‘Pretty good’ isn’t good enough. The only way to have your marketing messages ingested and digested is by baking them into exceptional content – what I call ‘Gourmet Content’. People find Gourmet Content because they seek it out. They consume Gourmet Content because they WANT to. It’s extraordinarily good.

Gourmet Content

A gourmet is a person with a discriminating palate and a deep knowledge of fine food. Gourmet Content is information that isn’t designed for mass consumption. It’s researched and developed with a specific audience in mind – an audience that has been carefully targeted and finely detailed. The developer of Gourmet Content knows what his audience is interested in… what fascinates and delights them.

The word ‘gourmet’ can also be used to describe meals that have been prepared with inordinate effort and art. Gourmet Content must be made from the freshest ingredients (text, animation, audio, charts, infographics, video, or other elements). It isn’t quickly thrown together and shoved through a ‘To Go’ pickup window. It is thoughtfully formulated, comprised of congruent ingredients that support a coherent message. It’s allowed to marinade overnight so the flavors mature and ripen.

Presentation is key. Where the content is placed, how it’s contextualized, the tools used to develop and display it – all must be carefully selected and expertly manipulated.

Your target prospects are much more likely to consume your marketing messages if those messages have been prepared and presented to gourmet standards. If you’re a B2B IT company, contact me to learn more.

I know there are marketers out there who will disagree with my basic quality vs. quantity premise. Please comment. Let’s have a lively, yet civilized, debate.

I think the Content Chasm is actually comprised of several types of gaps, each needing specific strategies and actions for resolution.

The Capacity Chasm

At its most basic, there’s a lack of enough fresh, quality content. In order to generate leads and nurture them properly, new (or repurposed or curated) content must be continuously developed to attract and retain prospects’ attention.

The Customization Chasm

What’s useful and relevant (and, therefore, likely to be consumed) by one person, may be irrelevant and useless to the next. So content must be customized to the target audience (or personas).

In B2B, this means that different versions of content must be developed for consumers who have different business roles and titles. For example, a CFO and a VP of Sales each have different questions that need to be answered, and objections that need to be overcome, so the content you deliver should speak to them individually.

Also, someone making or influencing a buying decision for a complex, high-ticket B2B product or service will need different information throughout the different phases of their buying cycle. At the beginning of the cycle, they may be interested in company reputation and basic product functionality. As they get ready to make their buying decision, they might be more interested in integration issues and contract terms.

It’s helpful to develop a message map to identify what information each persona needs based on what stage of the buying cycle they’re in.

The Consumption Chasm

As your prospects’ content habits evolve, you need to keep pace with how they want to consume your content. It’s typically the case that as new media formats become commonplace, traditional media and formats remain. Even as we add new media such as video podcasts, and high-tech devices such as tablets, people still read books and listen to the radio. New media doesn’t replace old media – it extends the available options.

So what’s a marketer to do? Obviously you can’t (and shouldn’t) reformat every piece of content to fit every type of media and device; but you can make informed choices by studying your message maps and considering which formats best fit a specific piece of content. For example, video works well for telling success stories, while technical specs aimed at engineers might work best via text-based media.

The major trend, however, is toward multimedia. People prefer a more immersive experience. And, as marketers, we can communicate more information more quickly through our targets’ eyes and ears. Fat fiber optic pipes capable of transporting torrents of digitized audio, images, video, etc., are becoming the norm. And our devices are becoming more proficient at processing and displaying sights and sounds. Delivery concerns that once surrounded multimedia are fading away.

Busy executives (personas who most likely have the authority to make a buy decision) expect to be educated about complex products and services online. They no longer have the time or patience to read a 12-page white paper. So choosing to deliver multimedia experiences can help you package your information and marketing messages for quick, convenient consumption. We need to augment our tightly written copy with infographics, charts, bulleted lists, pull quotes, Johnson boxes, frequent subheads, voice over narration, etc. to communicate our messages, including value propositions and product benefits, succinctly. Make it fun for that busy executive to consume your content, and you’re well on your way to a sale.

Context, Content, Conversation

I think we’re going to be hearing much more about the Content Chasm over the next several months. Meanwhile, review your marketing content development and delivery processes by answering the following questions:

• Do you have resources in place to develop a steady stream of fresh, relevant and useful content?
• Are you creating, repurposing and curating content customized for the different personas who influence your buy decision, and for the different stages of your buy cycle?
• Are you researching, testing and developing multimedia capabilities so that you can deliver persuasive content in a format that your prospects prefer?

How about you? What kind of Content Chasms are you experiencing? And how are you meeting the challenges?

This is adapted from an original post I wrote for the Content Marketing Institute.

Bob: Scott, many business people don’t really understand all the three letter acronyms that seem to proliferate around you. How about we start with your definitions?

Scott: OK. Let’s start with the more common ones. Most people these days know what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are. SEO is the development and structuring of website content in such a way that it earns high search engine rankings for chosen keywords (or search terms). SEM is similar except that you pay for text ads to be placed in search results for your chosen keywords. It’s also called Pay Per Click (PPC) because you pay when searchers click on your ad and visit your site. SEO and SEM are about getting prospects to your website or landing page.

But what do you do with your visitors once they’re on your site? You want them to Convert. This has nothing to do with religion, Bob. Conversions often mean sales. You want to convert lookers into buyers. In our case, though, a conversion can be a number of things, but usually not a sale.

That’s due to the nature of the products and services our clients sell. acSellerant works exclusively with B2B vendors, so a typical sale might cost $300,000. Not exactly an impulse buy.

That’s right. So a conversion might be registering with their name and email address to receive a case study, or to attend a webinar. To get back to the three letter acronyms, the next one would be CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). This is where the rubber meets the road and where we can really make a significant impact on our clients’ revenue. Through various means – changing the wording of headlines, changing the graphic on a page, changing the offer (what we give them for registering), we can tweak a web page to constantly increase the number of conversions. These conversions represent a step further along the buy cycle, a step closer to a sale.

So that introduces the concepts of analytics and testing.

Yes. We have to know what visitors are doing so we can interpret their behavior and draw conclusions. I set up Google Analytics. The software is free and very comprehensive. It captures and reports mountains of data. So we need to determine which data points are relevant to conversions, and separate those out from all the noise. Then we test by changing the different components and seeing how those changes affect conversions. This really is the holy grail for marketing. It used to be extremely expensive and time consuming to test different elements to maximize response. Today, online, it’s very economical and the ROI can be enormous.

Yes. David Ogilvy would jump for joy. When he ran tests in the 60s and 70s, they had to shoot different versions of commercials, and actually buy air time and run them, to see what worked and what didn’t. Millions in today’s dollars and we can do the same thing for one tenth of one percent of the cost. Of course, we’re not working with Procter and Gamble budgets either.

It’s not only the cost that’s so much less. The time needed to make changes and test them is also greatly reduced.

OK. We have time for one more acronym. How about CMS?

That stands for Content Management System. We use the industry leader, WordPress. It was originally designed as a blog platform, but it’s evolved well past that. We build websites with it, and it solves a major issue for our clients. It used to be that whenever a site owner wanted to change the content on their site, they had to hire a programmer to make the change for them. WordPress and other CMSs give users a Word-like interface so they can build web content without the help of a programmer.

Not only does that save time and money, but Google LOVES fresh, relevant content. Google rewards, with high search rankings, websites that consistently add fresh and relevant content. And that brings us back full circle to SEO.

Before we go, Scott, how about you share some SEO, SEM, or CRO tips with our readers?

OK. I’ll give one tip for each acronym:

• SEO:  All signs are that Social Media is playing a much larger role in search engine rankings… remember, Google rewards relevance, and a great way to beat the scammers and gamers is to make sure real people actually value your content.  So… get in the Social Media game with a smart strategy.

• SEM:  You don’t have to outbid the highest bidder with your PPC ads – ranking at #2 through #6 for key terms specific to your niche will get you similar results as a #1 ranking. Be specific, using three word key terms. Always keep testing different ad copy and headline versions.

• CRO:  Foster a culture of testing. Start with well conceived A/B tests and also Visitor Behavior testing (heatmaps, etc.). Adjust your content and your value proposition accordingly. Remember… you’re not optimizing your site, you’re optimizing visitor behavior at your site.

How about you? Are you analyzing your online traffic? What have you learned? What have you changed as a result? Do you optimize for conversions?

Bob: Paul, we’ve talked about how many business people don’t really understand what graphic design is, or what you do. Can you tell us a little about it?

Paul: A lot of people confuse graphic designers with fine artists and illustrators. Although many designers wear these hats as well, a graphic designer is trained primarily in how to communicate persuasive messages visually, not how to draw pretty pictures. An Art Director is a graphic designer who partners with the marketing consultant, creative director and the copywriters. He or she develops concepts regarding how best to tell the story visually either online, or in print, or both. The point is to let the images and graphic design do a good portion of the work.

A professional designer will not only be interested in the content, but will design for optimum readability. There’s been a lot of research on how to optimize readability through typography: fonts, size, leading, weight, bold, italic, colors, etc. It should lead the eyes where you want them to go. People who aren’t trained in typography often overuse effects. They end up with too much on the page or the screen. It’s confusing to the reader. Just because people have the tools to do sophisticated typography effects, doesn’t mean they know how to use them.

We’ve had conversations over the past few years regarding the role of graphic design in B2B marketing. So much has changed… how do you see your role evolving?

While marketing strategy and ‘the story’ drive the bus, graphic design has steadily grown as a means to amplify the messaging and tell the story online. B2B marketing requires the communication of complex ideas. Graphic elements, images, layout and design, even the color palette, should work together with the words to ensure the messages are communicated rapidly and accurately, and support the branding. When designing print materials, it’s important to think about how they’ll translate to online applications or vehicles like PDFs, jpegs, email and banner ads, or website content. The reality is that even pieces primarily meant for print will end up being posted online, so the designer needs to take that into account.

There are several forces at work today… prospects are busier than ever; expectations have changed; and the media and technology have evolved. I need help in making my content as palatable as possible… making it enticing enough so people actually read it, or at least skim and scan it online.

True. Even for highly technical B2B products and services, people won’t read a 12 page text-only white paper. Graphic design can be hugely helpful in this… a picture is worth a thousand words, infographics can easily communicate complex information, etc.

Let’s take an email newsletter for example, instead of displaying all the text for the articles, we’ve learned to display shorter snapshots of articles accompanied by graphics. These quickly tell readers what the article is about. If it interests them, they can click through to read the full text. Of course, that means that you have to use your talents to write enticing teasers.

I see your role expanding as we evolve to multimedia production. Can you explain how you help to manage the storyboard, audio, video, etc.?

The look of videos – sharp or soft, bright or murky, colorful or monochromatic; the tone and pace of voice overs; plus other audio effects, background music (if any); all of these affect the whole and play a part in how the information is being communicated. The more congruent all these facets are, the more likely people will accept the messaging. That’s part of the art of persuasion.

OK, Paul. I think we covered it. Do you have some parting graphic design tips for our readers? Some rules of thumb that you like to keep in mind?

Sure. I’d start with looking good is only half the battle. If the graphics don’t support the message, no amount of cool design or eye-catching images are going to increase your revenues.

Second, less is more. In an age where we are bombarded with information, it’s a good idea to leave some white space. Don’t crowd copy and design in. It’s overwhelming to people and they’ll click away.

And, finally, honor your brand identity. Hold true to the look you’ve developed to represent your business. Over time, it makes an impression on your target prospects… giving a tacit stamp of approval.

How about you? How do you view the role of graphic design in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace?

What do B2B decision makers and purchase influencers care about?  Reducing risk!

They want to make a buying decision that will enhance their careers. They want information that will help them make the best business decision possible – a decision that will result in cost savings and/or increase top line revenue.

Sounds easy enough.

Just deliver the information that tells them why your product or service will make them the hero of their company, right?

Wrong.

That path results in overly salesy materials that will turn off your prospects. Instead, you first need to understand their perceptions about the business problem that your product or service solves. One of the best ways to uncover this information is through qualitative research, which can help you develop the strategic B2B content that potential buyers of your product or service are interested in. It’s the first step in continuous marketing improvement.

Market Research that Digs Deep

One of the primary reasons to do market research is to understand why people behave and think in the way that they do. The best insights can’t be obtained by surveying hundreds of people, or by monitoring and analyzing social media mentions. These insights come from deep (but loosely structured) interviews with a small number of highly targeted individuals.

Qualitative research methods rely heavily on the skills of the interviewer to interact with the interviewees and to dig deep into their motivations and experiences. Such methods are defined as qualitative because they seek quality information over quantity. Qualitative research is exploratory.

So, how do you do qualitative research?

I like the methodology outlined by Kristin Zhivago. Kristin is a revenue coach who helps CEOs and entrepreneurs increase their bottom lines by understanding what their customers want to buy, and how they want to buy it. I have ‘borrowed’ Kristin’s qualitative research methodology (which she outlines in clear detail in her books), to elicit the information I need to develop content marketing strategies for my B2B clients.

Kristin eschews the use of focus groups and instead recommends one-on-one interviews. People in focus groups are surrounded by peers from within their own company and/or peers from another (possibly competing) company. So, they provide careful answers that don’t reveal the whole truth.

Aim for completing about 10 personal interviews. Depending on the quality of the responses, you may be able to scale back, or you may find that you need to conduct a few more.

NOTE: Many marketers shy away from asking busy client executives to give them an hour of their time for an interview. Don’t! As long as you make it clear that this information will be used for important purposes (as the foundation of a major marketing campaign), your client executives will be flattered that you asked, and will have a more positive opinion of your business as a result.

How to Conduct One-on-One Interviews

Kristin recommends conducting interviews via the phone instead of face-to-face. In her experience, people are more forthcoming over the phone because they’re sitting in their own environment, and they’re alone and relaxed. I prefer phone interviews because they’re easier and less expensive to execute (no travel).

The two most important factors for these interviews are selecting the right people and asking the right questions.

Find the Right People

Your best target interviewees are current customers. You want to select:

• people who made the buy decision,
• people who influenced the decision, and
• people who are using the product/service.

You want happy customers and not-so-happy customers. If this is a brand new product launch, you’ll need to find appropriate prospects, which is more difficult to accomplish, but is doable.

Ask the Right Questions

Here’s the kind of information you want to gather:

• What questions did they need answered – at the different phases of the buying cycle?
• What objections did they have? How were those objections overcome?
• What land mines had been placed by your competitors?
• What information did they have trouble finding?
• At what point did they feel ready to talk to a salesperson?
• What helped them to sell your product or service internally?
• Now that they’re using your solution, what didn’t they know about it prior to the purchase?

Finally, ask them what question you should have asked but didn’t.

The Key: Really Listen

During the interview, LISTEN.

Your interview subjects may go off on a tangent. Let them. That’s often when the most valuable information is uncovered.

The resulting information, once organized and analyzed, will give you a good sense of what your content strategy should be. You’ll learn:

• which topics need to be covered at what points during the buy cycle,
• what information specific titles (CFO, CTO, VP Sales, etc.) are interested in,
• and what the best vehicles will be to deliver the information.

I originally wrote this blog post for the Content Marketing Institute where it appeared under the title ‘How One-On-One Interviews Can Reveal What Your B2B Audience Really Wants‘. Please share your adventures in B2B market research by contributing a comment below.