Friends,
Certain asset types have been particularly popular this year. Through a skinny budgeting cycle, these projects have remained on the marketing manager’s to-do list—mostly because salespeople continue to clamor for them.
Top Five Must-Have Marcomm Assets for Fall ’09:
- Playbook. What’s not to love about an easy-to-read guide that helps field and channel partners understand the prospect’s needs, then explains play-by-play how to sell your product? Highly practical and hugely popular.
- “Not Your Mom’s Customer Case Study.” We’ve produced more case studies each year for good reason: they describe in the simplest, most compelling way how a specific customer has used—and benefitted—from your products. The two-page story remains the perennial favorite, but we predict a big upswing in carefully crafted “Recommendations” on LinkedIn company pages. Think Yelp for B2B.
- Self-Assessment, aka “Cosmo Quiz” or “White Paper Lite.” Customers need a little pick-me-up these days. Starting your white paper with a series of questions draws customers in (and encourages them to think about the business problems only your products can solve). Curiosity and your refreshingly light tone keep them reading. What customer wouldn’t strive to be in the top right quadrant—and welcome her account exec’s advice on how to get there?
- Search-Engine Optimized Microsite. It goes without saying that your corporate site should be at the top of Google’s search results for your company’s target key words and phrases. Same goes for your product-, customer segment-, and industry-focused microsites. One client had us write five (smart, targeted, elegantly optimized) microsites simply to bump his product’s competition to page two.
- Wiki. Every product type and category needs a wiki. Period. The race is on.
Here at the Content Bureau we recently celebrated our best August in company history. Are we thrilled? Absolutely! Surprised? Not entirely. Our clients are doing more with less these days, but they’re still doing.
Q4 budgets are looking better than they have in months, but prudence is still in fashion. If you’re going to splash out, include at least one high-impact piece from the list above. And let us know when you start receiving love letters from the field.
Stacy runs the Content Bureau.
