Content is king

Matthew Smith, Vice President, IDG Connect, Europe

Jeremy Bevan, Vice President of Field Marketing, Novell EMEA

Jeremy BevanVice President, Novell EMEA Field Marketing

Making IT Work As One™

Total Pipeline

Contributing to the Sales Pipeline....

... the beauty of healthy competition

France

Germany

United Kingdom

South Africa

Spain

Marketing Contributed Pipeline

1429

1950

1390

721

569

$20.5M

$19.6M

$18.9M

$15M

$14M

... and the question of outstanding leads

$

...Not all leads fit the same treatment

...Are we planning the right way ?

Strong Emphasis on Front End of Decision Making Process

General Education 32%

Business Case Development

27%

Implementation Scenario

25%

Final Decisions 11%

Shortlist Creation 5%

Almost always working to help build the business case

The use of marketing content in IT investment decisions -Overcoming the age of discontent

Matthew Smith - VP IDG Connect Europe

Key Summary of Recent Research Findings

• The use of content changes from buying stage to buying stage

• Buyers spend ½ day per week reading third party content

• During IT investment, 50% of respondents viewed educational and promotion content as leading the way

• Only 40% of content is viewed as relevant

• 90% felt that level of relevant content impacted on the vendor making shortlist

• If content is not considered to meet minimum requirements the chance of success is reduced by almost 50%

• Buyers are not after perfection - 6 times out of 10 is fine

The 5 Stages of the Buying Process

Auditing Content through Market Fusion

Client A: - Leading Software Supplier with established assets

Audio

Document

Podcast

Tool

Video

Webcast

Key

Client B – Virtualisation provider – Strong Global brand and large library of assets

Audio

Document

Podcast

Tool

Video

Webcast

Key

Recommendations

• You must offer the right type of content on a stage by stage basis within the buying process

• Buyers Information needs change during the buying process - Are you confident that your content addresses these needs ?

• Poor content alignment can cost you revenue and damage your brand

• Be aware that buyers also require content in different formats

• The buying process is complex and involves multiple decision makers - your content needs to accommodate this.

• You need to be objective – do not make assets sales brochures

• Think of ROI at the stage of content creation – the right content at the right stage of the buying process will provide stronger return

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