What your momma can teach you about writing good content

© Edbockstoc

This post originally appeared on The Write Stuff where Stan DeVaughn blogs on behalf of Write Angle, Silicon Valley’s premiere technology writing agency.

Chances are your mom was a tough customer with a sophisticated BS-detection system.  Especially when it came to shopping and sifting through manufacturers’ claims. Today’s mothers, if we are to believe the studies, are every bit as shrewd.  Difference today is that mom knows her way around the Web and how to find exactly what she wants. Hint: she goes far beyond the brand’s website to find “the friendly neighbor over the virtual fence” who can share the inside scoop on how different products compare.

In other words, today’s moms’ behavior in their marketplace is identical to that of the hardest-nosed prospects in yours. So what lessons can you as a B2B marketer draw from the most successful consumer brands when it comes to building credibility among their most skeptical customers — those prove-it-to-me moms who guard their family’s budgets with a fist as tight as any corporate controller’s?

1. Redouble your efforts to make everything you present specifically relevant and timely to the target. Successful brands understand that today’s e-customers turn first to experts and respected peers, never the brand spokespersons.  And just as moms go right to the blogosphere for tips and guidance, B2B buyers increasingly go straight to the alpha opinion leaders in their categories.

2. Try harder to instigate only those discussions about your industry and technology that the opinion makers and thought leaders want to have. This is a subtle shift from a time, not so long ago, when marketing departments and their various agencies would look for issues that a company might be able to “own”.  The trick today is to pinpoint specific hot buttons drawing the most buzz and then to weigh in with your perspective based on the experiences of your users. If your brand message is delivered in harmony with the hottest issues, over time, you enjoy the halo effect. This inspires direct conversations with more of the hottest prospects and the trials that convert to sales.  From there the credibility spreads and accelerates.

3. Constantly test your material.  A/B testing among various customer segments can reveal surprising data about user sentiments and product usage. Expose different messages that emphasize a different spin and compare the responses in terms of the activity they draw.  Then craft the next wave of content accordingly. Your mom would be proud.

Why content creators must insist that engineering delivers.

© Stelogic

 

What can the Grammys teach B2B marketers? That if you’re promising something, you’d better deliver it. There’s a simple lesson that content creators and all marketing-communicators (listen up, PR people) can learn from the way  last week’s Grammy Awards, ostensibly a tribute to Bob Marley, fell short.  And then heard about it.  We understand that engineers don’t report to marketing but the fact is that whatever is pushed and touted in the mediasphere today must be realized in the marketplace.  The penalty for failure is swift and severe as never before.

You take a certain amount of ownership when you create the content that customers and prospects consume. There’s a social contract here. And never underestimate the enforcement power of the digital culture in which those customers/prospects live. In other words, don’t get “Grammy’d”. Or, engineered. Get on the delivery track to fulfill your content’s promises — insisting on real proof points and testimony from satisfied users/beta-testers willing to speak up on your behalf. Even if they’re not in a position to testify, you’ve done diligence just by verifying.

When he’s not ranting on this blog, Stan DeVaughn can be read on The Write Stuff, along with Peter Davé. Write Angle is Silicon Valley’s premiere agency for technology writing and content creation and where the unofficial motto is Trust But Verify. At least when it comes to product claims.

Your customers want value, not a “relationship”

© Clivia

We love it when marketing myths get exposed.  So when a team of consultants at the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) revealed these results from a recent study, we were intrigued to see a couple of generally accepted marketing 2.0 truisms debunked.

CEB surveyed 7,000 people and learned that buyers really don’t want a “relationship” with brands despite what a lot of New Age marketers would have us believe. What’s more, the theory that a company can somehow build-up this mythical relationship by interacting more often with customers was also rejected. Turns out that when it comes to customer interaction, more is not necessarily better and can often be worse.

While the study focused on consumer brands, in our experience and to our way of thinking there’s a stark message here for B2B marketers: know who’s who in your own customer base — and distinguish those who may be relationship-minded vs. everyone else.

There is no linear relationship between volume of outbound messages and the elusive thing that CEB terms “share of wallet”. Interaction that may seem reasonable and even informative to some buyers will be irksome to others. Takeaway: instead of hammering all prospects and customers alike with endless messages intended to get their attention, carefully consider if the content of your message promises value to your prospects’ research in your category — or just adds to their overload.

The trick is to know exactly what your existing buyers perceived in your value proposition that was consistent with their idea of value. This enables you to flavor future content with the most relevant, like-minded ideas. It’s reality-based marketing, not mythology.

 

(This post also appeared today in The Write Stuff, the blog of Write Angle technology writing services)

In security-technology marketing, saying “newest” doesn’t convey “more useful”

© Jgroup

 

In a recent issue of Dark Reading, Tim Wilson writes that there is a “happy medium” between grabbing the latest technology at every opportunity and holding onto technologies that are clearly outdated: “The digital certificate is one ‘old’ technology worth another look”, he said. We concur. Security vendors need to factor customer value into their marketing initiatives, especially in how they position and promote all things “new” in the content of their market outreach.  Digital certificates are not invulnerable. They can be breached by the more sophisticated attackers out there, but –  they can still secure your data.  They also can prevent the vast majority of attackers from getting away with pretending they are someone they’re not. “And”, he writes, “there is still great value in that”.

The lesson for technology marketing content creators: Because something is new does not make it inherently more valuable.  “New” may merit a press announcement, but it does not necessarily justify a purchase. Marketing content must still contain–and convey–a real value proposition to the user.  Only then will a purchase be truly compelling to the most buyers.

What does your marketing content routinely contain that establishes and conveys value?  What are you doing to ensure consistent standards for customer value?  How are you communicating it in your marketing content?

(When he is not posting on his namesake blog, Stan DeVaughn sees that technology companies place priority on customer value in their marketing content and communications.  You can also read him on The Write Stuff, the blog of technology writing service Write Angle.)

“Have sex with the data” isn’t the way I would put it, but…

There is no app for that.

 

Got to hand it to Mitch Joel, the noted author and exponent of all things marketing in the digital culture.  Dude was the keynoter at last week’s Content Marketing World*, the conference and expo put on by the aptly named Content Marketing Institute.  There he reportedly declared that marketers should “have sex with the data”, at least according to Jason Miller, in a summary of the proceedings.  Translation: “Move beyond customer intimacy and get right to the good stuff. Customers are not looking for advertising, what they want is a personal experience that is highly targeted and relevant.”   Joel was speaking in the context of technology’s impact on the way things are bought and sold today in the digital world.  And he knows how to market his content. His point was that fundamental shifts in technology and customer behaviors influence the ways businesses market their wares and, while these put the crunch on marketing in general, content marketers are “particularly primed” to take advantage of those shifts.

OK, but it still feels to us like there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors in connection with marketing in the digital culture.  Yes, the technology utilized by buyers and sellers alike today enables speed and nimbleness like no other time: buyers can know things faster when it comes to products and what other people like themselves think about them, while sellers can know more about their buyers and how those products are being used.  “Marketers have to figure out how to create relevant marketing in a world where you’re in direct competition with so many others,” said Joel who asked his audience: “What are you doing to tell a better brand narrative?

In our view, the biggest challenge in marketing, aside from introducing the Next Big Thing, has always been about fostering a better brand.  One that’s different because your product is better, not better because it’s merely different.  “You have to give people a reason to connect with you,” Joel said. “It’s not about just recreating a press release for a blog post.”  No argument here.  But hasn’t this been the eternal mission of marketing?

Which takes us back to the smoke-and-mirrors thing. The fact that marketers now can deliver messages across multiple screens is another in a long series of technology advancements since television gave rise to the 30-second commercial and radio spawned the soap opera (that marketed soap for Procter & Gamble).  Weren’t these simply earlier forms of “content marketing” that gave rise to a closer relationship with customers?  Le plus ca change…

[Wikipedia defines content marketing as "an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to attract, acquire and engage clearly defined and understood current and potential consumer bases with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty."]

* Content Marketing World 2012 reportedly attracted 1,005 attendees, up from 631 last year.

The key to being found online isn’t what you think it is

Savvy marketers understand that aging is great for wine and cheese, not for content on their web sites.  The implications for your content-marketing effort should be as plain as your website analytics.  Keeping all marketing content fresh, compelling and specifically relevant to more informed and better connected customers is the shortest distance to them.  Or, more accurately, the shortest route from them to you.

There’s no shortage of commentary about the effect of technology on customer behavior, but when a CEO like Zappos’ Tony Hsieh speaks it pays to pay attention:

“The future of business isn’t just about the latest technology”, said Hsieh (pronounced Shay). “It’s about market disruption and how an organization recognizes and adapts to new opportunities. If they fail to adapt, businesses will succumb to ‘digital Darwinism‘ “, he said in reference to the concept coined by author Brian Solis: that technology has given rise to a much more connected and informed customer whose behavior is changing.

A big part of this change is how these new customers find and share information amongst themselves in their purchase-decision process today. How they find the information they’re looking for is a direct result of how savvy you are in accommodating their searches and their content-consumption preferences.

It used to be that giving customers what they wanted was the key to their satisfaction, as the first step to their loyalty.  While this remains true as ever in technology marketing, there is an added requirement today that’s a function of the technology itself: we must reach out to those customers only in ways they prefer to be reached.  Don’t be digitally Darwin-ized.  Create content your customers can find on their own and want to consume. And the more often the better.

Six things CEOs can learn from Jim Harbaugh

Forty-Niner Head coach Jim Harbaugh is a turn-around specialist.  Prior to accepting the job in San Francisco a year ago, Harbaugh resurrected a long-struggling Stanford football program, transforming it into one of the nation’s elite teams.  Last Sunday, he had the Niners playing in their first NFC championship game since 1998.  His team lost, but it didn’t diminish the glow of a great season.

So what can Harbaugh teach about successful business leadership?  For starters he could conduct a clinic on motivation.  Then he could run a camp on how to improve returns on assets.  As for instillation of enthusiasm in the ranks, there is nothing his team would not do for him. How many CEOs can say the same?  With apologies to long-time Bay Area sports columnist Glenn Dickey, here are my business parallels to the Harbaugh Way:

1.  Naturally upbeat, indefatigable temperament. Harbaugh stays positive and vocal about the talent around him and remains outwardly unaffected by setbacks.  Players, to a man, knowing their coach is on their side, eagerly put forth the extra effort that paid off all year.  In business, it’s human nature to want to do a great job for a great boss — one that you now has your back.

2.  Strategist and tactician. Successful coaches have a knack for quickly identifying their teams’ — and their opponents’ –  strengths and weaknesses. Harbaugh is no exception.  Similarly, the best CEOs always seem to have an instinct not only for knowing what their companies can do best but making it pay off: how to “attack” their competitors in ways that leverage their companies’ strengths versus competitors’ weaknesses.  The best strategy, however, is futile in the absence of the tactical skills necessary to implement it.  In sports it’s about the X’s and O’s; in business, it’s knowledge of people, territory, customers and a visceral feel for the competitive environment and the overall business.

3.  Generous with praise. Never does Harbaugh publicly criticize a player.  Praise, on the other hand, is conspicuous and generous. Sincerely sharing the credit with the people who deserve it pays dividends.  Harbaugh makes a point of singling out his assistants and never poses, even subtly, as the lord and master.

4.  Comfort in your own skin. Harbaugh’s coordinators and many of his assistants are bound to be head coaches someday. Your key lieutenants should be of the same ilk. Surround yourself with the best people available and be secure in the presence of people smarter than you.  You will need them.

5.  How to motivate. When Harbaugh was hired, there was some question about how his exuberant, schoolboy style would translate to the NFL.  That question has been answered. As Glenn Dickey puts it, nobody outside the team knows what Harbaugh tells players before the game or on the sidelines, but whatever it is they believe it. The team played at a consistently high level throughout the entire season.  In other words, points 1-4 above had the desired effect.  In sports, as in business, always being at the top of your game is a challenge because the competition is relentless. Your team must believe in itself and teammates must have confidence in each other.

6.   Focus on the result, not the style points. Harbaugh ignores his critics who want a flashier offense.  In the same vein, knowing what your company does better than anyone else enables focus and disables distraction.  At any given time there is a long list of great things to be doing.  The best coaches — and CEOs — know which of those will generate the highest returns.   The most effective CEOs I’ve known were great listeners but they always asked great questions.  The most frequently asked: “What is it that we do better than anybody and how can we do it better?”

How to protect your brand

 

Our flagship client McAfee invited us earlier this month to participate in an exclusive writing workshop designed to better communicate the company’s brand promise. The practical tips and guidelines imparted during this session inform good writing for any technology brand.

When it comes to effective brand communication, McAfee gets it.  And it’s gratifying  to learn that we, as a writing service, share the same philosophy when it comes to creating content that engages readers and gets them to take action.

It begins with the “brand”, which means that it all starts with an understanding that your first responsibility as a content-generator is fidelity to the brand you’re writing about. To stay true to whatever it is that your client’s brand is promising to its buyers is your first obligation. To bend the rules is to break that faith. To over-promise and under-deliver is poison to any brand, all the more if you compete in a technology category where your product’s performance is central to your customer’s business operations.  As the chief steward or keeper of the brand promise, the writer has nothing less than a fiduciary responsibility to keep asking the right questions designed to keep the content honest – and by extension, trustworthy.  This may not always make you a favorite in product-management quarters, but anything less does a disservice to the brand over the long haul.

As it often turns out, it’s the folks inside the company who inadvertently put the bending pressure on the content they’re trying to create for this or that project. They want to stretch the truth. They want to make bolder claims. They want to disparage the competition.  They want to do those things that put the brand promise at risk. Quality control in these instances has multiple meanings and it’s the writers who must wear the QC mantle. It’s not about just ensuring readability and correct grammar, but strict fidelity to the voice of the brand.  At Write Angle, we “QC” the content by commencing every project with a set of questions that begin by simply asking for the project’s primary purpose and conclude with a request for the three, key takeaways the project team wants to imprint on their reader.  For what it’s worth, it’s all pretty consistent with the McAfee approach.  How does your process compare?

• What’s the thesis of the document being considered and why should the reader care? State why this is topical at the moment and give an example.
• Describe the competitive environment.  Specify the trends influencing buyers. Describe a few user problems (the more compelling the better) that set the stage for our offering(s).
• What core positioning statement do we want woven throughout the copy and how can we make it as relevant as possible to the reader?
• What do we need to say about our technology to clearly mark competitive advantage and its place at the cutting edge of the category?
• How can we substantiate our claims, e.g., where’s the beef of verifiable metrics?
• What other prestige brands are involved with us as allies and partners?
• What are the three absolute, gotta-have impressions we want to leave on the reader?

So what you doing to protect your own brand?  How are you ensuring that your marketing efforts stay true to what you product promises?

(This post originally appeared in The Write Stuff, the blog of content development service Write Angle Inc.

Being comfortable with being wrong

Interesting to watch Amazon take the opposite approach to the tablet market: it’s not selling a tablet or an e-reader so much as a tool for people to buy additional products from Amazon. For the record, I don’t own a reader or a tablet. I really like the look and feel of real books, but this isn’t the point. The point is that Amazon has the luxury of being wrong here or, as Jeff Bezos said when he announced the Kindle Fire yesterday, being comfortable being wrong.

The cheap price will encourage some folks to opt for the Fire as an alternative tablet but Bezos is betting that it will more than make up for its skinny margins by encouraging buyers to use it to buy a lot of additional stuff on Amazon. So, is it a souped-up reader or a poor man’s iPad?  No reason why it can’t be both. And successful at each. Even if it isn’t, it won’t really hurt Amazon. Now that’s a luxurious position to be in.

What do you think? Will the Fire ignite or burn out?

 

Why and how social marketing is different

If you want to be liked, be likeable.

It’s topic that’s been beaten to pulp, but it merits examination nonetheless.  How so many PR people still don’t get it.  Ditto for marketing types, salespeople, engineers, bean-counters and even veteran business owners.

The “it” here is social marketing.  AKA, social media, socmedia, real-time marketing, and various other handles used to describe how products and services make themselves known and, presumably, more prominent today.  I concur.  Web 2.0, the power train of the social net, has sharpened the dual-edge sword of real-time, customer-empowering commerce.  Or e-commerce.

I see the misunderstandings and misguided tactics boiling down to this: too many marketers insist on implementing the fine-point tools of social marketing much like the door-bashing, battering rams you see DEA agents using on reality TV when they’re busting some hapless miscreant.  OK, an overstatement perhaps.  But you get the point.

Social marketing is a game played by different rules than the ones that prevailed in the misty, pre-Internet marketing and advertising landscape.  Those of a certain age, however, will recall “relationship marketing” at the dawn of the era.  Remember? Social marketing (SM) is nothing more or less that the concept of relationship marketing (RM) in Internet time.

The big difference: today’s buyer now has it all over the seller.  Once you get your mind wrapped around this, your marching orders as a marketer today become clear.

First, establish yourself as a trusted source rather than a sales agent.  You slowly build a bond between yourself and the other person as a human being, not a “target”.  One at a time.  Same way you do in your offline social life.

Show candor, respect, humor, restraint, humility and humanity.  Strive to establish a relationship that delivers mutual value by focusing exclusively on the value that you purport to deliver. Once this becomes recognized by the other party, the relationship can get underway.

Word of caution: there are no shortcuts, workarounds, or express lanes to your destination.  It’s a time-and-labor-intensive process, but copping to this is the first step in getting there.  All the next ones have to  do with being liked.

So it’s no different than your offline social life.  And putting it into practice makes all the difference.