Doing new things in content marketing gets you the Innovator’s Dividend. Here’s why you want it and how to get it.
Thought Leadership
B2B content marketing in 180 seconds
Written by Doug Kessler |
Short interviews are better than long ones. Here’s a recent three-minute session on Content vs Crap.
Sometimes content is not the answer. A content marketing fail.
Written by Doug Kessler |
To content marketers, every problem looks like a case for content. Sometimes it just isn’t. Know when to say no.
6 ways to turn comments into content
Written by Doug Kessler |
How to turn blog comments into great content for your content marketing programs. A simple tip but a powerful one.
Why the content marketing backlash is getting it wrong
Written by Doug Kessler |
An angry mob is forming to denounce content marketing. Here’s why I think they’re mostly (but not all) wrong.
Great content marketing is a filter not just a magnet
Written by Doug Kessler |
We marketers work hard to attract prospects. Here’s why you need to actively chase them away, too.
Behind the Crap: what it feels like to go viral
Written by Doug Kessler |
A diary of the roller-coaster ride we took when the Crap slideshare went kind of viral on us. Hint: it was fun.
Crap: the single biggest threat to B2B content marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
Why the content marketing deluge will force all B2B marketers to raise their game and build a great content brand.
Who do you want your customers to become? A book review
Written by Doug Kessler |
A quick review of the new eBook by Michael Schrage about a big ‘Ask’: investing in creating your next customers.
Diary of a Content Pimp 2 – Goals, Metrics & Fears
Written by Doug Kessler |
The one about our goals for the Content Marketing Checklist campaign and the metrics we’ll use to track them.
How to use Prezi for B2B content marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
Prezi is the cloud-based presentation software that’s like Powerpoint on LSD. Its ‘zoomable user interface’ (ZUI?) with swoopy transitions and infinite drill-downs make it a sexy alternative to boring old slides. Here’s how and why you should put it in your B2B content marketing toolkit…
How to build a B2B content marketing team
Written by Doug Kessler |
Great B2B content marketing is teamwork. But it’s rare to have all the necessary talents in one person, so here are the ten types you need on your team…
Salesforce Social Success case study
Written by Doug Kessler |
Kieran Flanagan has written an excellent summary on SEOmoz of the Salesforce Social Success content microsite. He tells this B2B content marketing case story so well, I won’t try to re-tell it here. Just wanted to share my favourite graphic from it: Says it all — the sweet spot for all B2B marketing is where [...]
The problem/solution structure in B2B content marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
When it comes to structuring a B2B marketing argument, it’s hard to beat the good old ‘Problem/Solution’ structure. It’s stood the test of time for some very good reasons: It gets the target audience nodding in agreement – if they recognise the problem you’re describing, they’re much more likely to lean forward and give you [...]
Guest blogging in B2B content marketing (with some examples)
Written by Doug Kessler |
Guest blogging is a great way to extend your reach, get discovered by new people and earn some valuable backlnks. Here are a few guest posts we’ve done recently that you may have missed.
Is B2B content marketing jumping the shark?
Written by Doug Kessler |
‘Jumping the shark’ is one of my favourite expressions. Wikipedia tells us it means “the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery. The phrase is also used to refer to a particular scene, episode or aspect of a show in which the writers [...]
Content Differentiation: Doug Does Mad Marketing TV
Written by Doug Kessler |
I was honoured to be invited to be Jeff Ogden’s guest on Mad Marketing TV, the excellent series of interviews with B2B marketers. Here’s the interview — and the ‘after-party’ chat — on Content Differentiation (the next big challenge for content marketers).
Social Success: a new content site for Salesforce.com
Written by Doug Kessler |
We’re inordinately proud to announce the launch of a new microsite by Salesforce UK that Velocity helped with. The site is called Social Success and it’s all about helping businesses harness the power of social media. Our job was to find the considerable pockets of expertise within Salesforce (the place is crawling with very, very [...]
B2B content marketing: when target audiences clash
Written by Doug Kessler |
Marketers are instinctively inclusive. Our default is to set our crop-sprayer on the widest possible setting, covering the largest possible audience for everything we do. But content marketing is different. The best content marketing tends to be narrowly targeted, focusing on a very specific audience. That’s how we maximise relevance, earn downloads and reward engagement. [...]
Content Development: Nine Tips for B2B marketers
Written by Doug Kessler |
Content marketing has hit the tipping point for B2B marketers. At Velocity, we used to have to evangelise the concept of content marketing , then spend lots of time telling clients and prospects why it’s such a powerful thing. Today, those conversations are a lot shorter. B2B marketers have discovered content marketing as the engine [...]
Hackgate Technique: The Content Marketing Skill Part 2
Written by Ryan Skinner |
A simple how-to of a powerful content marketing technique. Share thought leadership and boost online reputation management in a few a few quick steps.
The Devil wants Pravda (and he wants it now)
Written by Neil Stoneman |
Find out happens when creative ideas get sidelined in the B2B content marketing process. It’s not clever, it’s not fun and it’s certainly not pretty…
Why you should give away the very thing you sell
Written by Doug Kessler |
As content marketing gains momentum, we find that we’re not having to work quite as hard explaining the principles to prospective clients. But one objection does keep popping up that we thought would have died off by now: “Why should we give content away that tells people exactly how to do what we do? Won’t [...]
Content marketing & marketing automation webinar
Written by Doug Kessler |
In case you missed last week’s Content Marketing & Marketing Automatation webinar put on by DemandGen’s John Sweeney, here’s a link to the archived talk with slides. In it, Bob Apollo of Inflexion Point and Hubspot takes you through his principles of content marketing and Doug Kessler from Velocity shares Twelve Lessons learned from our [...]
12 Lessons from the Manifesto Campaign – Project Open Kimono 13
Written by Doug Kessler |
We’ll be wrapping up the results of the B2B Marketing Manifesto campaign soon, but here’s a quick tour of some of the lessons learned as we brought the Manifesto to market. There’s some yadda-yadda to go with it but you’ll probably get the idea… 12 Lessons from the B2B Marketing Manifesto Campaign View more presentations [...]
Project Open Kimono 12: Re-purposing and atomising your content
Written by Doug Kessler |
This is typical: you put a lot of effort into a chunky piece of marketing content — then retire it, move on and start working on the next piece. When you do that, you’re leaving a lot of content value behind and wasting a real opportunity to get more goodies for just a little more [...]
The B2B Content Marketing Tutorial
Written by Doug Kessler |
How do you create great content? This quick Prezi will take you by the hand and show you the way.
B2B Marketing Agency campaign in a scribble
Written by Doug Kessler |
We were mapping out the B2B Marketing Manifesto campaign on a sheet of A4 lined paper and this is what was left behind on the meeting table. Pretty much all there.
Cross-Promoting B2B Content: Project Open Kimono Part 4
Written by Doug Kessler |
It’s time to talk about cross-promoting content as we approach week three of Project Open Kimono, the real-life, almost-real-time, warts-bunions-and-all case study of our B2B Marketing Manifesto campaign. The idea is simple: in every piece of content you produce, tell the reader (or listener or viewer) about the most relevant other pieces of content you’ve [...]
B2B Content Marketing Trends and Spends
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
Marketing Profs and Junta 42 haven’t half been busy lately. They’ve produced a report into content marketing, surveying skills, resources, and trends. It’s the biggest and most comprehensive report of its kind, surveying 1100 American marketers in May 2010. These are some of the highlights. All in all it’s a bit of mixed bag: content [...]
B2B Case Study Live – Project Open Kimono – part 2
Written by Doug Kessler |
B2B Case Study live: Project Open Kimono Part 2, in which Velocity, the B2B Marketing Agency shares it’s experience
Ten Tips for Cross-Promoting your Content, Part II
Written by Doug Kessler |
As B2B marketing content libraries start to grow, we all need to think about how we cross-promote our content to people who have already engaged with us.
How to structure a B2B argument
Written by Doug Kessler |
B2B marketing always comes down to building an argument; telling a story that leads to an inescapable conclusion: ‘You need to buy this, now.’ If your argument isn’t solid, the creativity of Björk and the budget of Nike will not move your business.
IBS campaign shortlisted for B2B Marketing Awards 2010
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
Ice the champagne: our ‘Margin Killers’ campaign for IBS has been shortlisted for the Best International Campaign category in this year’s B2B Marketing Awards.
The power of beliefs in B2B marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
Check out this great TED Talk by Simon Sinek on the power of beliefs in marketing. Great leaders and great companies start with beliefs not facts, policies, products or services. People don’t buy WHAT you do they buy WHY you do it.
B2B Copywriting: hitting the sweet spot
Written by Doug Kessler |
There are four kinds of B2B copywriting and they fall into the neat little quadrants formed when two important axes intersect: Clarity and Authenticity. If you can get both in your writing, you’re in the Sweet Spot and wonderful things will begin to happen to you…
Avoid marketing intranet pitfalls
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
Here’s an eBook we’ve written and designed for our friends SmallWorlders, the people who create fun and social intranets for marketing teams. Since it’s been up on the SmallWorlders website they’ve seen traffic increase 10 to 20 times the usual, which is pretty damn impressive.
Free B2B Hugs: 25 ways to reward your most engaged customers
Written by Doug Kessler |
Everyone’s always talking about ‘customer engagement’ and we can see why: fully engaged customers — the ones who comment on your blog posts, join your Facebook group, reteweet your tweets, eat all your content, give you testimonial quotes, participate in case studies and attend your events – add tremendous value to your business and your brand.
We’re all B2B content brands now
Written by Doug Kessler |
We just did a guest post for the excellent B2BBloggers on how we’re all becoming content brands now — and some tips for how to build a strong B2B content brand. As content marketing gains currency, just having a new eBook won’t be enough. The post summarizes some thoughts for an era of ubiquitous B2B [...]
Nativ gets its mojo on
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
We’ve been working with a great company called Nativ, who offer a digital video content management and distribution platform and service.
We explain ourselves – in infographics
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
As you’ll know if you got our newsletter we’re big fans of infographics over here. We got inspired by all of these and decided to have a go ourselves. This is our first, hand-made infographic explaining the Velocity process. It was a lot of fun, so maybe we’ll do some more soon. It was certainly a [...]
‘Margin Killers’ eBook reaches 600 downloads
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
We didn’t mention this? We’ve been working with IBS, the wholesale distribution software experts, to produce a content series on the five big success drivers in wholesale distribution. To kick the whole thing off we wrote and designed an eBook called The Six Margin Killers of Wholesale Distribution. If you want to know what I’m [...]
Marketo’s new Definitive Guide gets some Velocity
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
We’ve been working with Marketo, the biggest cheese in B2B marketing automation, to design and sub-edit their new eBook ‘The Definitive Guide to B2B Social Media’. It’s the latest in the series of Definitive Guides (you can read the first one on Lead Nurturing here).
New B2B buying influences
Written by Doug Kessler |
Just came across an excellent post by Matt West of Connected Marketer called A Glimpse Inside the Mind of the New B2B Buyer. It’s based on a study done together with DemandGen Report into the new buying influences in B2B.
Exploiting your tacit knowledge
Written by Gesu Baroova |
We’re always a bit sceptical about the jargon du jour. But one buzzword keeps cropping up and we think there might be a reason: Tacit Knowledge.
Never mind the Barack, it’s mobiThinking
Written by Lucy Longhurst |
Birth of a thought leadership website
dotMobi is a mobile Internet services company and the registry for the .mobi domain name. It’s backed by leading mobile operators, device manufacturers, and Internet players, including Microsoft and Google. Essentially, .mobi is the only domain name that tells users, ‘This site will work on your phone’.
The rise and rise of B2B content marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
Content Marketing is rivaling social media marketing in the hype stakes — and for good reason. It may not be particularly new, but in the age of the informed buyer and zero-cost distribution (the Internet), it’s what works in B2B marketing. The 2010 Content Marketing Spending Survey by Junta 42 confirms the trend (though anyone with a passing acquaintance with Twitter, LinkedIn or any B2B marketing blog won’t need it confirmed)…
2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions
Written by Doug Kessler |
Drumroll please… Introducing The 2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions eBook from ClickPredictions — a crowdsourced effort by “39 of the world’s top B2B marketers, e-mail marketers and social media gurus” (including, erm, me). Ambal Balakrishnan, the tireless ClickDocuments founder, asked each of us a straightforward question, “What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010?”
Velocity Does Video: Nine kinds of B2B web video
Written by Doug Kessler |
As this quick showreel demonstrates, we’ve been doing more and more video for our B2B marketing clients. Why? because it’s a great way to get even the most complex ideas across in a clear, compelling way.
You can’t have a conversation when you use a megaphone
Written by Stan Woods |
Most B2B marketing organisations are set up for interruption-based, broadcast style communications and this traditional approach to marketing consumes 80-90% of the budget. This is strange in a world where there’s been a dramatic shift from megaphone marketing to listening and engaging in conversations. There’s need for a new type of marketing professional called a content strategist. Do you agree?
The Velocity B2B Marketing Tube Map
Written by Doug Kessler |
We’ve always loved Harry Beck’s legendary design for the London Underground Tube Map, so thought we’d do our own version mapping out the B2B marketing landscape. Kind of makes sense if you give it some time. The junctions were the trickiest bits…
Quick Case: when content goes social
Written by Doug Kessler |
It’s been about four months since we published the B2B Content Marketing Workbook and we thought we’d report back on how the campaign has worked so far. It was the first time we’ve used social media as a vector for our content marketing and so makes a nice case study.
B2B blogging for beginners
Written by Doug Kessler |
Let’s face it: these days, if you don’t have a blog on your website you’re admitting that you have nothing to say about your market, your customers, their problems and your ideas for solving them. Is that really a message you want to transmit? We try to get every client blogging. But sometimes we fail. [...]
Why ShipServ won a 2009 CRM Market Award
Written by Doug Kessler |
Once again, ShipServ has ‘scooped’ a marketing award (why are awards always scooped?) — this time the 2009 CRM Market Awards run by CRM Magazine. ShipServ, piloted by CMO John Watton, won a CRM Elite Award given to customer implementations that push new boundaries. The judges recognised ShipServ “for its holistic use of Marketo, Salesforce.com, and social media” — including viral video, eBooks, Twitter and a LinkedIn group (we’re kind of proud of our work on all these).
V Shortlisted for Glittering B2B Gong
Written by Doug Kessler |
We’re pleased as Punch to have been shortlisted for a B2B Marketing Magazine Award for our recent work with ShipServ. It’s hard to come over all surprised about it – after all, we did complete the rather arduous application process – but we’re still really encouraged when good work gets some recognition. Not for ourselves, [...]
The white paper is dead…or is it?
Written by Stan Woods |
I presented a webinar the other day where I stated that while white papers are still the staple of content marketing, they’re getting really stale as a communications vehicle for B2B. A few people were so incensed they contacted me to say I was talking nonsense. So click here to find out whether they changed my mind…
The Content Marketing Workbook
Written by Doug Kessler |
It’s here. The book of the webinar of the movie: The Velocity B2B Content Marketing Workbook. Over 45 breezy pages of good, solid advice about thought leadership and content marketing for B2B marketers like you. Come and get it!
Velocity announces free B2B Content Marketing Workbook
Written by Doug Kessler |
Velocity, the B2B marketing agency specialising in technology companies, today announced the publication of a free 49-page eBook called The B2B Content Marketing Workbook…
The Content Marketing Workbook
Written by Doug Kessler |
It’s here. The book of the webinar of the movie: The Velocity B2B Content Marketing Workbook. Over 45 breezy pages of good, solid advice about thought leadership and content marketing for B2B marketers like you. Come and get it!
Watch the Velocity web seminar on Content Marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
Stan just presented our web seminar with B2B Marketing magazine, called “Content Marketing: Thought Leadership in a Web 2.0 World”. Seemed to go really well. Over 130 people attended and the feedback was excellent. The seminar is based on our imminent Content Marketing Workbook, which you’ll be able to download from this site very, very soon…
Velocity and B2B Marketing Magazine announce new webinar
Written by Doug Kessler |
Velocity, the B2B marketing agency specialising in technology markets, and B2B Marketing magazine announced a new webinar for B2B marketers about Content Marketing.
The 20-minute webinar is free and runs on Wednesday, 3 June 2009 at 3:30pm London time.
Why we steal from our clients.
Written by Doug Kessler |
In the marketing world, agencies are supposed to be the ‘creative’ ones and clients are supposed to be the dullards who are grateful for a fresh source of ideas. In our experience, that’s just not how it works…
New mobile marketing eBook for small businesses
Written by Doug Kessler |
Velocity Partners, the B2B agency specialising in technology marketing, announced the publication of a new eBook available on mobiThinking.com. The free eBook is called, “Marketing your small business on the mobile Web: the guide to low-cost, high-impact mobile marketing” and is available to all mobile marketers on the mobiThinking.com website. “The major brands are getting [...]
Why Ronald Reagan is the Spitting Image of an internet pioneer
Written by Neil Stoneman |
Presidents are all the rage. Obama and Nixon, in their own ways, are the toast of the Hollywood glitterati. And Ronald Reagan has emerged as a genuine internet pioneer.
Opt-Out: Digital Marketing’s punch in the stomach
Written by Doug Kessler |
Marketing used to be all about the upside. You fired off a message; some people responded; others didn’t. Net gain. In the digital world, there’s a downside that’s as painful as any upside: the dreaded Opt-Out. Here are some ideas for dealing with it…
New eBook: Best & Worst of the Mobile Web
Written by Doug Kessler |
mobiThinking.com, the resource for mobile marketers, and Velocity Partners, the B2B marketing agency, today announced the launch of a new eBook: The Best & Worst of the Mobile Web.
Your new content may not be as relevant as your old
Written by Doug Kessler |
All the best B2B tech marketers are mini-publishing houses — they never stop cranking out thought-provoking content on the issues their target market cares most about. But even the best thought leaders often follow a simplistic content promotion strategy that completely ignores the idea of a sales cycle. Basically, they pump out some new content, promote it, and repeat. What they’re doing is burying the best under the newest…
A really good newsletter
Written by Doug Kessler |
We know we ‘big up’ Pär Almqvist, the Marketing Dude at VNL, quite a bit. But we thought you’d like to see what we consider a really, really good eNewsletter that Pär briefed in and designed (we wrote it for him).
Microsoft’s baffling “I’m a PC” campaign
Written by Doug Kessler |
Apple got a lot of attention with its “PC vs Mac” commericals. They were simple, funny, well-scripted and seemed to capture the essence of what Mac people love about their Macs. Clearly, they got under Microsoft’s skin, because the crack Seattle Rapid Response team has leapt into action (what, three years later?) with an expensive riposte: the “I’m a PC” campaign. The result is wrong in so many ways, I can’t summarise them all in a blog post.
Branding as body language
Written by Doug Kessler |
A friend of ours who also happens to be a God of Branding sent us an article he wrote ten years ago but could have been written yesterday. He’s Axel Chaldecott, co-founder of HHCL, now the top creative on the global HSBC account at JWT. The article’s central metaphor is that a company’s visual identity is its body language…
I beg you: don’t bore the bejesus out of me
Written by Doug Kessler |
Marketing is communication. B2B marketing is bad communication.
That’s how your audience thinks about everything you put out.
Their expectations couldn’t be lower. They’ve waded through thousands of case studies and brochures and web pages from people just like you and IT’S NOT FUN.
A Different Kind of Growth Equity Investor Needs a Different Kind of Web Presence
Written by Roger Warner |
Don’t know about you, but it’s Friday afternoon and we’re offski. Peroni awaits. We’re celebrating the launch of a brand new web site for Kennet.
Riding the Hype Cycle
Written by Roger Warner |
A marketer’s guide to Gartner’s Hype Cycle – how you market depends on where you are on the curve.
Marketers everywhere – get a little mobiThinking
Written by Roger Warner |
…check out mobiThinking.com, which was launched today to help the world’s marketing community to better understand the opportunities and challenges presented by mobile marketing. (Note: it’s web marketing Jim, but not as you know it.)
The Velocity B2B Social Media & Web Engagement Mind Map
Written by Roger Warner |
This Mind Map gives you everything you need to do web / social media engagement by yourself. It’s easy. Just pin it on your wall and – once you’ve published a great piece of content to your site – follow the map clockwise and post it to the relevant destinations…
B2B lead generation with thought leadership content: ditch the web-to-lead forms and win
Written by Roger Warner |
For B2B web sites, the content that really matters in terms of positioning and prospecting isn’t your ‘markitecture’ pages – your product and services descriptions, corporate histories and such…. it’s your ‘thought leadership’ pages – the places where you express opinions and ideas rather than features and benefits. Here’s why…
The ‘Big Mo’ in B2B technology marketing: are we listening to Gartner?
Written by Stan Woods |
As we seek to build our business, we’re meeting a lot of B2B tech firms. Pretty much every one of them says their own momentum is intimately connected to what leading industry analyst Gartner (which just happens to be a Velocity client, BTW) thinks about their company…
Selling to existing customers
Written by Doug Kessler |
They’ve already bought something from you. You’ve already jumped nine of the ten hurdles on the way to a sale (or however many there are these days). Wouldn’t it make sense to turn these internal ‘champions’ into a stealth sales force?
What’s the freakin’ (Power)point!!??
Written by Roger Warner |
What’s the point of Powerpoint? A crutch to help you through an uncomfortable challenge (public speaking)? A useful visual aid to convey stories? A pain in the butt, killed to death, hackneyed, eyesore, head-f**k for boring people to death?
Hot potato: the holy trinity of technology marketing
Written by Roger Warner |
To celebrate the launch of a whole new Velocity, Doug (our Creative Director) has put pen to paper to get a bunch of important stuff off his chest…
The Holy Trinity of Technology Marketing
Written by Doug Kessler |
The three questions you have to be able to answer (quickly) if you’re a B2B marketer. It’s pretty simple, really.
Earning the right to sell to CIO’s
Written by Doug Kessler |
We just produced a powerful piece of high-end direct mail for BT Counterpane. The piece was sent to 150 select prospects — CIOs and CSOs of Fortune 500 companies in the US. They each get a little box with a sleeve around it. “The Security Shuffle, an executive playlist”. They slip off the sleeve, open [...]