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contributors
Bud Hyler
Founder , Logical Marketing
Defects in information provided to sales are a major cause of misalignment between marketing and sales, resulting in lower close rates, higher sales costs, reduced sales capacity and slower market growth. This lack of alignment often occurs because there is no process to find and eliminate discrepancies and defects in the information and programs provided to sales teams.
“Most advantages only exist under specific conditions and situations. ”
Lee Humphreys
Chief Executive Officer, Creative Production Services, HH Global
Creative execution expert Lee Humphreys shares his thoughts on the importance of tailoring, adapting and transcreating creative content and how HH Global maintains strong client relationships to maximize the success of these efforts around the world.
“"The process of creative adaptation needs to start with alignment within the business."”
Valerie Thomassin
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications–Europe, Global Demand Center and Sales Enablement, Xerox
Valérie Thomassin wears several hats within Xerox. She is Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Europe, responsible for driving marketing and communications strategies and execution to support Xerox’s services, technologies and brand transformation initiatives in the region.
“"In a digital world like ours, marketing cannot stop once a lead is created."”
Jackie Kahle
Vice President of Research and Content Marketing, CA Technologies
In the latest chapter of her extensive career in enterprise technology marketing with companies like Digital Equipment Corp., HP, Gartner and CA, Jackie Kahle took over a new position as Head of Research within the content marketing team for CA to build CA's commitment to thought leadership and content in recognition of its critical role in today’s B2B marketplace.
“"We are very focused on aligning content to the buyer’s journey and making sure it is speaking to the issues and challenges our customers are facing."”
JB King
Global Head of Content, Marsh & McLennan Companies
For global professional services businesses like Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) that trade on intellectual capital, content is a key component in how we demonstrate depth of knowledge and deliver differentiation at the point of sale. Unlike a consumer products company that sells a tangible product, clients hire us for our ideas, experience and ability to help craft solutions, so content is arguably even more important because it’s the manifestation of our “product.”
“"People take in information in different ways and at different times, and if you want to make an impression, you need to cover the various channels that are important to your audiences.””
Ed Youngblood
Director of Content Strategy, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise's Ed Youngblood discusses how the organization's content strategy is evolving to keep pace with constant changes in media and consumer buying behavior.
“"Like all companies, we are adapting to how our customers’ buying behavior is evolving; therefore, we are evolving as well."”
Alisa Maclin
Vice President of Industry Solutions Marketing , IBM Software Group
IBM's Vice President of Industry Solutions Marketing, Alisa Maclin, says that in order to have an effective content marketing strategy, it is essential to understand the interests and challenges of individual customers, engage them in a way that is timely and relevant, and build ongoing relationships.
“"Thought leadership and market insight are key parts of our content strategy to demonstrate how the marketplace is changing and how our solutions and capabilities are helping our clients respond to and capitalize on these trends."”
Chris Moloney
Chief Marketing Officer, Wells Fargo Advisors
Wells Fargo Advisors is the third largest investment services firm in the U.S. and serves both B2C and B2B markets. With respect to the company’s B2B content, Chief Marketing Officer Chris Moloney says the majority is centered around thought leadership and building awareness and trust, although they have recently begun to use content for direct purchase impact and creating relationships, and he sees that being a big focus for 2014.
““Content needs to reflect who we are, and what other people are saying about us through social media is critical. In the last three years, we have see our content move rapidly to the online space, and this has been a big driver of our strategy.””
Ellen Ferrara
Head of Marketing Communications, BT Global Services
BT Global Services provides IT and network services to global corporations and government organizations. While their marketing efforts are currently decentralized, the company has a new vice president in place who is placing a greater focus on content marketing. As a result, Head of Marketing Communications Ellen Ferrara would like to see the company get to a place where content is used as a conversation starter but also contributes to sales.
“We pioneered a whole new approach to media partnerships because we saw that the heightened emphasis on content was coming, and we knew we needed to get to a place where our content was more objective because people don’t want to read sales content.”
Karen Pate, Ph.D.
Vice President -- Content Strategy , iCrossing
When it comes to content marketing, a siloed approach can be a company’s worst enemy. Karen Pate, Vice President of Content Strategy for iCrossing, explains how having a united vision and taking steps to develop a more integrated content strategy can help companies take advantage of otherwise missed opportunities.
“The best strategy is to always plan. When you create something that's shareable, assume that it's going to be shared in all different ways and make sure that it fits those different formats.”
Meagan Eisenberg
Vice President – Demand Generation, DocuSign
To Meagan Eisenberg, the delivery of relevant and engaging online content is essential at every stage of the buyer’s journey.It’s not just about attracting new leads; it’s about cost-effectively nurturing prospects though the sales funnel and maintaining their loyalty once they become customers by delivering the right content at the right time.
“We saw a 65 percent reduction in churn across our business. We saw a doubling of our pipeline in the first quarter and a tripling by the next quarter. These are significant improvements for our business.”
Colleen Albiston
Chief Marketing Officer, Deloitte
Thought leadership content has long been an essential element in the marketing mix for large professional services firms like Deloitte. But today, content is changing in both form and function, according to Colleen Albiston. Decision makers and influencers have less time to consume it, and many more alternatives for how and where they access it. Keeping pace with the changing needs of the BtoB market while continuing to deliver substantive and differentiated thought leadership is a challenge<
“We wanted to develop content that would be shared through social channels that would drive more visits to our site. We were able to serve the needs of a targeted audience, but we were also able to reach a much broader audience.”
Mark Stouse
Vice President – Global Connect, BMC Software
Content marketing to enterprise decision makers worldwide has increasingly become a decentralized and agile process at BMC software, according to Mark Stouse. The marriage of these two functions into one group is no accident. Staying close to the conversation with customers allows content creation, social networking and communication to constantly adapt to the customer is thinking about.
“When you’re plunking down a million dollars or more on enterprise software, you want to manage your risk on that buy decision, and the preferred way to do that is communicating with peers. Today, our customers are doing that socially.”
