Tim Parker's blog

In an article we published in June we explained why we think that topic microsites will supersede white papers for B2B marketing (see here). In my last couple of posts I showed the many different elements that have been incorporated into some emerging topic microsites (here) and explained which characteristics are essential (here). One of those essential characteristics is an in-depth point of view.

In this post, I’ll go into a little more detail and explain why articles alone aren’t enough and why they need to congregate around an overarching point of view.

 In the last post I listed some of the elements that can feature on a topic microsite including blogs, animated graphics and videos. And I showed how some existing microsites vary widely in the components they include. I don’t think any one of those sites has the right combination of components to maximize traffic and engagement, so in this post, I am going to explain which elements are essential.

We expect that in B2B marketing, white papers are going to be replaced by topic microsites. It won’t happen overnight, but there are so many advantages, both to the reader and to the authors, that it will happen eventually.

Among emerging microsites, each comprises a different assemblage of components. Let's take a closer look.

We believe that topic microsites will ultimately eclipse white papers and other downloadable media as the primary channel for point-of-view dissemination. Among the reasons for this are that a web page is a much more powerful medium to convey information with. Things you can do with a web page that you can’t do with a pdf include:

• Enlargeable, animated and interactive graphics
• Hyperlinks to later articles, as well as to earlier ones
• Readers’ comments and responses to them
• Video and podcast excerpts and supplements
• Live feeds of blogs and articles on the topic from other sites
• Reader polls and surveys

(You can read a fuller explanation of topic microsites here.)

Nonetheless, the market is moving only slowly away from distributed white papers towards these more powerful online destinations. Most topic microsites that have emerged so far take advantage of only a fraction of the tools that can make them more engaging for readers and prospective customers.

We recently pondered the hazards of plagiarism after someone took some of our material for their own blog. Now I think I have a much better understanding of why it’s bad for everyone, especially the reader. And I’d like to share my conclusions.

B2B companies are increasingly turning to thought leadership marketing — or content marketing or inbound marketing, if you prefer. But whatever you call it, it’s on the rise. In a world where it’s ever easier for the buyer to screen out advertisements and to find his own solution, sellers are publishing evidence of their expertise where prospects can find it.

We just published a report about a survey on the use of social media marketing by consulting firms (here). We found that the number one barrier to firms doing more social media marketing was not being confident they could generate the content. If consulting firms (whose stock in trade is intellectual capital) are worried about generating content, how is anyone else going to cope?

Most companies doing B2B content marketing are using the internet and digital technology to automate the old process of publishing and distributing white papers (or articles, or newsletters.) As in the old days, the content development and writing is a still one-off process, followed by distribution via a white paper syndication site, posting on the company website and so on. But the technology actually lets you do much, much more than that, and very few companies are yet taking advantage of it.

I have seen several posts and tweets lately on how the term “Thought Leadership” is overused, hollow, and should be abandoned.  Some of them are pretty funny, and I have followed some tweeters because I enjoyed their barbs – despite the fact that they’re lampooning the phrase (and concept) I use to make my living.  Here’s one from @skemptastic on Tuesday: “blogged an arrow-filled diagram accompanied by thought leadership-y picture. soon i will be the CEO of the world.”

Gotta laugh.  But what’s going on?

This post is the sixth and final in a series about the six new rules of thought leadership marketing. Today, Rule #6: Perpetual online communities are displacing intermittent marketing campaigns.

In the preceding five parts of this series I’ve talked about how white papers can be better marketed, leading to the conclusion that it is much better to have the material posted on a site, with an audience that returns for periodic updates, than it is to produce one-off white papers. The logical conclusion of this is that the site should morph into an online community.

This post is the fifth in a series about the six new rules of thought leadership marketing.  Today, Rule #5, sustained  traffic supersedes downloads.

After you generate Internet chatter about your white paper, your next set of marketing tactics must be much different than those many companies are used to. The way we sum it up is to stop the selling before it even begins and to start the online engagement.