The time for creating content for the sake of creating content is more than dead. You can still do it if you don’t take the time to read this post. I’m going to show you how your content strategy needs to be reviewed and supported on a regular basis and with fresh eyes. First, there’s the question of why and for whom we create content, and how we distribute it to reach our “who”. What do we expect in return for our investment? It’s easy to answer on the surface – everyone does it. A few in-house workshops with sales and marketing, facilitated by a specialist, and you’ve got a game plan for the ..read more

Yes, I know, the “meme” below will go out of fashion in no time. But we can’t pass up the opportunity to use it for educational purposes! So, have you heard of Google SGE (Search Generative Experience)? At the time I write these lines, maybe not. In 6-9 months, probably yes! In other words, it’s coming… Google SGE is going to impact the way we do our searches, and that’s going to have a negative impact on your good old Google Analytics statistics. In fact, the advent of Google SGE will revolutionize online search, ushering in a new era of contextualization and intuition in information discove ..read more

This post was born out of a long reflection over the weekend on content marketing. But also about blog, search engine optimization (SEO) and artificial intelligence. In content marketing, do we write for search engines or for readers? And are we increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (the ChatGPTs of this world) to write our blog posts, as a way of wasting less time, making our lives easier, taking shortcuts? Which led me to the following: a comparison between two texts generated by AI and one by a human (yours truly), all three answering the same “prompt”: “What are the most importan ..read more

In today’s competitive business world, customer experience (Cx) can no longer be just a floating idea. It’s become a prerequisite for business success. But what’s all the fuss about measuring customer experience? Well, the figures don’t lie: one study shows that 75% of customers are willing to spend more if they are delighted with their experience. What’s more, according to Forbes, companies that deliver superior customer experiences can see their sales soar by up to 80%. Thinking, crafting and delivering experiences is one thing, but like everything else, it’s rarely perfect the first time. S ..read more

B2B content marketing has always been a powerful lever for captivating and retaining current or potential customers (prospects) by providing relevant, compelling content. That’s why I’ve consistently specialized in this field for decades! Journalism (content) -> corporate communications (content) -> B2B content marketing. In the B2B world, the buying process is often long and involves several decision-makers with changing priorities. That’s why B2B content must be adapted to their specific needs at every stage of the journey. Here are the four (4) pillars of a compelling content B2B stra ..read more

Did you know that 72% of marketing professionals use B2B personas to guide their marketing content? This statistic highlights the growing importance of understanding exactly who the decision-makers are in the B2B world. In this world where every purchasing decision can involve multiple stakeholders and take months of deliberation, understanding the nuances of B2B personas and the complex journey of the B2B buyer is not only useful, it’s essential. From the outset, we should say “buyer persona” because B2B personas are semi-fictional representations of the people involved in the decision-making ..read more

22 years ago, I wrote the first Exo article (the “B2B” was added the following year) entitled “Integrating the Internet into your business strategy”. Rereading it, I was struck by the similarities between the integration of the Internet into business and what we’re seeing now with the arrival of artificial intelligence. In the first year of Exo’s creation, our goal was to integrate the Internet into companies’ business strategies, with a particular focus on marketing. At the time, Web or digital marketing, as we know it today, was not yet widespread. It was more commonly referred to as Interne ..read more

I recently published on LinkedIn, part of the results of CMI’s annual content marketing study, “B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024”. This publication focused on LinkedIn’s dominance as the social network of choice for the vast majority of those who publish B2B content on social networks. Every year, the CMI study looks at B2B content marketing strategies and practices. When respondents to the “B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024” were asked about their content strategy (if they have one), 70% declared that their organizat ..read more

Once upon a time, in a small industrial town, there was a factory like no other. At “Génial Industrie”, machines were not just assemblies of metal and circuitry, but working partners in their own right, with little names and unique personalities. The manager, Monsieur Lenoir, was a serious man with a heart of gold. He loved his factory and its employees above all else, regarding them as his family. With Christmas just around the corner, a generally quiet time in the industrial world, Monsieur Lenoir decided to organize something special for his employees and their families: a Christmas at the ..read more

It was while reading a post on Mark Schaefer’s blog that I got the idea to write this post on B2B content marketing and especially on the importance of creating content on YOUR website or blog and then using social networks to spread it further. A social network like LinkedIn isn’t a content platform. It’s a distribution system for YOUR content. You think that’s obvious? Yet… Many professionals and some companies use LinkedIn and other social networks as creation AND distribution tools in their B2B content marketing strategies. That’s why Mark Schaefer recently published a blog post on this “o ..read more