Email Nurture
Asset: Inbound Marketing Explained
Leveraging Content
Gating
Sales + Marketing Alignment
Asset: Customer Content
3
3
4
5
5
6
7
8
10
11
11
13
15
13
15
14
Conclusion 16
Content 12
About the Authors 18

3. An Introduction to Content Marketing
The inspiration for the creation of this eBook came from
Kapost’s, “Blueprint of a Modern Marketing Campaign eBook,”
which discussed something called a content pillar. A content
pillar is a significant and comprehensive content asset,
such as an eBook, guide, or report, that supports marketing
initiatives. A single pillar can then be broken into many
derivative content assets to fill an editorial calendar and fuel
distribution channels.
This eBook is a “content pillar” based on the contents of my
Senior Individualized Project (SIP) at Kalamazoo College which
I completed in the fall of 2013. Its been broken into derivative
assets that fill an editorial calendar and fuel distribution
channels. The SIP was an inbound marketing automation
plan for TechValidate Software and is titled “TechValidate
Software: Measuring Effectiveness of Inbound Marketing
on Sales Efficiency.” It has been repurposed into content;
content that an actual b2b organization could hypothetically
leverage in their own marketing efforts.
INTRODUCTION
A content pillar is a significant
and comprehensive content
asset, such as an eBook,
guide, or report, that supports
marketing initiatives.
Business-to-business (b2b) refers to an organization who
sells primarily to other businesses (Marketo, Salesforce,
Kapost, TechValidate, Drobo, etc.) while business-to-
consumer (b2c) refers to an organization that sells directly
to customers (Apple, Target, Walmart, J. Crew, etc.). The
difference may seem trivial, but the behavior of a b2b
consumer is dramatically different than b2c consumer. The
distinction between the two is “the path to purchase.” For a
b2b consumer it might look something like this:
Start Finish
B2B VS. B2C

4. An Introduction to Content Marketing 4
Whereas a b2c consumer might look something like this:
The path to purchase for a b2b consumer is indirect and
often takes a substantial amount of time to complete
their journey because of chain of command and return on
investment (ROI) considerations. For the b2c consumer, it’s
more direct as they don’t have chain-of-command and return
on investment issues for consideration. This difference in
behavior has given rise to content marketing which leverages
“content” to educate and nurture b2b consumers along their
path to purchase, making it an easier journey with the hope
they’ll become real customers.
Start Finish
Content marketing is the process of developing, publishing,
and distributing useful, relevant content that engages
prospective customers and propels them toward purchase.
It’s the most effective marketing strategy with more than
82% of companies planning to increase content production
over the next 12 months (Content Marketing Report, 2013).
B2b marketers need to gather, collect, and create relevant
content to fuel content marketing campaigns.
Most organizations have a few assets available on their
website, but they’re typically old materials. Existing assets
provide a good starting place for new content creation and
future content ideas. It’s easy to begin creating content by
re-using old blog posts or newsletters in smaller chunks, and
over time organizations can grow their content libraries.
Eventually, however, companies are going to need to come
up with new and compelling content to fuel future sales
and marketing campaigns. Content marketing is especially
relevant in the digital age as customers have the freedom
to educate themselves before engaging with a sales
representative.
CONTENT MARKETING
Content marketing is the
process of developing,
publishing, and distributing
useful, relevant content that
engages prospective customers
and propels them toward
purchase.

5. An Introduction to Content Marketing 5
B2b consumers don’t always know what they want or need,
so marketers must understand their research process and
react in a relevant and timely manner. To develop meaningful
relationships with potential customers (leads), companies
tailor marketing and sales materials (collateral or content)
with a one-on-one relevance to the leads and engage at
specific times throughout the research process to address
pertinent issues.
The rise of the empowered buyer has created the need for
content marketing as a supplement to traditional outbound
marketing.
agree that price and amount of research are
directly correlated.
Outbound marketing encompasses traditional sales and
marketing techniques such as cold calls, events and
purchased print, radio, and television advertising. Prospective
buyers can afford to ignore outbound marketing because
they’re empowered and can educate themselves before
engaging with sales or marketing.
The outbound approach is extremely inefficient and
unscientific because the audience is largely anonymous. It’s
Information is, quite literally,
at our fingertips at all times;
therefore, people can choose
what they want to engage with
at all times.
The rise of the empowered
buyer has created the need
for content marketing as a
supplement to traditional
outbound marketing.
With the aid of the Internet, a shift towards “the empowered
buyer” has occurred. Information is, quite literally, at our
fingertips at all times; therefore, people can choose what
they want to engage with at all times. B2b consumers are in
control and according to the State of Demand (2013):
THE EMPOWERED BUYER
of b2b buyers start their searches on Google.
of them agree that as their research deepens
on a subject, their search terms become more
refined.
96%
99%
91%
OUTBOUND MARKETING

6. An Introduction to Content Marketing 6
difficult to target or tailor relevant messages. The logic is that
if enough cold calls are made, or enough email campaigns
are sent out, eventually someone of relevance will receive
the message. Companies that do email outreach with an
outbound mentality typically are trying to set up a call and
connect with someone right away. This type of outreach
is viewed as “noise” and “interruptive,” which most people
actively avoid.
Companies that do email
outreach with an outbound
mentality typically are trying
to set up a call and connect
with someone right away.
Using a content generation company as the context, here
is a hypothetical example of what an outbound marketing
email might look like:
Hi Sam,
Checking to see if creating a magnitude of marketing content for your marketing and sales
programs is worth discussing.
Looking to have a quick chat. For some context: https://bit.ly/4815162342
I’m out of the office during the day, but I can be reached this evening. If this is relevant, let me
know if you’re interested in learning more.
Best, Bill
From: William Compton
To: Sam Merlotte
ONE-TOUCH OUTBOUND EMAIL
CAMPAIGN
The Internet allows consumers to research options without
the annoyance of a hard sales pitch. In fact, 90% of
business buyers say when they’re ready to buy, they’ll find
you (Content Marketing Report, 2013). Here, Bill is trying to
set-up a call with Sam right away and if Sam is within the
90% of b2b buyers then he’ll most likely ignore this sales
attempt by Bill. Marketing and sales must find new ways to
engage with buyers that isn’t disruptive.
90% of business buyers say
when they’re ready to buy,
they’ll find you.

7. An Introduction to Content Marketing 7
INBOUND MARKETING
Inbound marketing is gaining traction as more customers
engage less with the traditional outbound marketing
and sales tactics. Inbound marketing helps potential
customers discover products or services, often before they
are looking to purchase, and turns early awareness into
brand preference that ultimately leads to revenue. Inbound
marketing is content marketing designed to nurture and
educate buyers with a sales message and is more common
than often realized.
If a person ever downloaded an eBook to learn more about
something, or if a person has ever “+1” a brand on Google+ or
followed it on Twitter, inbound marketing is at play. Through
actions like this, the consumer is expressing empowerment,
engaging with a brand because they identify with it. And in
exchange, the consumer has given the brand information
about their interest as a potential customer.
Engaged leads are leads who elicit those behaviors and
indicate that they’re closer to a sales conversion because
they’re viewing and downloading content on a continuous
and consistent basis. Guidelines put in place by marketing
and sales often “score” leads based on this engagement.
Once a lead reaches a specified score, they are deemed
sales ready, or a sales qualified lead (SQL). SQLs are then
subject to receive communication from sales, as they are
closer to conversion. The result of inbound marketing and
content generation is better lead qualification. Thus, by the
time the sales team accepts leads, they have a much higher
probability of becoming closable leads when compared to
traditional outbound marketing.
Educational offers and quality content are at the core
of successful inbound marketing efforts. Content that is
available to leads should be useful even if that lead never
becomes a customer of the company that is leveraging said
content. B2b buyers are empowered, but do not always know
their “pain,” so marketers must react in a relevant and timely
manner by “gating” the content available. Pain refers to an
obstacle or problem an organization or individual is facing
to accomplish its or his goals while gating refers to the
restriction of complex collateral for less engaged leads and
the availability of complex collateral for more engaged leads.
Inbound marketing, however, ultimately fails if executed alone
because it’s hard to target specific audiences with inbound
Consumers engage with a
brand because they identify
with it. In exchange, the
consumer has given the brand
information about their interest
in it as a potential customer.
Inbound marketing turns
early awareness into brand
preference that ultimately
leads to revenue.
Quality content are at the
core of successful inbound
marketing efforts. Content
that is sent out or available to
leads should be useful even
if that lead never becomes a
customer.

8. An Introduction to Content Marketing 8
marketing and it doesn’t itself motivate people to act.
Because of these limitations, a complete marketing strategy
needs to incorporate a full portfolio of approaches including
events, webinars, email, and advertising, as well as outbound
tactics. To maximize the value from inbound marketing, it
needs to be combined with marketing automation processes
and software.
Inbound marketing conducted through marketing automation
software can provide insight about leads and nurture leads
into the buying cycle, discover the right people to connect
with and educate leads. Following nurturing, leads can be
transferred from marketing to sales. Organizations can
then conduct outbound outreach to nurtured, relevant and
qualified leads as they would be ready to receive a sales
message.
The result of inbound
marketing and content
generation is better lead
qualification. Thus, by the
time the sales team accepts
leads, they have a much
higher probability of becoming
closable leads.
MARKETING AUTOMATION
Marketing automation is the technology that allows
companies to streamline, automate, and measure marketing
tasks and workflows so they can increase operational
efficiency and increase revenue faster. It manages and
automates inbound marketing efforts, converting prospective
buyers into actual consumers by engaging with leads in a
relevant and timely manner.
Marketing automation tracks data including, web page visits,
collateral viewed/downloaded, and other information that
leads viewed/downloaded on company websites. Marketing
automation also diminishes the communication silos that
can exist between sales and marketing by using a common
language, sharing metrics, and integrating all necessary data
into one location.
Marketing automation automates the various tasks and
workflows involved in demand generation, lead management,
and sales and marketing alignment. Demand generation
refers to targeted marketing programs that drive awareness
and interest in a company’s products and/or services. Lead
management refers to a business’s connection between
outgoing consumer advertising and response to that
advertising.
Marketing automation
automates the various tasks
and workflows involved in
demand generation, lead
management, and sales and
marketing alignment.

9. An Introduction to Content Marketing 9
Marketing automation
accomplishes this by creating
one-on-one relationships
with leads through relevant
collateral and conversations
determined by the marketer.
• Names
• Email addresses
• Psychographic attributes
• Firmographic attributes (company size, role, industry, etc.)
Marketing automation contributes to shorter sales cycles,
increased revenue, and better marketing ROI. This type
of software accomplishes this by creating one-on-one
relationships with leads through relevant collateral and
conversations determined by the marketer.
Execution of these relationships is a product lead generation,
which is the combination and optimization of data that
consists of:
It also includes but is not limited to:
Marketing automation creates more in-depth relationships
with leads from the first time they enter the database
until they are longtime customers, and it targets the right
prospect with the right content to improve sales conversion.
Data capture throughout the process can be measured
and analyzed to enable continuous marketing process
improvement through calculated modification to the initial
intent.
Any implementation of marketing automation should have
a measurable impact on the financial performance of the
company. It’s essential to identify new metrics to measure
performance of marketing automation. Metrics include return
on marketing investment, customer satisfaction, customer
retention rate, cost per lead, press mentions, customer
acquisition, customer profitability, market share, campaign
response rates, budget adherence, and brand awareness.
As a result of the rise of the empowered buyer, marketers
are being pushed to fundamentally change how they
engage with customers across online and offline channels
• Demographic attributes
• Budget, authority, need, and timeline information
• Lead source or origin (trade show, webinar, website form,
etc.)
• The completeness of their data profile
• Behavioral attributes (number of responses, overall
engagement with content, etc.)
Marketing automation creates
more in-depth relationships
with leads from the first time
they enter the database until
they are longtime customers.
The rise of the empowered
buyer requires marketers
to create relevant and
personalized content across
multiple channels to provide
information that buyers seek
and expect in their decision-
making.

10. An Introduction to Content Marketing 10
and throughout the entire customer lifecycle. These
changes require marketers to create and publish relevant
and personalized content across multiple channels (search
engines, email, social media, online videos, and content
assets) to provide information that buyers seek and expect
in their decision-making.
Scoring a lead isn’t the same
as qualifying it.
LEAD SCORING + LEAD
QUALIFICATION
Although the changes in b2b behavior require marketers
engage with leads in a personalized manner across multiple
channels to create relationships, not all leads are created
equal. Who’s really to say that the person requesting your
eBook isn’t a student gathering research for their SIP?
Scoring a lead isn’t the same as qualifying it.
Lead scoring refers to guidelines put in place by marketing
and sales to “score” leads based on engagement. Once
a lead reaches a specified score, they are deemed sales
ready, or a sales qualified lead (SQL). Thus, by the time
the sales team accepts leads, they have a much higher
probability of becoming closable leads when compared to
traditional outbound marketing.
At this point, the lead is deemed “qualified” and is subject
to sales outreach like the previously mentioned outbound
tactic. The way lead scoring and lead qualification can occur
is through lead nurturing tactics which helps push leads
through the sales and marketing funnels.
The way lead scoring and
lead qualification can occur
is through lead nurturing
tactics which helps push
leads through the sales and
marketing funnels.

11. An Introduction to Content Marketing 11
Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships
with leads even if they’re not currently looking to buy. It’s
intended to raise a company’s profile in the lead’s mind,
thus making it more likely that the lead will purchase the
company’s product or service when it’s time to buy.
Again, using a content generation company as the context,
here is a hypothetical example of an inbound nurturing email
leveraged through marketing automation:
LEAD NURTURING
Hi Andy,
You’ve probably heard the term “inbound marketing” many times, but if someone asked you
to define it, could you? In our discussions with clients and prospects, we found a widespread
uncertainty about what inbound marketing is, how it’s different from outbound, why companies
should care, and what companies are doing about it.
That’s why we put together this complimentary download: Inbound Marketing Explained. In it,
you’ll learn:
• The difference between inbound and outbound marketing
• How inbound marketing benefits both the buyer and the seller
• Effective content to leverage in your inbound collateral
Once you have a firm grasp on how inbound marketing works, you can start integrating it into
your company’s marketing strategy – and take your prospect engagement to the next level.
Hope this helps! Thank you, Andy!
Cheers, Bill
From: William Compton
To: Andy Bellefleur
Lead nurturing is intended to
raise a company’s profile in
the lead’s mind, thus making
it more likely that the lead
will purchase the company’s
product or service when it’s
time to buy.
ONE-TOUCH INBOUND EMAIL
NURTURE
Notice the difference between this email and the outbound
email. This one is simply educating the lead about inbound
marketing and in the process is nurturing the idea of utilizing

12. An Introduction to Content Marketing 12
inbound marketing at their organization. Too, based on this
email you cannot tell what the company is trying to sell, or
what they do exactly, rather they’re informing you about
inbound marketing. This method is consistent with the trends
of the self-directed buyer and is an extremely powerful
marketing technique. This asset highlights the general topic
of inbound marketing, but within it there are more specific
topics (e.g. effective content to leverage).
If this email is relevant to the lead, they’ll engage. If not, they
won’t. Either way the marketer is gathering information about
this lead and is not asking to connect with them directly like
in outbound marketing. Within “Inbound Marketing Explained”
there are links to more specific topics about customer
content. The content generation company would then be
gating the higher-level content for a lead that chooses to
engage with higher-level content. At that point, leads would
be ready to digest more complex collateral as they were
the ones who chose to obtain it. By them engaging in these
behaviors, they’re indicating to the company their interests;
therefore, the company can further engage with more
specific content relevant to that lead all while nurturing their
product solution.
CONTENT
Content is king in b2b marketing. B2b marketers need to
gather, collect, and create relevant content to leverage in
their inbound marketing campaigns before they can begin
seeing success with content marketing. Ideally, this content
should be based on a solid understanding of buyer personas
so that content and messages resonate with the audience.
Luckily, most organizations already have a few assets, but
they’re typically old materials. It’s easy to begin creating
content by re-using old content like blog posts, whitepapers,
and infographics. That’s similar to the way this eBook was
made after all.
Too, ideas and material can come from a host of other
sources such as reports, surveys, and even customer
feedback. All together, these can be combined to create
a large asset or broken down to make small “snackable”
pieces of content.
Content should be based on a
solid understanding of buyer
personas so that content and
messages resonate with the
audience.

13. An Introduction to Content Marketing 13
Once more, using a content generation company as the
context, here is an asset that could hypothetically be
leveraged in a lead nurturing campaign:
Inbound Marketing Explained 1
INBOUND MARKETING
Alex Burkholder
Explained
Inbound Marketing Explained 3
with a brand because they identify with it. In exchange, the consumer has given
the brand information about their interest in it as a potential customer.
Educational offers and quality content are at the core of successful inbound
marketing efforts. Content that is sent out or available to leads should be
useful even if that lead never becomes a customer of the company leveraging
that content. Inbound marketing requires the use of multiple strategies across
various channels including website design, social media marketing, and content
marketing.
QUALITY CONTENT
Content that companies leverage are often created from their existing materials.
Most organizations already have a few assets available on their website, but
they’re typically old materials. Existing assets provide a good starting place for
new content creation and future content ideas.
Unfortunately, these existing assets are not relevant to customers in certain
verticals as many companies have a broad customer base in different verticals,
roles, or audiences. Customer content, on the other hand, permits marketers of
b2b organizations to leverage compelling content from the voice of customers
to power sales and marketing campaigns as content based on the feedback
of verified real users. Customer testimonials (89%) and case studies (88%) are
considered to be the most effective pieces of content to leverage as sales
collateral and marketing materials (Content Marketing Report, 2013).
Content marketing is going mainstream and has become more sophisticated to
help marketers generate more leads. Gathering customer content, however, is
no simple task. Current methods for creating content are ineffective as 93% of
b2b marketers creating content from scratch (Content Marketing Report, 2013).
Marketing teams are under immense pressure to generate relevant content for
both marketing and sales collateral. Sales have demand for case studies or
testimonials and their prospects desire for credible content to support sales’
claims.
Even when companies gather and leverage content from the voice of their
customers, credibility of the data is in jeopardy. More than 93% of companies
create content from scratch (Content Marketing Report, 2013) and have in-house
content generation demands. They could use a survey software tool, such as
SurveyMonkey, to collect customer data, but this lacks third-party validation.
Inbound Marketing Explained 2
INTRODUCTION
OUTBOUND VS.
INBOUND MARKETING
HOW INBOUND IS MUTUALLY
BENEFICIAL
You’ve probably heard the term “inbound marketing” many times, but if someone
asked you to define it, could you? In our discussions with clients and prospects,
we found a widespread uncertainty about what inbound marketing is, how it’s
different from outbound, why companies should care, and what companies are
doing about it.
The distinction between outbound and inbound marketing is that outbound
marketing actively attempts to find buyers while inbound marketing is passively
absorbed by potential customers. The outbound approach is extremely inefficient
and unscientific because the audience is largely anonymous, it’s difficult to
target or tailor relevant messages, and the logic is that if enough cold calls are
made, or enough email campaigns are sent out, eventually someone of relevance
will receive the message.
Outbound marketing encompasses traditional sales and marketing techniques
such as cold calls, events and purchased print, radio, and television advertising.
Prospective buyers often ignore outbound marketing reach because buyers can
educate themselves on their own before engaging with sales or marketing.
The Internet allows consumers to research options without the annoyance of a
hard sales pitch. In fact, 90% of business buyers say when they’re ready to buy;
they’ll find you (Content Marketing Report, 2013). However, leads do not always
know that they have pain (so they aren’t looking) and it is the marketer’s job to
expose pain and nurture their solutions.
Inbound marketing is gaining traction as more customers engage less with
the traditional outbound marketing and sales tactics. Inbound marketing helps
potential customers discover products or services, often before they are looking
to purchase, and turns early awareness into brand preference that ultimately
leads to revenue. Inbound marketing is content marketing designed to nurture
and educate buyers with a sales message and is more common than people
realize. For example, if someone ever downloads content to learn more about
something, or if a person followed a company on Twitter, inbound marketing is
at play. Through actions like this, the consumer becomes empowered, engaging
Inbound Marketing Explained 4
CUSTOMER CONTENT SOFTWARE
CONCLUSION
Customer content software permits marketers of b2b organizations to generate
new, fresh, and compelling content from the voice of customers to power sales
and marketing campaigns, all in a cost and time effective manner, and third-party
verified.
Types of customer content to leverage as sales and marketing collateral include:
Customer content software enables organizations to more efficiently and
effectively acquire customer content thereby improving sales effectiveness and
generating faster revenue growth.
• Customer testimonials
• Charts and graphs
• Case studies
• Customer reviews
• Customer proof points
• Performance and ROI metrics
Now that you have learned the difference between inbound and outbound
marketing and have become an expert on how inbound marketing is beneficial
to both the buyer and seller, let’s focus more on this customer content aspect.
It sounds complicated. Shoot, it is complicated. Who are we kidding? To learn
more about Customer Content Software feel free to download our “Introduction to
Customer Content Software” eBook.
Or don’t! It is truly up to YOU. You’re the empowered buyer that has the freedom to
engage with whatever content you want, whenever you want. Remember? We’d
like it if you did though; it’s pretty rad.
Alex Burkholder: Author Vonn Weisenberger: Designer
CHECK IT OUT!
WE’RE ON THE INTERNET.
DOWNLOAD THE ASSET
Because B2b buyers are empowered, but do not always
know their pain, marketers must react in a relevant and
timely manner by gating the content available. To reiterate,
GATING

14. An Introduction to Content Marketing 14
gating refers to the restriction of complex collateral for less
engaged leads and the availability of complex collateral for
more engaged leads.
In “Inbound Marketing Explained,” a more complex piece of
collateral is leveraged towards the end of the piece. The
logic here being that when the lead has read about the
difference between inbound and outbound marketing, they’ll
be able to “handle” a more complex piece of content.
Below is the asset gated in Inbound Marketing Explained:
Gating refers to the restriction
of complex collateral for
less engaged leads and
the availability of complex
collateral for more engaged
leads.
Inbound Marketing Explained 1
An Introduction to
CUSTOMER CONTENT
SOFTWARE
Alex Burkholder
Inbound Marketing Explained 4
CUSTOMER CONTENT
B2b marketers gather, collect and create relevant content to leverage in their
inbound marketing campaigns before they can begin seeing success with
inbound content marketing campaigns. Ideally, this content should be based on a
solid understanding of buyer personas, so that content and messages resonate
with the audience. Fortunately, most organizations already have a few assets
available on their website, but they’re typically old materials. Existing assets
provide a good starting place for new content creation and future content ideas.
Unfortunately, these existing assets are not always relevant to customers in
certain verticals as many companies have a broad customer base in different
verticals, roles, or audiences. Customer content, on the other hand, permits
marketers of b2b organizations to leverage compelling content from the voice of
customers to power sales and marketing campaigns as content is based on the
feedback of verified real users.
Ideally, this content should be based on a solid understanding of buyer personas, so
that content and messages resonate with the audience.
Gathering customer content, however, is no simple task. Current methods for
creating content are ineffective as 93% of b2b marketers create content from
scratch (Content Marketing Report, 2013). Marketing teams are under immense
pressure to generate relevant content for both marketing and sales collateral.
Sales have demand for case studies or testimonials and their prospects desire
credible content to support sales’ claims.
GATHERING CUSTOMER
CONTENT
Current methods for creating content are ineffective as 93% of b2b marketers create
content from scratch.
Customer data is extremely important when leveraging your product or services
against that of other products and services (Content Marketing Report, 2013).
In the b2b marketplace, however, customers are sensitive to sharing success
stories publicly because of legal or PR approval obstacles. Too, there is long
approval processes for case studies with 55% of b2b marketers claiming content
creation takes too much time to generate (Content Marketing Report, 2013).
CREDIBLE CONTENT
Customer data is extremely important when leveraging your product or services against
that of other products and services.
Inbound Marketing Explained 2
CONTENTS
Introduction
Self-Directed Buyer
Content Marketing
Customer Content
Credible Content
Customer Content Software
Leveraging Customer Content
Conclusion
3
3
3
4
4
4
5
6
Inbound Marketing Explained 3
INTRODUCTION
SELF-DIRECTED BUYER
The manner in which people obtain information and make decisions about the
purchase of goods and services is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Buyers
today are increasingly self-directed in their purchase decisions. They spend more
time gathering information across a number of digital channels including search
engines, company websites, blogs, online product reviews and social networks.
As a result, buyers today often form brand perceptions and make significant
purchasing decisions based on online research prior to any direct contact with a
salesperson.
Marketers are being pushed to fundamentally change how they engage with
customers across online and offline channels and throughout the entire customer
lifecycle. These changes require marketers to create and publish relevant and
personalized content across multiple channels (search engines, email, social
media, online videos and buying guides) to provide the information that buyers
seek and expect in their decision-making.
Buyers today are increasingly self-directed in their purchase decisions. They spend
more time gathering information across a number of digital channels including search
engines, company websites, blogs, online product reviews and social networks.
These changes require marketers to create and publish relevant and personalized
content across multiple channels.
CONTENT MARKETING
Content marketing is going mainstream and has become more sophisticated
to help marketers generate more leads and enable thought leadership, which
is authority in a field whose expertise is sought out (Content Marketing Report,
2013). B2b content marketing is the most effective marketing strategy, and more
than 82% of companies plan to increase content production over the next 12
months (Content Marketing Report, 2013). Customer testimonials (89%) and case
studies (88%) are considered to be the most effective pieces of content to
leverage as sales collateral and marketing materials (Content Marketing Report,
2013).
Customer testimonials (89%) and case studies (88%) are considered to be the most
effective pieces of content to leverage as sales collateral and marketing materials.
Inbound Marketing Explained 5
Even when companies gather and leverage content from the voice of their
customers, credibility of the data is in jeopardy. More than 93% of companies
create content from scratch (Content Marketing Report, 2013) and have in-house
content generation demands. They could use a survey software tool, such as
SurveyMonkey, to collect customer data, but this lacks third-party verification.
There is long approval processes for case studies with 55% of b2b marketers claiming
content creation takes too much time to generate.
CUSTOMER CONTENT SOFTWARE
Customer content software permits marketers of b2b organizations to generate
new, fresh, and compelling content from the voice of customers to power sales
and marketing campaigns, all in a cost and time effective manner and third-party
verified.
Types of customer content to leverage as sales and marketing collateral include:
Customer content software enables organizations to more efficiently and
effectively acquire customer content thereby improving sales effectiveness and
generating faster revenue growth.
• Customer testimonials
• Charts and graphs
• Case studies
• Customer reviews
• Customer proof points
• Performance and ROI metrics
Content generated through customer content software can be optimized for
social sharing across popular social media channels (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, and
Google+). Marketing teams could create social media campaigns that “drip out” a
steady stream of fresh content in an automated way to cultivate awareness and
keep their brand in the mind of potential customers.
LEVERAGING CUSTOMER
CONTENT
Social media campaigns that “drip out” a steady stream of fresh content in an
automated way cultivate awareness and keep their brand in the mind of potential
customers.
Customer content can be repurposed into blogs posts, microsites and landing
pages. Third-party content offers credible proof of market direction and proof
that products actually do deliver meaningful operational and financial results to
customers.
Content should be leveraged in lead generation and lead nurturing campaigns
as customer testimonials and case studies can be highly segmented to fit the
specific profile of the target. According the Content Marketing Report (2013)
71% of b2b marketers identify audience relevance among the most important
elements of effective content.
71% of b2b marketers identify audience relevance among the most important elements
of effective content.
CONCLUSION
Content marketing is going mainstream and has become more sophisticated
to help marketers generate more leads and enable thought leadership. B2b
content marketing is the most effective marketing strategy, and more than
82% of companies plan to increase content production over the next 12 months
(Content Marketing Report, 2013). Customer testimonials (89%) and case studies
(88%) are considered to be the most effective pieces of content to leverage
as sales collateral and marketing materials (Content Marketing Report, 2013),
especially when they’re third-party validated as it offers credible proof that
products actually do deliver meaningful operational and financial results to actual
customers.
Alex Burkholder: Author Vonn Weisenberger: Designer
CHECK IT OUT!
WE’RE ON THE INTERNET.
Inbound Marketing Explained 6
DOWNLOAD THE ASSET

15. An Introduction to Content Marketing 15
As 71% of b2b marketers identify audience relevance among
the most important elements of effective content (Content
Marketing Report, 2013), it’s paramount that the content
leads receive is relevant to that individual lead and it’s the
job of the marketer to determine this relevance and segment
leads accordingly:
The way leads are categorized is indicative of the nurturing
method and content given to a lead, with the ultimate goal
of having the content be relevant in a one-on-one context.
Once leads have been nurtured, the sales team interacts
with customers that elicit behavior indicative of a sale.
Content marketing and marketing automation can drive the
most results when a company uses it as an opportunity
to realign its entire revenue engine around the modern
customer’s new buying cycle. But before inbound marketing
automation is implemented questions need to be answered
about how the organization will handle leads and align sales
and marketing.
LEVERAGING CONTENT BY
TARGETING + SEGMENTING
LEADS
SALES + MARKETING
ALIGNMENT
• Names
• Email addresses
• Psychographic attributes
• Firmographic attributes (company size, role, industry, etc.)
• Demographic attributes
• Budget, authority, need, and timeline information
(BANT)
• Lead source or origin (trade show, webinar, website form,
etc.)
• Completeness of their data profile
• Behavioral attributes (number of responses, overall
engagement with content, etc.)
• Customer status attributes (new customer, not using
customer, high usage, low usage, etc.)

16. An Introduction to Content Marketing 16
Questions include, but are not limited to:
• What is considered a sales-ready lead?
• How long is the sales cycle?
• When is a lead considered qualified?
• How to prioritize lead qualification and nurturing
efforts and how to recycle leads?
All facets of inbound marketing need to be consistent with
a common end goal in mind to be successful, and to get
everyone within the organization on board with marketing
automation. People are typically resistant to change, so it
is important to define, train, and create an environment to
support learning of the new systems. The most important
step organizations must take to implement inbound
marketing is to communicate with the current employees
about strategy, milestones, and how it will align with sales.
From inbound marketing campaigns executed through
marketing automation software, companies can qualify and
nurture leads in order to increase the efficiency of their sales
structure. In order for inbound marketing content to increase
the efficiency of the sales system, content marketing teams
must produce relevant, fresh, and engaging content. Too,
they must reach across multiple mediums and use software
to track lead behavior. The campaigns include modern
marketing automation tools and practices including: email
nurturing, landing pages, white paper generation and blog
posts, social media marketing, and webinars.
The leads that sales connect with should all be nurtured
and qualified to receive a call. These leads have shown
engagement with an organization’s content consistently and
have viewed multiple forms of content. These qualified leads
should consequently make it through the sales funnel more
quickly and with higher conversion. All of this is possible
through inbound content and marketing automation by
connecting sales with the right leads at the right time.
Content is king in respect to b2b marketing, especially in
light of today’s b2b consumer. The amount of information
that people engage with on a daily basis is infinite, just as is
the amount of information that is searchable and available
CONCLUSION In order for inbound marketing
content to increase the
efficiency of the sales system,
content marketing teams must
produce relevant, fresh, and
engaging content.
Qualified leads should
consequently make it through
the sales funnel more quickly
and with higher conversion.
The most important step
organizations must take to
implement inbound marketing
is to communicate with the
current employees about
strategy, milestones, and how
it will align with sales.

17. An Introduction to Content Marketing 17
for free on the Internet. Given this, modern marketers must
provide consumers with the most reliable, relevant, and
engaging content. This builds a relationship between the
company and an individual that, if done correctly, will convert
to revenue down the road.

18. An Introduction to Content Marketing 18
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Alex is a senior at Kalamazoo College graduating in June ‘14.
He has a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Business. He’s also
the former starting free safety for the Kalamazoo College
Hornets football team. Broadly speaking, he’s pursuing a
career in b2b marketing, and he enjoys TV shows, Ke$ha,
working out, and was voted “Most Photogenic” in the eighth
grade.
Vonn is a multidisciplinary design student at Penn State
graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture in 2015. He has
held internships in graphic design, social media/advertising,
and architecture. He enjoys coffee, whiskey, taco bell, and
swearing (aka a real class act).
Author
ALEX BURKHOLDER
Designer
VONN WEISENBERGER

19. HOW’D WE DO?
let us know :)