Top tactics for developing effective marketing content from Marketing Sherpa

Posted by Cindy on May 11, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments

Most of our LuCorp Marketing clients have been through re-working of their content, sometimes 2-3 times a year for better positioning and messaging.  We truly feel that a website’s content is to be “living and breathing” and needs to be changed out, added to, and developed to better fit keywords for SEO purposes and for customer interaction.  Websites are no longer  just “brochures” online, they are the online voice of the company.  This article and chart really proves what is important to marketers when it comes to developing effective content.  Thanks Marketing Sherpa!

by Jen Doyle, Senior Research Analyst

The most effective tactics for developing marketing content

Repurposing and reformatting existing content 64%

Encouraging customers to submit testimonials and case studies 53%

Recruiting authors internally from other departments 48%

Outsourcing to a consultant or agency 27%

Utilizing social media to encourage brand advocates to produce content 20%
Many organizations have a library of marketing content at their disposal, including press releases, blog posts, whitepapers, etc., and this content typically only reaches a small percentage of an organization’s target audience. This is why repurposing and reformatting existing content has been rated as the most effective tactic in helping organizations develop marketing content and messaging.

Recruiting authors internally from other departments can be a tactic that is not always well-received by individuals outside of the marketing department. Despite the sometimes challenging task of recruiting new authors, 48% of B2B organizations still find this to be an effective tactic.

Outsourcing to a consultant or agency has not been rated as a highly effective tactic. Developing marketing content requires an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the brand and its target audience and at times, this can be difficult for a consultant or agency to acquire. Only when an organization finds a consultant or agency that is a good fit for their organization can this be an effective means of producing marketing content and messaging. (Note from Cindy, LuCorp Marketing:  “It is our job to be a good fit for you to produce effective marketing content and messaging.”)

For additional research data and insights about B2B marketing, download and read the free Executive Summary from the MarketingSherpa 2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark Rep