Brent Boswell, Vice President, EMEA28th April, 2016

What Really Works in B2B Content Marketing

2©TechTarget

TechTarget – a global technology publisher

140 websites spanning over 5,000 technology and business topics

235,000 articles, 15,000-20,000 added annually

300,000 social followers & 2.5m social posts

400,000+ content downloads annually

150m inbound IT & LOB users per year

3©TechTarget

Why Content is Important

12%average portion of the buyer’s journey a vendor owns

91%of IT buyers work in teams

10number of sources used to research purchases

Despite hard work, Marketing cannot reach every contact or influence full buying team

4Number of assets downloaded to put a brand on the shortlist

Sources: CEB; TechTarget Media Consumption CEB; CMI

70%completed portion of the B2B buy cycle without vendor input

4

United Kingdom

Last Budgeted IT Purchase – Study of 500 European ITDMs in 2015

When was this last budgeted IT purchase (i.e., one that required some degree of research and comparative information) made?

Less than 3 months ago

3-6 months ago 6-9 months ago 9-12 months ago More than 12 months ago

0%

15%

30%

45%

60%

• 500+ completes• 55% IT Manager+• 50% Multiple Departmental purchase• 45% renewal/upgrade • 50% new purchase

5

United Kingdom

It takes a team to purchase technology: IT buying teams often include 4+ stakeholders

How many people were involved in the buying process (i.e., the process of researching and selecting the technology vendor/solution) for this IT purchase?

1 2 - 4 5 - 7 8 - 10

-15%

0%

15%

30%

45%

60%

75%

Worldwide ROI Summit | © TechTarget

6©TechTarget

• Big data vendors should stop dissing data warehouse systems

• Data visualization software deserves a deep look before buying

The Team Owning BI/Business Analytics

Make sure content caters to each buying team member

• BI architecture needs extensions to meet new analytics demands

• Agile BII speeds development at Union Bank

Reads articles such as:

• For many, glitter of BI process not yet gold

• BI director needs strong blend of business, IT leadership skills

BI/Analytics Program Manager Cares about:BI strategy and trends, vendor selection, end-user adoption, ROI.

BI Architect/DeveloperArchitecture and design best practices, technology functionality.

IT Manager Technology functionality, systems management, data integration

7

United Kingdom

Buyer short listing doesn’t come from one asset download

How many pieces of content (e.g. videos, white papers, case studies, etc.) did you download/view that was produced by the vendor you selected for your last IT purchase?

1 2 - 3 4 - 6 7 - 10 More than 100%

15%

30%

45%

60%

8

Specific assets are more relevant to IT buyers at specific times during the buying process

9©TechTarget

Content created should be specific to each buy cycle stage

Awareness Consideration Decision

Educational, provides technology overview of, underscores need

Terminology:• Troubleshooting• “101”• Overview• Tips• Definition/Defined

Provides an overview of the vendor and their technology offerings

Terminology:• Provider• Supplier• Service• Tool• Device

Demonstrates client value, showcase solution as a viable

Terminology:• Solution• Versus• Compare• Review• Tests

10

United Kingdom

Identify in all areas of the purchase cycle or you’ll miss out on short lists

Did you download/view content that was created by technology vendors or third-party experts/analysts (e.g., Gartner, TechTarget's Editorial Team)?

0%

15%

30%

45%

60%

75%

11

At TechTarget, 45% of content downloads are from our independent editorial content

©TechTarget, TechTarget Media Consumption Study

45%leads generated from editorial content

55%leads generated from vendor content

12

United Kingdom

Relevancy is the key characteristic for buyers when evaluating content

Which of the following characteristics are most important to you when downloading/viewing pieces of content to assist in the research for your IT purchase?

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Worldwide ROI Summit | © TechTarget

Relevancy drastically improves performance

Worldwide ROI Summit | © TechTarget

General IT

Networking active IT pros

Network Mgmt

10G Ethernet

Network security

SDN

Active in last 90 days

Interest ID CTR Acq. Rate

How much

better?

General IT .2% .15% -Tech Group (ie Networking)

.3% .2% 50%

Tech sub-topic - UK

.35% .25% 66%

Sub topic - DE .8% .4% 200%Sub topic - FR .4% .3% 100%

Source: TechTarget Internal

14

United Kingdom

European buyers are 50% more likely to download native language content, but above all else, relevancy of content is important

Are you more likely to download/view a piece of content that is in your native language than a piece of content that is in English?

Yes. I am more likely to download/view a piece of con-tent in my native language than a piece of content that

is in English.

It depends on the information that is featured in the piece of content.

0%

15%

30%

45%

60%

©TechTarget, 2013 Media Consumption Report; 2015 Media Consumption Report

2013

20152013

2015

15©TechTarget

Top performing vendor content across EMEA in 2015

SDN 101: An Introduction to Software Defined Networking

7 Keys to Deliver Apps Faster Through Effective Business/IT Collaboration

How to Gain Control Over Big Data Projects

Creating workspaces for tomorrow that work for your business

Top 5 data centre trends to watch in 2015

The Ultimate Guide to BYOD

The Top Ten Things Every IT Pro Using Hyper-V Needs to Know

Securing Cloud Computing For Enterprise Collaboration

Flash Storage For Dummies Five Fundamentals of Virtual Server Protection

Top EMEA Vendor content

16©TechTarget

The greatest marketing crime is neglecting to provide the ‘next step’

71%Of content has a basic CTA at the end or in the footnotes

Marketer Takeaway

Add CTA’s throughout content to give audience ‘the next step’, increase prospect initiated nurturing and drive through the buy cycle to a later stage asset

17

Enable buyers to communicate with each other, and more importantly, with you

©TechTarget, Source: TechTarget 2015 Media Consumption

45%of buyers used click-to-chat during the last buy

18

Qualified ECM Project

© TechTarget

February

April

17Editorial Articles/Assets

March

8Vendor Whitepapers

13EditorialArticles/Assets

10VendorWhitepapers

Project Confirmed – Qualified Sales Opportunity

7Editorial Articles/Assets

6Vendor White Paper

14Editorial Articles/Assets

• 75 activities taken over 6 months from 7 different researchers

• 24 vendor white papers downloaded

• 51 editorial articles

• Active ECM project confirmed

May

• 7 active people in the UK• Total of 75 activities

19©TechTarget

Building a comprehensive content plan

5 Markets/Products X 3 Regions X 3-4 Persona X 4-5 Assets =

# of Assets Needed

20© TechTarget

Best Practices Takeaway

● Be relevant and specific to your target audience

● Have content for all phases of buy cycle

● Leverage 3rd party content to reach net new prospects

● Provide prospects a clear next step within your content

● Localised content is key to making serious progress in local markets

● Remember, buying is about a team, not an individual user