The basis of building the Content Strategy for the B2B companies lies in understanding the core values provided to customers and interpreting this understanding into concrete content that is easy to find, identify, consume and follow. Another vital part in building success is to make sure that the speech in customer meetings, exhibitions, seminars and negotiations is the same as the message delivered via web channels - and vice versa. This is possible only by overriding existing organizational silos and unifying the goals of the sales and marketing. Our five-step model gives you tools to build success. The model is shortly presented in this presentation that was held in Content Strategy forum Helsinki, September 13, 2013 by Kati Keronen & Katri Tanni.

1. Content Strategy for B2B
Companies: how web
content can support
demanding sales process
Content Strategy Forum Helsinki
13th September 2013
Kati Keronen & Katri Tanni

2. 1. Content strategy begins from customer
understanding.
2. Customer understanding can be found among
sales & customer service.
3. Sales & marketing need to work together in order
to find concrete things customers give value for.
4. Customer value matrix is the heart of the B2B
content strategy and content paths produced.
5. Content paths guide customers troughout the web
channels. The speech in web and in f2f
discussions needs to be the same.
Our statements about CS for B2B

3. Current situation in B2B
companies
• Sales argumentation differes a lot from marketing
slogans
• Marketing slogans dominate B2B web presence
• Real customers call / send email to the best sales
managers
→ ineffective way
→ knowledge is not shared or refined
→ real knowledge does not come visible

4. Current situation in B2B
companies
Sales Marketing
Customers

5. Current situation in B2B
companies
Sales Marketing
Customers

6. Current situation in B2B
companies
• Marketing does not much help B2B sales
• Marketing & Sales are too far away from each other
→ Causing the lack of confidence & respect
→ Marketing has problems in showing gained results
→ Sales does a hard work in finding customers and
teaching them

7. The change?
• Marketing has to support real sales process
• Marketing has to help sales in both finding and
teaching customers
• Sales has to teach marketing why customers buy their
products / services – what customers really ask / what
kind of help do they need etc.

8. The change inside a company
Sales Marketing
• Gives customer
information for marketing
• Start a dialog with
marketing
• Teach marketing to teach
customers
• Go to a customer level –
interested in real sales
process
• Learns from sales pitch
• Transforms slogans,
marketing terms into real
customer values
• Teach organization to
communicate

9. The change from a customer
point of view
Customers
Company as an opinion leader. Teach customers
in their own field. Easy to find real knowledge.

10. What happens in a company?
1. Knowledge is shared,
organization silos are history
2. Marketing helps in finding
and teaching customers (early
stage of the purchasing
process)
3. Sales can concentrate in the
most important customers and get
quality leads into the sales pipe
4. Customers can even recognize the
company as an opinion leader

11. How customers feel like?
1. Understand the value
that company brings
2. Do not run into marketing
slogans anymore but find
real knowledge
3. Trust the fact that the
company understands their
process and can help them
4. Recognize the company as
an opinion leader

12. CS FOR B2B
The five-stage model for the content planning & production

13. 1. Apex for the
content
”Our core
competence &
value it brings to
our customers”
2. Information window
”What informational
needs our target buyer
personas have and how
they perceive the field at
the moment”
3. Content paths
”Affecting, assuring
and activating
content thorough
the channels. Used
both to educate
customers and
nurturing leads”
4. Implementing content
production to organization
”Who are key persons in our
company to give content
ideas, sales arguments and
customer views”
5. Measuring
”How well the content
affects and assures
customers both in web
and in real-life sales
process”
Content strategy
”Our way to guide our
target customers and
current customers
throughout the web
channels and make our
core competencies
visible and desirable.”

14. Content
Apex
(main
message)
YouTube
Twitter
LinkedIn
Blog Websites
Search
Engines
Affecting content Assuring content
Call to action (information
seekers & buyers)
L
i
s
t
e
n
i
n
g
Sales discussions
Content Paths guide customers through the web
Media
Pinterest
SlideShare
Picture from the book ”Johdata asiakkaasi verkkoon. Opas koukuttavan sisältöstrategian luomiseen”.
Authors: Kati Keronen & Katri Tanni (2013).

15. Affecting content Assuring content
Engaged followers
Time
Call to Action
Long-term content production engages
Picture from the book ”Johdata asiakkaasi verkkoon. Opas koukuttavan sisältöstrategian luomiseen”.
Authors: Kati Keronen & Katri Tanni (2013).

16. Finding the
content
Identifying to
the content
Being
affected by
the
content
Vakuuttaminen
Assure
Sales process (sales & aftersales supported by
marketing)Content strategy (marketing supported by sales)
E
N
G
A
G
E
M
E
N
T
Being assured by the
quality of the content
and its origin.
Desire to
hear more
Action to get
the first
contact (lead)
Negotiations,
finding solution
Deal
CS helps both sales & marketing processes
2/3 of the B2B
buyers choose
companion
they already
know.
(
The 2013 buyerspehre report
)
Even 80% of
purchasing
process is
done before
contacting
sales.
Picture from the book ”Johdata asiakkaasi verkkoon. Opas koukuttavan sisältöstrategian luomiseen”.
Authors: Kati Keronen & Katri Tanni (2013).

17. CASE TANA LTD
CS for supporting the global sales of big machinery

18. An example: CS for TANA Ltd
It all begins from the customer value matrix
that originates from:
1.The business strategy
2.Core competencies
3.Target market & customer segments
4.Processes and informational needs of the
different buyer personas
5.Most effective sales arguments
tana.fi & tanarecycling.com

19. Customer value matrix / Tana Ltd.
Message before CS Message after CS The most important
customer value as apex
for the CS
Content Path 1 TANA Landfill Compactors:
”The only purpose-built landfill
compactor on the market”
Landfill Operations:
”Compact landfill waste
better than ever before: no
air-pockets to collapse, less
ballast and fewer kilometres
to drive.”
Better compacting results lengthen
the productive lifecycle of the
whole landfill (huge savings).
Content Path 2 TANA Shark slow speed
shredder: ”Increase your
flexibility”
Recycling processes: ”Shred
all waste types with just one
pass in the particle size your
customer´s process
demands”
Versatility of the machinery gives
waste management operators
possibility to widen their business
to the new waste types with low
risk / to process different materials
with the same machine with less
time & money.
Content Path 3 TANA Biochipper: ”Smartest
mobile drum chipper on the
market, developed with
customers.”
Bioenergy production: ”Most
homogenous particles right
at even the most remote
sites”.
Homogenous particle size gives
contractors better price from the
chipped wood.

20. Hopefully we were able to nurture your insight!
Kati Keronen
Kati.keronen@differo.fi
+358 40 576 1704
@KatiKeronen
Katri Tanni
Katri.tanni@differo.fi
+358 44 592 8330
@Tannikat