I’ve been seeing QR codes more and more and wondered how I might incorporate them into my own marketing content and activities for B2B companies. After doing much research, testing, and my own brainstorming, I came up with this infographic to help pull it all together. Hope you enjoy it!

You can also download the PDF version here.

AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI

Welcome to part one of the “bake a white paper from scratch” series. Here you sit, ready to start your new white paper. You might be a product manager who needs supporting collateral for sales, a marketing team member who’s been given the assignment, or perhaps you have a small or mid-size business, without the luxury of a marketing team, writing it yourself. Either way, you’re facing what might seem like a daunting project ahead. So, let’s take the mystery out of it and work through this together.

The first thing you need to do is determine just why you need a white paper. If you’re going to spend the time to create one, and believe me it will take much time and effort (remember your college final essay?), you better have a plan for its use. For example, will you offer it as a lead generator through a give-away in return for sign up?  Will you leave it behind after a sales call? Hand it out at trade shows? Or, will it just sit on your Resource page in your website hoping someone might discover it and find it worthwhile?

Assuming you have big plans or its use, let’s talk about some tips that will make your white paper a compelling read and successful medium. First off, white papers have been averaging 6-10 pages, and lately, as small as 4-6 pages (though I don’t think you can do a topic justice in such a short format). Expect your paper to be about 2500-3000 words. The tone of the paper should be in third-person (no using “you” or “we”). You want the paper to come across as unbiased as possible. Think of this as more of an educational tool than a sales pitch.

Now you need a topic your readers will relate to. You might brainstorm with your team or your sales rep to identify specific pain points your product solves—or perhaps you already know. Choose just one business or technical problem! If you solve more than one problem, or address vastly different industries, consider writing a second white paper.

Perhaps you offer a learning management solution that tracks employee training compliance and growth goals. Your white paper topic may be how to solve the tough job of assigning specific training courses to employees, sending reminders, and tracking successful completion. Imagine the pain in trying to do that manually with spreadsheets! Your white paper might not get distracted with assisting in employee growth through training (though may mention that as an additional benefit near the end).

Your first assignment till next time is to come up with a specific business or technical problem that your product or service can solve. In the next post, we’ll talk more about the specific details in the paper.

AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI

Research sponsored by the Association of Online Publishers shows that 97% of the business decision makers surveyed say that the Internet is the most used form of media. Well, I don’t suppose that is any big surprise. But what was interesting was that 74% of the respondents say they are more likely to trust web content if it is linked to an established source, such as a business publication or industry association. While we know that intuitively, it was interesting to see the actual numbers.

It’s no secret that content found on a third party site can hold more credibility than content on the company’s own site. Readers respect content from analysts and industry leaders, and also feel a product or vendor has more credibility if they are being talked about anywhere outside of the company’s site.

Readers make the assumption that third party sites have prescreened content and have therefore given an implied approval. Readers and potential buyers believe that the product or vendor they are reading about must have a solid reputation to be considered for inclusion on any third party site.

So, where might you post content outside of your own company site? Here are just a few that you might consider and that may cost you nothing:

Trade publications – Most trade publications are now online, though many also publish printed versions. The good news is you may have the chance to be published in both. Look for author guidelines inside the front cover or on the site and contact the editor. They can usually provide an editorial calendar and content guidelines. They may even give you a clue as to what topics they are looking for.

Association newsletters – Anymore, the newsletters we read are digital and delivered via e-mail. You probably are already aware of newsletters that come from your area of interest, whether that is horizontally focused, such as customer relationship management (CRM) or vertical, like healthcare. Locate the newsletter owner and find out how to submit an article.

Industry blogs – Blog owners are always looking for new quality content. Look for the blogs that are popular in your space and contact the blog owner to find out if they accept guest-authored posts. Readers are more willing to accept opinions, even vendor opinions, in a blog post. However, they also appreciate educational information.

Now that you have your opportunity to be seen on a third party site, make sure you provide quality content that supports the real-world business or technical problems your prospects and customers are facing. Don’t miss out on this great chance to be heard.

AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI

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IDG Research that looks at tech buyer’s satisfaction with vendor marketing information. Pay attention here–we’re not measuring up, and the bar is low.

IDG survey asked technologists and business buyers about their preferences for content as they move through the sales cycle.

The respondents were not very demanding as they said they would be satisfied if 56% of the marketing information was what they needed to become informed and create a shortlist of vendors from which to buy products and services.”

IDG goes on to describe the sale cycle and content requirements for each phase:

• General education – articles, advertisements
• Business case – case studies, articles
• Evaluation – case studies, tutorials, and demonstrations
• Shortlist creation/Final decision – case studies, tutorials, and demos

I suggest that white papers also belong in the mix, probably somewhere between general education and building a business case.

What was also interesting was that in the early stages, buyers preferred documents by more than 50%. This preference transitions to webcasts in the evaluation and shortlist creation, followed by documents again in the final decision phase.

What is still most important and has never changed is that buyers prefer peer-based content and independent reviews and not inaccurate or vendor-slanted information.

“Technology buyers are telling us that the days of randomly producing marketing materials without regard to what they want are coming to an end,” said Bob Johnson, Vice President, Engagement Optimization at IDG Communications. “As our research shows, vendors that get the right mix of content at the right time for influencers and decision makers will significantly increase their chances of making a sale.”

Bottom line here, make sure you have a content strategy that addresses each phase in the sales cycle with quality information buyers will find relevant and educational, in a format they prefer.

AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI