What Content Do You Need on Your Web Site?

Not long ago, I was called into a meeting with a marketing communications group at a medium-sized software company. Over the scratchy VoIP connection, the leader of the group cut right to the chase. “We have a problem,” she said. “We have a small group—and were recently given the responsibility of managing the content for our company’s website. We’ve never done this before. We know we need to create more white papers to put on our site. Where do we begin? How do we figure out what content to create?”

The answer to that question resides in the way IT buyers make their purchase decisions today.

Much has been written about the way the Internet has altered the IT buying cycle. Just a few years ago, marketing generated leads and immediately passed those leads off to sales. Today, IT buyers do their own research on the Web, waiting until they are much further along in their research process before contacting a sales rep. Therefore, IT vendors need to make much more material available on their Website—and in other locations where buyers are likely to find it on the web, including blogs and content-aggregation sites.

So the marcom group needed to put content on their Web site that prospective customers would need to get them to the point where they were ready to engage with a sales rep.

The first step toward reaching that goal was for the marcom group to create an inventory or content audit of what they already had and define what was missing. Only then could they determine what content they would need to produce to bridge the gap.     

Performing a Content Audit

The Digital Body Language blog provides a good basic framework for performing a content audit. It recommends starting by gathering together all of the content that is available for use on your site, including white papers, podcasts, webinars, datasheets, web copy, and so on.

Next, create a grid on a spreadsheet.

On one axis, list the buyer roles you encounter, including technical buyers, line of business managers, or end users. If you target several industries, repeat this list for each industry since the purchasing process is likely to be different in each industry you serve.  

On the second axis, list the stages of the buying process for your customers. The Digital Body Language post describes a three-stage buying process:

1.    Education and awareness—where buyers learn what’s possible or required in a given industry.

2.    Vendor discovery—where buyers determine what vendors are available to solve a particular business pain.

3.    Solution validation—where buyers shortlist and ultimately select a particular vendor to assist with a specific challenge.

However, Ardath Albee, in her book “eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale,” suggests that companies take a more granular approach. She describes the buying process for the complex B2B sale as going through seven stages:

1.    Status quo—where buyers don’t yet realize they have a problem

2.    Priority shift—where buyers are now aware they have an issue that needs to be addressed

3.    Research—this is same as the education and awareness stage above

4.    Options—where buyers determine what vendors are available to address their business pain

5.    Step  backs—where more questions come up, usually because a new influencer has become involved in the buying process

6.    Validation–the same as solution validation above

7.    Choice—where buyers sign on the dotted line

Whereas several years ago, sales would become involved in Step 2, Albee says that today, marketing is responsible for stages 1-4—while providing content that supports sales in later stages.

These models, of course, only represent rough outlines. Your company will need to determine your own customers’ buying processes and adjust the model accordingly. 

Now for each piece of content you already have, assign it to all the categories it applies to on your grid. For example, you may have a thought-leadership piece that helps business buyers become aware that they have an issue that needs to be addressed, or a piece that talks about how your product addresses this problem that can be useful for technical buyers in the research stage.

Now evaluate the quality of each piece of content by answering the following questions:

· Is the content current and accurate?

· Does it reflect your current messaging?

· Is the content useful and relevant for the context and audience goals at each point in the sales cycle?

At the end of this process, you’ll know what content you have and how well each piece addresses your current needs. You’ll also know where your company has content gaps that you need to fill.

What thoughts do you have about conducting a content audit?

In my next post, I’ll talk about how to go about filling the content gaps.

Comments

[Web developers]

That was an inspiring post,

This is some great advice about how to keep your website great,

Thanks

[John Barnett, Centrifuge Brand Marketing]

Thank you. My sense is that companies do not start with a framework like this, based on buying cycle. Instead of providing clarity, they make mud.

[Cheryl Goldberg]

John, I think there's a dawning awareness that it's important to be aware of the buying cycle. But, you're right, I haven't yet seen companies methodically analyzing their existing content and developing new content in this manner. Cheryl