In honor of the RSA conference this week, I’ve been surveying the websites of many of the exhibitors. I imagine that this group is fairly representative of B2B technology companies as a whole, even given their security slant.
I’ve found a real mix between those who appear to ‘get it’ about content marketing and those who don’t. The companies that seem to embrace content marketing have a mix of content on their websites, from educational to product-based, to reach customers at different parts of the lead generation and sales cycle.
Others (those that don’t ‘get it’) have a raft of data sheets and assume that anyone visiting the site has already short-listed them for their products.
And there are many companies that are in-between – they have a few informative papers, or they have built-out a robust ‘Resources’ page structure that is only partly populated.
That’s okay, it takes time to execute a content marketing strategy. At least they’re starting down the road.
Why do you need a content marketing strategy now?
If you’re not completely on the bandwagon about content marketing, Lee Odden wrote a blog posting last week on the importance of the content marketing strategy and its role in your marketing mix: Why Your Business Needs a Content Marketing Strategy.
I would simply say this: of the hundreds of exhibitors at RSA, many offer what appear to be essentially the same things – malware protection, network access control, SSL, etc. They are solving very similar sets of data and website security problems. And in many cases, understanding the differences between the vendors and the technologies can be difficult.
How can I know why your security widget is better than the others, or why I even need it? If the market for your technology is growing, there’s an ever-growing audience of people that you need to reach and educate.
Who would I rather do business with: the company that passively offers me their spec sheets with a superior smile, or the one that gives me the arguments for understanding the situation and defending my decision within my organization?
I’m guessing it’s the latter – and that’s the company that is doing the content marketing work today.
Anne Janzer 