Sharing new research from a leading analyst firm, this session will look at the changing role content plays at different stages of the buying cycle and provide insights into which types of offers can have the greatest influence on engagement.

1. CALCULATING
CONTENT’S ROLE
IN THE REVENUE
CYCLE
Trip Kucera
Sr. Research Analyst
Marketing Effectiveness &
Strategy
@TripKucera #b2bContentEvent

2. 2
Who’s ready for some data?
@TripKucera #b2bContentEvent

3. 3
Lead Management
is Like Scotch:
Distillation
generates value
Source: http://nextstarvodka.com
@TripKucera #b2bContentEvent

4. 4
Sorry Gaga:
Good leads just are
NOT born that way

5. 5
Content like Offers

6. 6
Aberdeen Maturity Class Framework
ü What are Best-in-Class
companies doing differently?
ü What pitfalls are they
avoiding?
ü Why are they achieving
greater success?
ü What technologies and
services are enabling them
to succeed?
Aberdeen’sMethodology
C
E
Pressures:
External and internal forces that impact an organization’s
market position, competitiveness, or business operations.
Actions:
The strategic approaches that an organization takes in
response to industry pressures.Actions:
The strategic approaches that an organization takes in
response to industry pressures.
Capabilities:
The business competencies (organization, process, etc…)
required to execute corporate strategy.Capabilities:
The business competencies (organization, process, etc…)
required to execute corporate strategy.
Enablers:
The key technology solutions required to support the
organization’s business practices.

7. 7
Leaders in Aberdeen’s Content Marketing
and Management study achieved the
following results:
q 3.7% Average website conversion rate, vs.
2.9% for Followers
q 10.2% year-over-year growth in Marketing’s
contribution to revenue, compared with
1.6% growth for Followers
q 15.4% year-over-year company revenue
growth, vs. 1.6% for Followers
q 19.7% year-over-year increase in unique site
traffic, vs. 2.5% increase for Followers

8. 8
12243
6345
0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000
Website traffic necessary to
generate a customer
Unique Website Traffic, n = 81
Leaders
Followers

9. 9
350
237
0 100 200 300 400 500
Marketing "responses"
required to generate one
closed-won deal
Marketing "Responses"
(i.e. non-qualified lead), n = 81
Leaders
Followers

10. 10
$10,000

11. 11
28%
72%
18%
82%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
We have a robust content
marketing program in place
We have some content
marketing capabilities, and
are taking steps to improve
our execution
PercentageofRespondents,n=75
Leaders Followers
Leaders More Likely to Have “Robust”
Strategy in Place

12. 12
Primary Objective: Demand Generation
62%
27%
11%
Lead generation / customer
acquisition
Brand awareness and thought
leadership
Customer retention and engagement

13. 13
Strategic Focus
47%
50%
53%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Increase the quantity of relevant content we’re
publishing on our site
Focus on improving the targeting of our content
marketing efforts (i.e. content personalization,
situational content, etc.)
Use content in nurture-based marketing
campaigns that move buyers closer to purchase
Percentage of Respondents, n = 81
Leaders

14. 14
Top 3 Challenges to Content
Marketing Success
1. Talent / resources for content development &
management
2. Generating enough relevant content
3. Ensuring relevancy of content

15. 15
25%
50%
75%
100%
0% 25% 50% 75%
PerceptionofValue
Effectiveness of Execution
Content Marketing Perception of Value vs.
Effectiveness of Execution; All Respondents, n = 75
Producing high-quality content
Tracking the content utilization metrics
(visits, views, shares, etc.)
Generating / publishing sufficient
content to meet our needs
Tracking number of qualified leads
generated by content marketing efforts
Driving more traffic to our website with
regularly updated content
Generating high-quality links to our
content from sources of authority
Ability to personalize web site content
based on buyer profile, persona, or firm
Accurately forecasting and budgeting
leads / customer acquisition from
content / search marketing
Ability to roll out new sites or content
quickly
Generating social mentions of content

16. 16
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

17. 17
Content Development Might be Everyone’s
Responsibility, but it should be someone’s job
54%
46%
44%
41%
20%
40%
60%
Ability to capture new content ideas / content
“ideation” from across organization
Well-defined process for managing the
content development process (i.e. ideation,
design, and approval steps are well
understood and utilized in projects)
PercentageofRespondents,n=75
Leaders Followers

18. 18
An Inside Job
56%
37%
8% Primarily managed and developed with
dedicated internal resources, but
supported by external resources (i.e.
freelancers or agency)
Completely managed and developed
using dedicated internal resources
Primarily developed by external
resources, but supported or managed by
internal resource

19. 19
Align Content to Purpose
65%
54%
42%41%
24%
18%
0%
25%
50%
75%
Content marketing efforts are well-
aligned with sales methodology
Process to align marketing content
with marketing / sales funnel stage
(i.e. content is developed with
funnel stage in mind)
Process to align marketing content
with buyer persona (i.e. content is
developed with specific persona(s)
in mind)
PercentageofRespondents,n=75
Leaders Followers

20. 20
MEASUREMENT & METRICS

21. 21
Got Lift?
77%
41%
36%
47%
16%
21%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Ability to track how specific
content is performing
Ability to track attribution to a
specific piece of content (i.e.
well-defined attribution model
in place)
Ability to measure uplift from
targeted content
PercentageofRespondents,n=75
Leaders Followers

22. 22
Get Granular
36%
30%29%
15%
0%
25%
50%
Process to measure how specific
content performs across various
channels (mobile vs. social vs. web
site)
Process to measure marketing content
based on stages of the buyer’s
journey
PercentageofRespondents,n=75
Leaders Followers

23. 23
Measuring the Impact of Content Marketing
0.5%
1.8%
1.0%
2.9%
3.4%
7.6%
0.0% 5.0% 10.0%
Average website conversion rate
Average Click-Through Rate (CTR)
on email marketing
Conversion rate of marketing
response / lead to marketing-
qualified lead (MQL)
Current Performance, n = 81
Using Content
Marketing
Non-users

24. 24
Year-over-year performance of content
marketing users
-4.3%
0.6%
0.2%
1.4%
1.4%
3.2%
4.5%
5.0%
5.4%
7.7%
-5.0% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0%
Average website conversion rate
Marketing's contribution to company
revenue
Social sharing of content
Annual company revenue
Number of unique website visitors
Current Performance, n = 81
Using Content
Marketing
Nonusers

25. 25
2,564
327
- 1,000 2,000 3,000
Marketing "responses"
required to generate one
closed-won deal
Marketing "Responses"
(i.e. non-qualified lead), n = 81
Using Content
Marketing
Non-users
77,135
12,221
- 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000
Website traffic necessary to
generate a customer
Website Traffic, n = 81
Using Content
Marketing
Non-users

26. 26
Take Aways
q Think about content as marketing offers
q Alignment
q Buyer stage
q Persona
q Impact and measurement
q Measurement and metrics
q Get granular
q Get lift

27. Thank you
Trip.Kucera@aberdeen.com
@TripKucera