Content Marketing Software Landscape: Marketer Needs & Vendor Solutions

Content Marketing World @cmicontent / #cmworld

Rebecca Lieb, Industry Analyst @lieblink

Sept. 10, 2014

Growing channel and media complexity + increasing

adoption of content marketing

Result: A complex, disparate content marketing software

ecosystem

Organizations lack a cohesive, coherent, strategic approach to content.

of marketers surveyed lack a consistent or integrated content strategy.

70%

Trends driving market complexity

∙ Content creation pressure∙ Lack of strategy begets tool

proliferation∙ Lack of enterprise integration∙ Misaligned buyer needs vs. planned

investments

@cmicontent / #cmworld

Buyers’ Needs Don’t Match Planned Investments

Tangled and Emerging Vendor Landscape adds to the complexity

• Solution proliferation• The landscape is bifurcated• Content marketing evolution is

driving consolidation

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Media Convergence Drives Content Stack Evolution

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By 2016, there will be “content stack” offerings in the marketplace — end-to-end solutions akin to ad stacks.

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Currently, no single vendor has an end-to-end solution.

Eventually, a few will partner, merge, acquire, and/or collaborate to create a total solution.

Technology Decisions Must Begin with Use Cases

Altimeter recommends taking the following three steps to determine your content marketing tool stack:1. Determine your content marketing

use cases.

2. Plan for integration and evolution.

3. Identify and prioritize vendors based on those use cases.

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Three Common Content Marketing Scenarios Drive Tool Selection

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Feed the Beast

Is your organization struggling to keep up with the unrelenting demands of regularly creating quality content for one or more channels?•This scenario is about mastering the foundational use cases in content marketing: efficiently creating and collecting content at scale

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Refine

Is your organization struggling to apply process to creation and production?

•In this scenario, roles expand, intelligence & optimization increase:

• Analytics, audits, channels, audience, personas, repurposing, optimization, etc.

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Govern

Does your organization need to formalize and communicate content strategy throughout the enterprise?•This scenario is characterized by scale, and the ability to create experiential, cross-channel, transmedia content while ensuring compliance

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Determine Content Marketing Use Cases & Sub-categories

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Gather Cross-Functional Requirements Solicit stakeholders’ and end user requirements, input, collaboration•Workshops

•Workflow requirements

•Permissions

•Employee empowerment & adoption

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“We did a series of workshops with the content creators and manipulators…

So much came down to workflow, particularly around transparency and the ability to understand what’s happening with content at any given point.”

-- Meg Walsh, Senior Director of Digital Strategy & Distribution at Marriott International

Altimeter recommends taking the following three steps to determine your content marketing tool stack:1. Determine your content marketing

use cases.

2. Plan for integration and evolution.

3. Identify and prioritize vendors based on those use cases.

@cmicontent / #cmworld

10% of marketers say their content marketing technologies are “fully integrated across people, processes, and platforms.”

Integration needs are essential, and tripartite: 1.Integrations with systems. This includes legacy and often future platforms, such as data and analytics, CRM, and inbound marketing.

2.Integration with the organization, such as internal communications, corporate intelligence and internal networks.  

3.Integration with processes, including workflow and organizational structure. This may include taking outside partners and/or agencies into account

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Marketers’ top ranked content marketing software integrations

Q. Which of these would be most valuable when integrated with content marketing solutions? Which would add the most value to content marketing strategy? (Forced Rank)Source: Altimeter Group Content Marketing Survey 2014, Base: n=80 marketers

of the content marketers we surveyed report that the lack of inter-departmental coordination is leading to disparate tools used.

40%

Altimeter recommends taking the following three steps to determine your content marketing tool stack:1. Determine your content marketing

use cases.

2. Plan for integration and evolution.

3. Identify and prioritize vendors based on those use cases.

@cmicontent / #cmworld

“You can’t retrofit activities to the tool; you have to align the tool with your activities.”

--Kristina Halvorson, CEO & founder of Braintraffic

How to Identify & Prioritize Key Criteria Understand priority use cases & sub-

categories

Identify priority integration needs (immediate and long-term)

Map these needs in a checklist to help prioritize your most important buying criteria

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Content Marketing Needs Checklist

How to Prioritize Vendors

Now, assess which vendors satisfy the requirements of priority use cases

Shortlist 3-5 vendors Consider full suite vs. multiple point

solutions Leverage Altimeter Group’s Vendor

Use Case Matrix to aid@cmicontent / #cmworld

Individual Vendor

Capabilities

Content Tool Best Practices

I. Train staff

∙ Educate staff on content strategy, and train to leverage tools

of the marketers we surveyed say employees are formally trained and empowered to publish

on behalf of the brand.

24%

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II. Avoid redundancies

∙ Eliminate redundant toolsets with overlapping secondary or tertiary features

∙ Integration helps drive “one version of the truth” vs. “multiple realities that don’t align when viewed in aggregate.”

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III. Build for speed

∙ Real-time Marketing requirements require speedy deployment∙ Rapid personalization, delivery, and the ability to

build content based on buzz are primary considerations

• Speedy implementation, set-up, training, and ease of use are key to adoption

IV. Consider IT support (or lack thereof)

∙ Assess the level of support needed for software implementation and ongoing support

∙ Many solutions today bypass IT for day-to-day publishing needs

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V. Scale towards the future

∙ Monitor emerging technologies and potential integration needs∙ Mobile∙ Real-time marketing∙ Localization in international markets∙ Native advertising∙ Sensors, beacons, etc.

∙ Adopt a test and learn approach

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Thank You

Disclaimer: Although the information and data used in this report have been produced and processed from sources believed to be reliable, no warranty eXpressed or implied is made regarding the completeness, accuracy, adequacy or use of the information. The authors and contributors of the information and data shall have no liability for errors or omissions contained herein or for interpretations thereof. Reference herein to any specific product or vendor by trade name, trademark or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the authors or contributors and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. The opinions eXpressed herein are subject to change without notice.

Altimeter Group provides research and advisory for companies challenged by business disruptions, enabling them to pursue new opportunities and business models.

Rebecca LiebIndustry Analyst@lieblink