ClickLaunch: Velocity's B2B Content Marketing Workbook

Posted by Ambal Balakrishnan June 25th 09

ClickLaunch is ClickDocument's platform for launching new and exciting eBooks, books and white papers. We feature top notch industry experts and thought leaders and get an exclusive insider view into their latest creation.

We are very excited to bring to you Velocity's latest eBook: The B2B Content Marketing Workbook -Thought Leadership for B2B Lead Generation and Beyond. Velocity's latest eBook not only has a great overview on strategic B2B content marketing but also a very slick design.

Velocity's B2B Content Marketing WorkBook covers these topics.

• What is Content Marketing
• Why you need to get good at  Content Marketing 
• Why you’re perfectly placed to do it really, really well
• How to pick a topic prospects care about
• What ‘good’ B2B Content Marketing looks like — lots of examples

We have invited Doug Kessler, the author of B2B Content Marketing WorkBook to discuss his eBook. Doug Kessler is the Creative Director and co-founder of Velocity, the London-based B2B marketing agency specializing in technology markets.  He started his career at Ogilvy & Mather New York on consumer accounts but quickly migrated to B2B, where his heart lies.

Doug Kessler

Blog Velocity-B2B Marketing Twitter DougKessler

Content Marketing is turning your insight and advice into campaigns that change people’s minds and incite action.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Doug, it is a great pleasure to discuss your B2B Content Marketing WorkBook. What prompted you to embark on writing this eBook?
Doug Kessler: At Velocity, we believe that content marketing is the single most powerful weapon in the B2B marketing arsenal.  But we don’t see it well-executed very often.  The eBook is a quick, approachable way to introduce people to the principles and practices of content marketing.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please walk us through the eBook writing life-cycle. How did it evolve and its journey from concept to launch?
Doug Kessler: It was quite quick, really.  I wrote it in a few hours (we live this stuff), had colleagues review it and comment, then gave it to Stuart Rothwell, one of our designers.  He did a great job making it friendly and easy to read.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is your eBook addressed towards?
Doug Kessler: It’s aimed at business-to-business marketers (though the ideas work in consumer marketing as well).  I was picturing a less experienced marketer but I hope there’s some value in it for more experienced people too.  

Ambal Balakrishnan: How is B2B Content Marketing different from B2C?
Doug Kessler: B2B is about convincing someone to do something with rational argument.  B2C is often about appealing to people’s emotions.  I like building a case, in the same way as a lawyer does.  Of course, this also involves emotion, but you need a strong, rational argument. When I was in the consumer world, I never felt so good about executing strategies that essentially boiled down to ‘Be a good mother, use this fabric softener.’  It wasn’t so much a moral objection – just a bit embarrassing!

Ambal Balakrishnan: What is one change you recommend to B2B firms to do better in their Content Marketing initiatives?
Doug Kessler: Sounds obvious, but work hard to deliver real value to your audience.  The triple goal is to make them go out of their way to get the piece, to ‘consume’ it to the very end, and to recommend it to others.  That’s a tough challenge.  You can only meet it by putting yourself in the audience’s shoes and thinking hard about what information or insight they need to do their job better.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Give us few examples of businesses that are great at B2B Content Marketing?
Doug Kessler: Marketo is really good at it.  IBM and Cisco are massive (and pretty slick) content publishing machines.  Salesforce is excellent.  And one of our clients, ShipServ, really gets it too.  They’re tiny compared to the big boys mentioned here but they use Content Marketing really effectively (shameless brag: we just got shortlisted for a New Media Age Effectiveness Award for our work with them).

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from your eBook?
Doug Kessler: 1) Content Marketing is the most important thing you can do as a B2B marketer. 2) Harvest the expertise you have in-house and package it up with confidence. 3) Don’t just stick it on a shelf. Market the hell out of it (measuring all the way).

Ambal Balakrishnan: What one “get started on right way” change do you recommend to the reader of your eBook?
Doug Kessler: Look at your current content archive, decide what’s under-exploited and correct that. Re-package a boring white paper into a sexy eBook.  Stick it on SlideShare and ‘pimp’ it across the relevant social media groups (and Twitter).

Ambal Balakrishnan: Doug, thanks for taking the time to discuss Velocity's B2B Content Marketing WorkBook and sharing your insights with us.
Doug Kessler: Thanks Ambal.

Download Velocity's B2B Content Marketing Workbook here. Also check out Doug Kessler's Using Twitter in B2B Marketing and Going social in B2B: seven automatic actions for every piece of content.

Over to you...
What is the one lesson from Velocity's B2B Content Marketing WorkBook you will put to use in your Content Marketing?
 

posted in ClickInsights: Expert Interviews, ClickLaunch

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