Instead of predicting what might happen in 2015, Matthew McKenzie, chief content officer at Content4Demand (Content4Demand.com), offers three things that your B2B marketing team should be doing — no matter what happens.
1. Plan a balanced content attack. Long-established formats like white papers and blogs are still relevant and useful. It’s up to B2B marketers to use all of the tools at their disposal to ensure that customers are getting the right content mix to suit their business needs, media channels and personal preferences.
2. Get on top of your metrics and tracking. Measuring content effectiveness is a top initiative for 2015, but before marketers start running toward their ROI measurement goals, many of them need to learn how to walk — or even crawl. That means understanding how to optimize and manage their existing tracking and measurement tools, including those built into their marketing automation platforms. It means reaching some agreement on which metrics to track and why to track them. In many cases, it also means working with the sales team to establish closed-loop tracking and reporting systems to capture and attribute lead generation and revenue lift.
3. Establish consistent internal processes and set reasonable priorities. When your B2B marketing team plans a campaign, look carefully at your internal processes: Are the resources in place to keep content projects moving on schedule? Will these projects keep a high priority with key stakeholders? Are the timetables for executing them realistic? Asking these questions up front can save a marketing team a lot of time and trouble in the long run.
