The truth is, buyers are highly skeptical of marketing and sales claims. Nielsen research shows that 92% of buyers trust peers over advertisers—but that doesn’t mean you can’t earn their trust. Savvy marketers are increasingly turning to their customers to speak up on their behalf and validate their claims. We recently put together a solution brief that details the top six ways our customers use social proof to solve marketing challenges and drive growth for their business. Read on for a summary of these use cases, or download the solution brief for the full story—including examples of how our ..read more

Case studies are loved by many for their ability to educate prospects and turn sales and marketing spiels into verified, credible claims. Sales teams need them to show proof to their prospects. Marketers add them to email campaigns to keep mid-funnel buyers engaged. And potential customers look for them on your site to evaluate whether your solution will work for their unique situation. But for all their perks, case studies are notoriously time consuming. A survey of TechValidate users found 77% of our customers spent over a month on each case study, and a third spent 3 months or more! The goo ..read more

You chose a topic. You did the research. You found lots of valuable data points to support your arguments. And ultimately, you wasted a lot of time and energy writing a piece that the sales team just won’t use. What gives? Sales and marketing misalignment is an age-old conflict, and it often results in frustration and stress for both sides. But it doesn’t have to. Here are some tricks to improve the sales and content marketing relationship and motivate reps to use your content. 1. Align with sales leadership In a typical day, sales reps make countless cold calls, send out dozens of emails ..read more

With distractions at every turn, gaining and holding your reader’s attention is only getting harder. Just think about the last time you opened a long article. Maybe you had every intention of reading it through to the end right then and there—but then a new email notification from your boss came in, a colleague messaged you a giphy, or you got up to grab a third espresso. Did you ever come back to finish the read? The average attention span has decreased by more than 30% from 2000 to 2015, putting us at an even lower level than a Goldfish. So what does this mean for content marketers, and ..read more

Buyers’ preference for credible content is growing. That’s one of the key findings in DemandGen Report’s recently published 2017 Content Preferences Survey Report, which revealed over two-thirds of buyers are more inclined to trust peer reviews and user-generated feedback, while 60% say they give credence to content authored by third party analysts and publications. The report also divulged what types of content buyers are consuming during the research process, finding 78% of buyers looked at case studies and 67% viewed third party analyst reports before making a purchase decision. The finding ..read more

Whether you’re running an email campaign, posting to social media, or updating a blog, marketing initiatives need content to succeed—and when you don’t have the right content, it becomes exceptionally hard to deliver on your marketing plans. Packet Design found this out first hand when the marketing team set out to scale their content marketing efforts and ramp up their case study collection. As a provider of network management solutions and route analytics for large network service providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T, Packet Design needed to provide compelling proof to an audien ..read more

Your customers are busy. They might love your product, but when it comes to publicly endorsing your brand, they often don’t have the the time or authority to speak on your behalf. In a recent interview produced by Sweet Fish Media, our Director of Customer Success, Lauren Locke-Paddon, discusses how marketers are thinking more creatively and strategically about what they can do when they’re strapped for references. Where are all the volunteers? Many marketing teams still prioritize getting high-production assets, like videos and long-form case studies. As we explored in a previous post, these ..read more

It’s not easy to have the right customer references on hand. As mentioned in our previous post, only one out of five of an already finite pool of your happiest customers are willing to go on the record to endorse your company. This means the majority of your most satisfied customers (who you really want to hear from) aren’t volunteering to be a reference. But identifying who your references are is only part of the equation. You still need to decipher how they’re willing to help. You may have several ideas in mind, depending on the needs of your organization. Sales may be knocking on your ..read more

Customizing content can sound overwhelming. Who has the time to create a unique piece of content for every customer segment? In our webinar, Leads gone cold? 3 ways to win them back with targeted content, you’ll learn simple tricks to tackle targeted content with ease. We’ll dive into the step-by-steps of matching content to the lead lifecycle, show how using the wrong content can do more harm than good, and offer up 3 useful tips you can start using today to increase the impact of your marketing campaigns. You’ll learn how to: Repurpose one topic into many content pieces Leverage targeted c ..read more