digital relevance

Copyrighted material – 9781137414793

Contents

List of Illustrations vii Preface xi

Introduction Bridging the Gap between Training and Business Results 1

Chapter 1 Did They Like It? 17 Chapter 2 Did They Learn Anything? 27 Chapter 3 Are They Doing Anything Different? 37 Chapter 4 Did It Impact the Business? 73 Chapter 5 Was It Worth It? 103 Chapter 6 How Do We Maximize Impact? 117 Summary 151 Conclusion 161 Case Study 1 Measuring the Impact of Leadership

Training 165 Case Study 2 Maximizing the Impact of Leadership

Training through Different Delivery Modes 185

Index 199


Contents

List of Figures xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

Part 1 Strategy—Building the Foundation 5

Section 1 Relevance—The Frame for Engagement 7

Chapter 1 Irrelevance 13

Chapter 2 Shifting Relevance 19

Chapter 3 Social Relevance 25

Chapter 4 Radical Relevance 33

Section 2 Positioning for Competitive Advantage 37

Chapter 5 Distinct Value Brings Differentiation 41

Chapter 6 Personas: Distinct Value in Application 47

Chapter 7 The Big-Picture Business Perspective 57

Chapter 8 Customer Experience Brings Competitive Advantage 63

Section 3 The Need for a Continuum Approach 69

Chapter 9 A Continuum Fuels Real-Time Relevance 71

Chapter 10 Creating a Continuum Approach 75



viii ● Contents

Chapter 11 Moving from Campaign to Continuum 83

Chapter 12 Get More Value from Investments in Content 89

Section 4 Storytelling—Make Your Customer the Hero 99

Chapter 13 Our Brains on Stories—Why Stories Work 103

Chapter 14 The Strategic Value of Storytelling 109

Chapter 15 Story Structure—8 Elements of Story Design 115

Chapter 16 Contextualization and Channel Integration 121

Part 2 Dynamic Execution—Put Strategy in Play 127

Section 5 Responsiveness—Your Ability to Sync Up 129

Chapter 17 The Reactive State 133

Chapter 18 The Proactive State 139

Chapter 19 The Perceptive State 145

Chapter 20 The Dynamic State 151

Section 6 Contextual Connections—The Art of Getting Personal 157

Chapter 21 Engaging Diverse Audiences 159

Chapter 22 Establishing Digital Relevance Across Channels 167

Chapter 23 Goals—Merging Yours with Theirs 171

Chapter 24 Audience Overlays 177

Chapter 25 Marketing-to-Sales Relationship Architecture 181

Chapter 26 Social Advocacy 187

Section 7 Proving Performance—Science, Not Fluff 193

Chapter 27 Data and Analytics for Business Results 197

Chapter 28 Relevance KPIs 203

Chapter 29 Moving the Needle—Lead Scoring and Progression 211



Contents ● ix

Chapter 30 Empowering Sales with Content 219

Conclusion: Relevance—The Continuous Imperative 225

Notes 227

About the Author 233

Index 235



DIGITAL RELEVANCE

Copyright © Marketing Interactions, Inc. 2015.

All rights reserved.

First published in 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companiesand has companies and representatives throughout the world.

Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.

ISBN: 978–1–137–45280–1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Albee, Ardath. Digital relevance : developing marketing content and strategies

that drive results / Ardath Albee. pages cm ISBN 978–1–137–45280–1 (hardback)— ISBN 1–137–45280–3 1. Marketing. 2. Strategic planning. 3. Customer relations.

4. Selling—Computer network resources. I. Title.

HF5415.A374 2015658.8�72—dc23 2014027486

A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.

Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.

First edition: January 2015

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.



Introduction

A few years ago, I spent a lot of time convincing marketers about the value of investing in content marketing. Today, I get calls from mar-keters saying, “ We bought into the idea of content marketing. We ’ ve

created great content. People read it. But it ’ s not moving the needle .” When I go online to take a look to offer feedback and advice, I usually

see decent content. What I don’t see is any strategic plan for orchestrating engagement with prospects and customers. I don’t see any attempt at rela-tionship building. Mostly, I see areas for improvement in relevance, context, and connection. This is because companies tend to talk about what they know best—their products. Even when marketers think they’re developing content for buyers, they’re not—not really. The problem remains that they don’t know their buyers well enough to provide the level of valuable infor-mation mixed with an emotional connection that buyers are searching for. Quite often, they also don’t know their customers very well. But compound-ing the issue is a one-off mind-set that inhibits storytelling over the length of the buying process. Rectifying these issues gets to the heart of context and relevance.

I wrote Digital Relevance for the marketers, corporate communications professionals, consultants, and entrepreneurs faced with the need to build relationships with elusive buyers whose context can change in a nanosecond. Technology was billed as the answer. But it’s only confused the issue because the strategy is lacking. Marketing has changed—and changed fast—leaving marketers adrift without the foundation, mind-set, and skills they need to master the dynamics of digital engagement when faced with shrinking attention spans and the increasing noise and velocity of content publishing. Meanwhile, the pressure for accountability builds every day with marketers unsure how to prove what they do matters. Yet matter it does.



2 ● Digital Relevance

To be successful, marketers must implement highly personalized and integrated programs today in channels and manners they haven’t ever used before. The breadth of skills required to succeed in marketing has increased dramatically. For marketers used to coordinating the activities of external agencies and focusing on one stand-alone campaign at a time, a large gap in competency has been exposed.

Filling this gap will require that marketers develop customer-oriented communications, identify the distinct value that differentiates their company, make the shift from one-off communications to a continuum approach, and ensure that data and metrics are used to relate their programs to the achieve-ment of business objectives.

More than $40 billion is spent globally each year producing and using cus-tom content in marketing programs. But how much of that money is bring-ing quantifiable return on investment? How long will companies continue to spend on marketing programs that don’t help achieve business objectives?

Publishing content without a strategy isn’t moving the needle. Time, effort, and money are flushed away without a quantifiable impact on busi-ness performance. This is a serious problem for marketers. Their companies expect results. Their jobs are on the line. If not now, then soon.

Many of the marketers I speak with are concerned that their marketing isn’t as effective as it could be. They know that buyers and customers prefer digital information and communications, but they’re not confident in how to go about creating relevant content successfully. And, they’re deeply con-cerned that they won’t be able to reach their customers as the competition for attention online increases. Much of the marketing content I see lacks the personalization and targeting that is needed to do more than engage pros-pects or customers briefly, in the immediate moment.

This just won’t do. Buyers have changed. They’re demanding, exact-ing, and averse to risk. They want confident vendors that bring more to the table than their products. Buyers need strategic partners that bring expertise they don’t have to solve problems that are becoming ever more complex. Marketers have the knowledge to do so. They just need to match it with the skills required to create strategies and approaches that will result in successful execution tied to business objectives.

Creating content your audiences find useful has been the rallying cry for content marketing for at least the last five years. Quality content can be



Introduction ● 3

found in every medium and channel. It’s no longer enough. Business-to-business (B2B) buyers crave meaning and connection—not just utility or value. That’s a distinction that raises the bar for relevance and what mar-keters must achieve to create sustainable growth for their companies in the future.

Given the ease of publishing, marketers have gotten themselves into a bit of a pickle with buyers. They’ve published so much content without a strat-egy or the ability to speak to what matters to target markets that prospective buyers continue not to trust content produced by vendors. Buyers think ven-dor content is biased and lacking substantiation for the assertions it makes. Therefore they trust it less, just when we need for them to trust it more.

There is a silver lining. Buyers want to buy. They want to do so faster than they do now. They’re also solving problems they’ve never had to solve before. Your buyers know they need help finding and deploying the right solutions. But they’re stymied by the information they find online that doesn’t address what they need. They’re expending so much effort to make the right decision that it’s taking longer, involving more stakeholders, and introducing risk that keeps them from making a choice. And the inconsistency they experience across channels isn’t helping.

Marketers know relevance is critical, but they need to understand what it truly means in action and how to accomplish it. Digital Relevance will arm marketers with a comprehensive approach to learn the skills they need to correct these issues and iterate their way to being so damn relevant that their audiences can’t help but engage with them for the expertise needed to solve their problems. With this competency, they’ll help their companies reverse the credibility gap and help their buyers get on the fast track to problem resolution by creating better connections with depth of meaning. They’ll be equipped to master the contributions that content marketing can make in any digital situation, with any stakeholders, be they customers, buyers, sales teams, industries, or the executive board.

As buyers and customers become more self-sufficient at researching solu-tions to their problems, marketers are shouldering more of the responsibil-ity to make sure their companies build awareness, are viewed as credible, and display enough expertise to get invited into the purchasing conversation. Digital Relevance is your guide to ensuring that this happens.



accountability, 1, 6, 88, 127, 168, 193, 200account-based marketing, 182–3Apple, 12, 16, 42Ask, Julie, 96attention, 77–9

cursory, 78intentional, 79misleading, 78voluntary, 78

Audi, 169–70audience overlays

advantages, 179content for, 179–80overview, 177–9

Bernoff, Josh, 96big-picture perspective, 22–3, 60–1blog posts, 14–15, 21, 25–7, 29, 31, 39,

52, 54, 65–7, 72, 78, 80, 90, 92, 95, 111, 113, 122, 124, 131, 134–6, 141, 145, 167, 169, 188, 191, 202, 206–7, 214–15

Brinker, Scott, 25budget, authority, need, and timeline

(BANT), 212budgetsBudweiser, 114building relationships, 23business-to-business (B2B) marketing

brand positioning and, 37content and, 3, 84customer experience and, 64, 73engagement and, 3, 7irrelevance and, 13relevance and, 7, 9, 20, 35

shifting relevance and, 20, 23storytelling and, 113value and, 20, 35

buyersbuyer experience, 76–8buyer questions, 76–7buying stages, 55, 76–7, 107, 125,

130, 173, 195, 202, 214–15buzzwords, 38, 52, 92, 104

calls to action, 85, 92, 142, 153campaigns, 58–62, 86–7channels

characteristics, 168–70integration, 121–2need for, 124–5putting channels in context, 122–4relevance, 167–70

chief financial officers (CFOs), 118, 152, 199

chief technology officers (CTOs), 100–1ChiefMartec.com, 25cloud, 16, 21, 92, 100–1, 121, 140CMI, 113competitive advantage, 63–4connecting silos, 30Conradt, Glenn, 96–7content, as investment

buyers’ learning styles and, 93connecting dots with, 93–8overview, 89reinvention, 89–90repetition, 91–2repurposing, 90–1

content hub, 96, 175, 179, 206–7

Index



236 ● Index

content marketingcalls to action, 85content at too high a level, 85–6issues with, 84–6leaps of faith, 85overview, 84ownership of expertise, 85targeting, 86too much user effort, 85

context, 9–10contextual connections, 157–8contextualization, 121–5continuous improvement, 30–1continuum

attention and, 77–9benefits of, 87–8capitalizing on, 80–1creating continuum approach, 75–7distribution channels and, 79–80overview, 69–70real-time relevance and, 71–2speed and, 72–3

conversational competence, 26–9, 36Coolsen, Michael, 114CoreMedia, 96–7, 122Corporate Executive Board (CEB), 64cost per lead, 199–200CRM (customer relationship

management), 16customer advocates, 189customer experience

complexity, 64–6creating holistic experiences, 66–8overview, 63–4

customer obsession, 33–4customer service, 61

data/analyticsidentifying business metrics, 198–201overview, 197–8ROI in content, 201–2

Demandbase, 122, 183DemandGen Report, 9, 73, 113demographics, 160, 211–12Digital Pacesetters, 57distinct value

diagram, 42discerning, 42–5overview, 41–2

distribution channels, 79–80

dynamic stateday in the life of a dynamic

marketer, 152–4making transition to, 154–5overview, 151–2

eConsultancy, 170Eloqua, 95engagement

building a conversational framework, 163–5

context and, 162–63curiosity and, 162–3overview, 159–60personas and, 52–3relevance and, 160–2

Ernst, Jeff, 95–6execution, 127–8external research, 54–5

Facebook, 13, 39, 72, 167–9, 191FedEx, 16Flipboard, 79Forrester Research, 60, 94–96, 168Fournaise Marketing Group, 7, 193functional magnetic resonance

imaging (fMRI), 103

goals, 171–5information and, 174–5mapping, 173–4merging, 171–3

Google, 42, 63, 92, 100, 167, 191

Hasson, Uri, 103

IBM, 16, 57, 92IDG, 27, 76, 159industry influencers, 188–9infographics, 8, 65, 72, 90, 93, 131, 174interactivity, 124, 162Ion Interactive, 95irrelevance

in action, 16–17overview, 13–15skills needed to overcome, 15–16

ITSMA, 171

Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 114



Index ● 237

key performance indicators (KPIs), 44, 88, 167, 186, 193

attention, 203–5intention, 207–9interaction, 205–7using with customers, 208

keywords and phrases, 51–2

lead scoring and progressionactive persona with no intent, 214leveling playing field, 216–17matching demographics to

personas, 211–12overview, 211progressive persona activity, 215scoring behaviors, 213–16updating progressive profiling

techniques, 212–13validating scoring processes, 217–18

leaps of faith, 85LinkedIn

channel integration and, 79–80, 123–4

content and, 72contextualization and, 122and digital relevance across channels,

167–70discussion groups, 14, 29, 39, 66, 80,

122, 123, 140, 188external research and, 54improving profile, 191Pulse, 79

listening, irrelevance and, 15LiveBall, 95

mapping, 107, 173–4marketing automation platforms

(MAPs), 201marketing technology, 31, 146Marketing Technology Landscape

Supergraphic, 25measuring performance, 193–5millennials, 64, 190Mobile Mind, The (Schadler, Bernoff,

and Ask), 96multichannel comprehension, 15–16

neutral stance, 20–1

ownership of expertise, 85

perceptive stateday in the life of a perceptive

marketer, 146–8overview, 145–6using perceptions to prosper, 148–9

personalization, 2, 54, 76, 79, 83, 97, 119, 122, 157–8, 168, 199, 225

personasbuyer, 47–8components of, 48–55customer, 48development of, 53–4engagement scenarios, 52–3external research, 54–5first-person scenario, 49keywords and phrases, 51–2objectives and, 49–50obstacles and, 50orientation and, 50overview, 47–8problems and, 50–1questions, 51social media and online

destinations, 52user, 48value of, 55

Pinterest, 167, 191podcasts, 72, 90positioning for competitive advantage

overview, 37–8role in spreading your story, 38–40

predictive analytics, 34–5proactive state

day in the life of a proactive marketer, 140–2

overview, 139–40pivoting to, 142–4see also reactive state

product replacement, 16profiling, 212–13pronoun shifts, 16

Quesenberry, Keith, 114questions, personas and, 51

radical relevanceoverview, 33–5relevance maturity, 35–6see also Relevance Maturity Matrix



238 ● Index

reactive statecalming the chaos, 136–7day in the life of a reactive

marketer, 133–6overview, 133see also proactive state

real-time relevancecontinuum and, 71–2speed and, 72–3

relationship architecturemarketing, 183–4overview, 181–3sales, 184–5SLAs to improve transitions, 185–6

relevanceoverview, 7–9, 225–6context as cornerstone of, 9–10

relevance KPIssee Key Performance Indicators

Relevance Maturity Matrix (RMM), 10–12

repetition, 89, 91–2research and development (R&D), 61–2responsiveness

conundrum of choice, 130–2overview, 129–30syncing up, 132

return on investment (ROI), 14, 118, 161, 174, 178, 193, 197, 200–1, 208, 223

return on marketing investment (ROMI), 57, 200

Richardson, 219ruthless editing, 22

salesCliffsNotes for, 220–23overview, 219–20targeting and, 186, 220–1value and, 60, 160, 181–2,

200–1, 219–21sales accepted lead (SAL), 199Salesforce.com, 42scenario molding, 34Schadler, Ted, 96search engine optimization (SEO), 29, 65Service Level Agreements (SLAs), 185–6shifting relevance

neutral stance and, 20–1overview, 19–20skills needed to maintain, 21–3

Sirius Decisions, 20, 157skills

for overcoming irrelevancemultichannel comprehension, 15–16product replacement, 16pronoun shifts, 16

for overcoming shifting relevancebig-picture perspective, 22–3building relationships, 23ruthless editing, 22

social relevance andconnecting the silos, 30continuous improvement, 30–1conversational competence, 28–30technology enablement, 31–2

slide decks, 54, 72, 90, 206SlideShare, 39, 90social advocacy

attracting industry influencers, 188–9empowering employees in social

channels, 190–1helping customers become

advocates, 189–90overview, 187–8

social mediachannel integration and, 121–2,

169–70continuum and, 72, 79–80customer experience and, 61, 65dynamic state and, 151, 153employees and, 190external research and, 54intention and, 208listening and, 15marketing and, 183, 194perceptive state and, 146–7personas and, 52proactive state and, 140, 143reactive state and, 133–5relevance and, 8–9, 15repetition and, 92ROI/ROMI and, 200speed and, 72storytelling and, 113see also social advocacy; social

relevancesocial relevance

overview, 25–8skills needed to maintain, 28–32

software-as-a service (SaaS) company, 100–2, 146



Index ● 239

speed, 72–3storytelling

character, 115–16climax, 116–17conflict, 106–7diagram, 118dialogue, 117–18evolution of, 113–14helping buyers find place in story,

118–19movement and, 104overview, 99–102plot, 116as process for continuous

improvement, 111–12progressive transformation, 107resolution, 117setting, 115strategic value of, 109–14structure, 115–19suspension of disbelief, 105why stories work, 103–6

strategyoverview, 5–6executing, 127–8storytelling and, 109–14value and, 5–6

Super Bowl ads, 114suspension of disbelief, 105syncing up, 132

targetingattention and, 77channels and, 15content and, 86continuum and, 86–7, 89conversation and, 164–5engagement and, 8, 10, 161goals and, 172, 174intention and, 207–8interaction and, 206marketing and, 2–3, 57–8, 84, 86,

158, 183–4personas and, 47, 55, 212repetition and, 91repurposing and, 90RMM and, 10–11sales and, 186, 220–1storytelling and, 115strategy and, 5

technology enablement, 31–2

Traditionalists, 57Twitter

channel integration and, 80, 121–3, 167–8

content and, 90, 96, 122–3conversation and, 28empowering employees and, 191hashtags, 90, 96, 122positioning and, 38proactive marketing and, 140, 142reactive marketing and, 134relevance and, 14, 29, 167–8retweets, 140, 168social advocacy and, 188speed and, 72value and, 96

valuearticulating, 157–8B2B marketing and, 20, 35big-picture perspective and, 59–61channels and, 122continuum and, 71–2, 74, 76–7, 79,

81, 86–7conveying, 20customer experience and, 63–4customer obsession and, 33differentiation and, 41–5distinct value, 42–5dynamic execution and, 127–8dynamic state and, 152–3engagement and, 160, 162investment in content and, 89–98marketing and, 1–3, 7, 86, 181–2,

184–6performance and, 193–5personas and, 47–55, 116–17, 119positioning and, 37–40predictive analysis and, 35proactive state and, 139, 143R&D and, 61relationships and, 23relevance and, 17retention and, 199ROI and, 174sales and, 60, 160, 181–2, 200–1,

219–21scenario modeling and, 34SEO and, 29SLAs and, 186social advocacy and, 188



240 ● Index

value—Continuedstorytelling and, 105, 107, 109–14,

116–17, 119strategy and, 5–6

vendor websites, 114Volvo, 42

webinarsattention and, 78buyers’ learning styles and, 93channel integration and, 124content development and, 8, 90, 93continuum and, 72customer experience and, 65–7, 131digital marketing and, 194interaction and, 206

irrelevance and, 14–15marketing architecture and, 183personas and, 52, 211, 215relevance and, 8, 14, 19social relevance and, 27value of, 114

white papers, 8, 13, 65, 67, 72, 87, 89–90, 114, 141–3, 169, 174, 188, 206–7, 214–15, 217, 222

WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?), 118

YouTube, 39, 80, 167, 169, 202

Zak, Paul, 104Zite, 79



digital relevance

Documents

contents chapter

copyrighted material

social relevance

radical relevance

relevance kpis

dynamic state

distinct value

continuum approach