I took part in an interesting discussion today regarding how much effort and resource organizations should put toward developing and "owning" unique creative terms. Every marketer wants to be the Jerry Maguire that is associated with "show me the money," but the internet rewards the common and most commonly searched terms: "images of money?"

Of course, this is just another question in the ongoing debate between the more creative elements of marketing organizations and those that are more process oriented. But it does make you wonder if United Airlines would be happier being associated with the "friendly skies" or "cheap Florida vacations."  The former is a more memorable, longer lasting marketing asset, but the latter is more tangibly associated with current revenue--as long as the SEO budget remains strong, that is.

I need a new laptop. I also know that I won't be happy until I have done exhaustive research to assure myself that I have purchased the perfect machine for me: the right compromise of weight and power, the best video for my needs, the right-sized keyboard, and so on. There are so many options to consider, and so many choices, that I'm making my 3-year-old Toshiba, with Vista, last as long as possible.

Do your B2B buyers feel overwhelmed, too--to the point where they just aren't buying?

I wondered this as I read Ted Mininni's blog post on MarketingProfs, "Don’t Confuse the Customer: Limit Choices, Make More Sales." The post is written for the B2C marketer, but the concept works for B2B as well.

Mininni asks: "Has a store that is packed with selections overwhelmed you and turned you off?" The question is relevant whether the product is potato chips, laptops, or IT services.

If your company markets ERP software or employee benefits, for example, your buyers have to do a lot of research before they can make a short list, let alone make a decision. But if they perceive the number of choices to be manageable, they won't be paralyzed by indecision--they will decide, act, and buy. As B2B marketers, it is in our best interest to narrow the field.

Targeting and positioning (starting with the sage advice of Ries and Trout in the classic book, Positioning) are tried and true techniques. Now they must be adapted to the buyer who controls the buying cycle. That means:

• Identifying the buyer's stage of the buying cycle as part of their persona. Are they unaware of your product or brand, or just need more education about it?
• Placing the buyer's agenda above your own. Buyer's don't care about your company's events unless you can help them get their jobs done. Devise content that provides benefit now, on their terms.
• Utilizing the channels where buyers are looking for content--social media being a critical piece. Don't expect buyers to seek out your company--but do expect them to seek out information. Where do they look for helpful, objective information? Be in those conversations.

A content strategy that respects the buying cycle is key to helping the buyer eliminate some choices and focus the buying decision. This strategy leaves control with the buyers--where it belongs now--and places the right information in front of them at the the right time. Adopt a content strategy that avoids overwhelming them with choices, and instead enables an informed decision in your favor.

Two major events make a trend. Now that Yahoo has purchased Associated Content, in the wake of AOL launching Seed.com, it is official that the major Internet portals see big profits in the ads they can sell on pages of cheap content.

The content categories on Seed.com read like the sections of USAToday: Entertainment, News, Sports, Lifestyle, Money & Finance. Today, hot topics on Associated Content include LeBron James, Lost, and Shrek. Is the commoditization of content just a B2C business, or does it have ramifications for B2B?

I sat on a panel yesterday for the Technology Association of Georgia, to discuss how to integrate social media into the marketing mix to generate leads. The questions from the audience validated what I've been seeing: inbound marketing demands that marketing orgainzations produce greater volumes of content, and monitor the social media constantly. This effort requires staff, which costs money, which requires some provable ROI before the investment is made. So many companies are still struggling to get fully on board with true inbound marketing.

So a "seed" model for B2B could be tempting to some B2B firms, but I don't think it will gain a foothold, and here's why: the stakes for both the buyer and the marketer are too high.

As a consumer, if I learn how to pack a suitcase, or buy a new breakfast cereal, based on a tip I read in a 250-word article for which the writer received $25, that's great. If the tip turns out to be a bad one, not much harm done.

But education and due diligence are too important in a B2B buying cycle. Let's hope that no CIO is going to be convinced to invest in a new network infrastructure, for hundreds of thousands of company dollars, based on a generic article that a random freelancer submitted online for a few dollars. And no B2B marketer would risk distributing the cheapest content possible only to be bested by the competition.

That doesn't mean that B2B content won't get cheapened in the scramble to generate more, faster. But the best content will generate the best leads, pure and simple.

Marketing expert David Meerman Scott blogged last week about Boeing's new web site as a stellar example of brand journalism--a term he defines thus:

Brand Journalism is not a product pitch. It is not an advertorial. It is not an egotistical spewing of gobbledygook-laden corporate drivel.

Instead Brand Journalism is the creation of Web content—videos, blog posts, photos, charts, graphs, essays, ebooks, white papers—that deliver value to your marketplace and serve to position your organization as one worthy of doing business with.

In my nose-to-the-grindstone marketing-manager mind, I can't discern how brand journalism differs from what I have come to know, simply, as good marketing content.

Gobbledygook-laden corporate drivel = bad.
Position my organization as one worth of doing business with = good.

And yes, Boeing is an example of good. But to paraphrase Billy Joel, "It's still B2B [marketing] to me."

So I appreciated John Bethune's recent post, "Is B2B ready for corporate journalism?" (And see also our post, "B2B Publishers: Guardians of Truth.") Brand/corporate journalism, ideally, occurs when a company reports honestly, transparently, on itself, with the objective eye of a journalist. Now that's discernibly different from what I know. But is it feasible?

Bethune asks: "Does content marketing inherently compromise journalistic ideals? Or does the problem lie with [marketers] who don’t understand the point of brand journalism?" Is it practical to expect companies to report on themselves objectively when the news is not good? We have only to look at today's headlines for an answer.

The new Boeing.com features Rocky the bomb-sniffing dog = good.
BP.com's headline article "Gulf of Mexico response" = good, as marketing goes, but--
It reads quite differently from this New York Times story = bad.

How would BP act differently if it really understood brand journalism? Would they really, for example, blog that they underestimated the magnitude of the oil leak? Or does BP understand as well as any company can? If it does, then perhaps the idea of brand journalism is, after all, a helpful new way to approach the creation of good B2B marketing content--even if the objective perspective of the traditional journalist is not attainable.

The toughest part of a B2B marketer's job? 73% say: doing more with less. A new survey from Genius.com and BtoB Magazine is quoted in MarketingProfs ("B2B Marketers Struggle with Changing Roles"). We knew, anecdotally, that "doing more with less" is the mantra for all of us working in this economy--not just for B2B marketers. This statistic validates the anecdotes.

In the same study, B2B marketers reveal that about half of them are blogging, half are using Twitter, and less than half are using other social media and digital marketing tools. That means a majority of B2B marketers are still adopting their practices to content-driven online marketing. There is a lot of change still ahead.

So, let's connect the dots. B2B marketers are already stretched to get everythng done, and many have not yet begun to produce the volumes of content they will need as they adopt blogs, tweets, SEO, Facebook, LinkedIn, and marketing automation.

So their mandate isn't just "do more with less"--it's: "create more content with less."

We are standing at a profound intersection of communications boom and economic bust.  It's a fascinating era to observe.

Have you ever been solicited by a company that you already do business with? It happens to me all the time. Don’t these companies know that I am already part of their value chain? So, why are they spamming and cold calling me? I feel like I am being taken for granted, and I look for an excuse to “escape” through the bottom of their sales funnel. Don’t let this happen to your customers by neglecting their content.

Content for the Invested Buyer must be exclusive. It should give the buyer a sense of being a member of a select group, and be reframed for the customer relationship. Just as a parent doesn’t talk to a teenager the same way he talks to a toddler, you can’t afford marketing material that talks down to your customers.

How can your content foster the stakeholder relationship with your Invested Buyers?

• Inform, don’t educate. Your customer has “graduated,” As an Invested Buyer, she is now your peer, not your pupil. Content should be informative, like a newspaper, not educational like a textbook.
• Treat customers as members. Communicate exclusivity and the elevated status you give your customers. Sneak previews of new information, and “insider” tips that don’t upsell, set the right tone.
• Don’t take the customer for granted. Don’t let customers leak out of the end of the sales funnel, only to get swept up by a competitor. Analyze your overall marketing plan for an appropriate proportion of effort for marketing to customers.

Most importantly, remember that your customer is still in a buying cycle in which she has claimed control. Allow her to retain that sense of control in a peer relationship. It’s been a long and hopefully rewarding journey for both of you. Give your  Invested Buyer the special status she has earned. Read more about content for the complete four-stage buying cycle:

Click here for Stage 1: The Unaware Buyer.
Click here for Stage 2: The Tentative Buyer.
Click here for Stage 3: The Engaged Buyer.
Click here for the Introduction to the Four Stage Series.

Your suspects have become prospects, and then qualified prospects. They have landed smack in the middle of your sales funnel. They have even met with your account rep and senior executives. You’re on their short list. Does that mean that your work providing marketing content is done?

Hardly.

Your buyer is Engaged. He already knows about your company, your industry, and your competition. But he still needs plenty of information--enough to feel safe.

Content for the Engaged Buyer must be validating. Now is the time to confirm the Engaged Buyer’s good impression, answer questions and objections, and make your offering compelling.

How can you provide content specifically for the Engaged Buyer? Here are a few examples of content that works well at this stage:

• Case studies. Help the buyer relate to your current customer. By describing your established success, you relieve feelings of risk the buyer might have.
• Third party articles. Outside influencers, such as journalists and analysts, carry more weight than you do. Even if an article’s focus is more “corporate” than “solution” based, remember that the Engaged Buyer is researching your company’s vision as well as your product. 
• Competitive comparisions. Break out the spreadsheet comparing speeds and feeds, product features and price/performance versus the competition.
• Customer-friendly legal documents. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be. Plain English agreements eliminate the win/lose mentality of the typical contract.

Many companies make the mistake of using validating content too early in the cycle, when the buyer is Tentative and not yet Engaged. But validating the company and the offering too early is akin to a sales pitch. The Tentative Buyer has his own problems to solve. Assume that he doesn’t care about your company until he suspects you might help solve his problem. Then he is Engaged, and seeks content that portrays you as the safe choice.

Content at this stage is more advanced than for previous stages, and doesn't yet include your buyer in the elite status of your customers. Read more about the four stages of the buying cycle:

Click here for Stage 1: The Unaware Buyer.
Click here for Stage 2: The Tentative Buyer.
Click here for Stage 4: The Invested Buyer.
Click here for the Introduction to the Four Stage Series.

Is your buyer standing quietly on the edge of the market, trying not to be noticed? Research shows that most B2B projects start without a budget or purchase authority—when the potential buyer does a web search. This is the Tentative Buyer, and she wants to learn as much as possible about the best solution—without being sold anything.

Content for the Tentative Buyer must be educational. It has to give the buyer a feeling of control over the research process, while gently, almost subliminally guiding her to your solution. 

Because the Tentative Buyer must feel she has done her due diligence, she won’t get on board with your product before she has researched all the alternatives—so don’t expect her to. Help her learn, compare, and self-qualify to be your customer.

The blessing and curse of the web in B2B marketing is that the buyer has taken control of the research. The curse: she has fast access to a virtual conversation that you can’t control. The blessing: she insists on doing the research herself—let her self-qualify, using your content.

How do you provide content that educates, and preserves the buyer’s feeling of control?

• Make the shift internally. Is your marketing department operating on pre-Web 2.0 assumptions? Here’s a simple test: look at your search keywords. Do they describe the buyer’s problem, or your solution? If the latter, root out those assumptions in your search campaigns and copy. Provide knowledge first, solutions second.
• Make your web site a self-qualification tool. Add a little interactivity to give visitors a feeling of control—and it let them do the work. Give them choices such as, “Are your stores in one city, or multiple cities?” Interface with your analytics or marketing automation system, and capture valuable lead information even while the buyer takes charge. (One of our favorite examples is this interactive presentation from Eloqua: http://illuminate.eloqua.com/. It does include the sales pitch, but it makes it fun.)
• Develop an educational series that is truly educational. White papers and webinars are effective for education, but notorious for their marketing pitches. To attract Tentative Buyers, lead with learning, and ditch the pitch. The title “What Financial Regulation Means for Main Street Bankers” has more educational appeal than “Streamline Banking Customer Care with the XYZ Solution.”
• Don’t talk about babies on the first date. Long registration forms for white papers, overzealous email drips, and too many commands to “Call us now!” conspire to make a Tentative Buyer feel less in control of the buying cycle. Don’t push for the lead. Let her get to know you.

After earning an education, the Tentative Buyer is ready to officially enter the market for what you offer, and become an Engaged Buyer. Continue reading and learn more:

Click here for Stage 1: The Unaware Buyer.
Click here for Stage 3: The Engaged Buyer.
Click here for Stage 4: The Invested Buyer.
Click here for the Introduction to the Four Stage Series.

Does your prospect need a whack on the head? If he is an Unaware Buyer, he doesn’t care about your product, even if he needs it. And he certainly doesn’t care about your webinar or your trade show booth. The challenge with the Unaware Buyer is that he goes out of his way to avoid any sales pitch, because he doesn’t think he needs to buy anything.

Content for the Unaware Buyer must be interruptive. It has to light a new spark, and cause the would-be prospect to do a double-take and change his mind about what you have to say.

How do you arrest attention from an Unaware Buyer?

• Speak loudly to the pain. Slow downloads? Dropped cell phone calls? High electric bills? Remind your buyers that their needs are too great, and their standards are too high, to live with that pain.
• Make it news. A new research finding is news; your appearance at the upcoming trade show is not. To be interruptive, the information must be new, not rehashed, and original.
• Make it entertaining. The ads people talk about at the water cooler are the ones designed to interrupt an Unaware Buyer into changing brands or “needing” a new innovation. Edgy creative turns heads.
• Know your persona. Develop solid personas for the Unaware Buyers to be sure that your content speaks directly to them, and also gets distributed through the media she uses.

We worked with a client to develop a survey reaching Unaware HR directors. The questions in the survey made the participants (our Unaware Buyers) consider the pain they were tolerating, and become interested in the outcome of our research. The survey results then had an immediate audience with the participants, and fed several effective marketing campaigns to reach more.

Interruptive content for the Unaware Buyer requires massaging before it is useful for the other stages: Tentative, Engaged, and Invested.

Click here for Stage 2: The Tentative Buyer.
Click here for Stage 3: The Engaged Buyer.
Click here for Stage 4: The Invested Buyer
Click here for the Introduction to the Four Stage Series

The Edelman Trust Barometer is a yearly study, conducted by the revered PR firm, of who is trusted and why. I had the opportunity to see a presentation of the 2010 data at the Atlanta Women’s Network luncheon this week.

One finding that surprised me is that trust in business is up dramatically since last year. I would have expected a small rise, but not a large one, following a precipitous dip in 2009. Edelman attributes this rise to business’ willingness to listen to and engage all their stakeholders—not just stockholders.

This is good news for marketers, in the aggregate. It means we are doing our jobs to respond to the public’s reaction to events such as government takeovers and bailouts that deflated trust in businesses a year ago. But our work isn't done. Edelman also finds that trust is fragile--the public expects corporations to return to "business as usual" once the economy bounces back. Can we exceed their expectations, and keep trust alive?

Another interesting finding: in 2006, strong financial performance ranked #3 as an indicator that a company could be trusted. By 2010, financial performance has dropped to #10. The public sees that not all profits are gained in a trustworthy way. Today, the public views transparent and honest practices as the #1 indicator of trustworthiness. Quality products and services, open communications, and good treatment of employees also rank high.

As B2B marketers, the Edelman survey validates the ways we might naturally react to news about Toyota and Goldman Sachs (It’s fascinating that the Edelman survey came out before these recent trust-busting events.) The public attributes the practices and problems of the companies in the news to all businesses. We don’t need to lead off the email newsletter with the press release about “2% increase in EBITDA.” Instead, we can build trust with content that personalizes the executives, establishes our integrity, and speaks the truth even when it isn’t good news. 

Read more here about the Edelman Trust Barometer.