Written by: Vickie Sullivan | May 29, 2014
Where Your Content Really Goes
Lots of stats out there to support the big bucks Corporate America spends on content marketing. This latest research from CMO Council and NetLine blew my mind with this pearl of wisdom: 88 percent of business buyers do believe that online content played a major role in vendor selection. Wow.
And it gets better. This study outlines six key persona’s based on how they use and share content in the buying process. My favorite findings:
- The way content is shared with the real decisions makers is pretty evenly matched: 35% are from the middle out, 30% from the bottom up, and 29% from the top down. Translation? Content goes far beyond the initial downloader. Therefore, we have to appeal to different levels of buyers in order for our information to travel.
- Most valuable content: research and studies at 65 percent. White papers are at the bottom of the list (35 percent), along with articles from trade publishing sites (30 percent).
- A drill down from above: different content is more valuable at different times in the sales cycle. Example: for the awareness phase, articles from trade publishing comes in at #2 and blog posts from thought leaders is ranked third. In the purchase phase, neither make the list.
Bottom line: There is no one way content leads to purchase. Our content takes the scenic route, molding perceptions along the way. The way our brilliance is used and shared makes a big difference. We thought leaders need to go beyond our websites toward influencing the sharing of our perspective from multiple places. For all the findings click here (free registration is required).
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