As an author and content marketer, I'll remember this email forever. But, the one thing I'd like to say is that the reader gave me way too much credit.

I didn't change his company, he did. He took the ideas and put them into practice. I'm so darned happy about his results, it makes me smile every time I think about them! And I'm especially grateful that he chose to share the story with me.

The one thing I'd like to point out is that the reader had a pretty good process established. He was already publishing his content where his prospects would find it. By only changing the content—not the process—he gained tangible proof that content focused on his prospects is what made the difference.

Are you up to the challenge?



We had a great discussion including these topics:

• Synchronizing the right content during a seven-stage buying process
• Why B2B marketers must learn to be better publishers
• Role of marketing technology to support content and nurturing processes
• Should marketers shift all their attention to in-bound marketing?
• What is "natural nurturing" and how should it be used?
• Finding the right mix between social marketing, email and other channels

Listen to the Podcast

MLT Creative was the sponsor of the luncheon. They treated me like a queen. Flowers, a fantastic dinner with the Board of the BMA chapter and MLT folks. The discussions and brainstorms about marketing were fantastic and the attendees of the luncheon were so nice and receptive that I didn't want to leave.

MLT Creative also provided copies of my book to the workshop attendees and took the first pictures I have of me signing my books in person. Being the ham I am, I had to share.

Thank you hardly seems enough. I was truly honored to be invited. Special thanks to Billy Mitchell (@billymitchell1), Martine Hunter (@martinehunter) of MLT and Joe Noonan from BMA Atlanta (@bmaatlanta).

Needless to say, BMA Atlanta Rocks!

If you'd like to know what I have to say in response to these questions, go read the interview.

• What was behind your decision to write this book?


• Why did you believe this was timely?


• Why isn't this conventional wisdom by now?


• Why do you think companies struggle to make that shift?


• What's stopping marketers, more specifically, from more aggressively investing in content-driven marketing programs?


• So there are big returns to be gained by guiding the buyer through an extended decision process. You are nurturing them and cultivating them.


• Let’s talk about the economics of this.  What are you seeing in terms of how marketers are looking at their investment in and their budgeting of content?  What’s your thought in terms of how they can justify these investments?


• Do you see a distinction here between companies selling something with far larger deal sizes and ones that have smaller deal sizes?


• Now, if you were to gaze out maybe five years into the future and try to imagine how practice in the marketplace will have evolved with respect to content-driven marketing, what would you expect?


• I’m curious. What have you learned since you released your book and began getting feedback from readers? What are some of you latest findings?

You can read the full interview here

In my book I call this engagement bling. I define engagement bling as "...the positive results your company gains from sustaining trusted engagement with prospects and customers throughout their buying journeys."

The interesting thing about bling is that the more you share it, the more you have. And, that's because your prospects and customers get bling of their own from their interactions with you.

Take a look at some of the bling your prospects and customers get:

Valuable Knowledge: Solving a complex problem requires insights and knowledge your prospects probably don't have—especially if they haven't had to solve this kind of problem in a while, or ever. The more informed they become, the easier it is to make a purchase decision. And the less time spent doing so.

Increased Confidence: This is the result of becoming more informed. But it's not just about building their confidence in your company, it's about increasing the confidence their companies have in them to make the best choice to achieve the desired outcome.

Useful Conversations: Once they have the first two, they can enter into conversations with you to validate their beliefs. But, beyond that, they can invite conversations with the other members of the buying committee, sharing your ideas and gaining consensus with people you may never interact with personally. And, that's critical in shortening the time to purchase.

All of this bling leads to higher credibility for your company and for the decision maker who becomes empowered to choose your company as a strategic partner to help them do the hard work of solving their complex problems. And that's a good thing all the way around.

But that's not all. You get even more bling when you work to build engagement with your prospects and customers by making every impression and interaction relevant to them.

You also get things like:

• more interactive dialogue,
• intelligence-enhanced listening
• increased demand due to higher trust

These increase based on the value your prospects and customers ascribe to every interaction and impression your company exchanges with them.

What company couldn't benefit from all these rewards?

I say, bring on the engagement bling!

Naturally, I asked her to send me a picture. So, here's proof that my book exists beyond the online booksellers. And, notice it's sitting right next to Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett's book, Get Content. Get Customers. It's keeping very good company.

She's graciously allowed me to post the screencast here for all of you.
(25 minutes)

In the eBook, I present:

• A breakdown of the steps in the complex buying process.
• 4 Steps to improving your customer intelligence.
• How to apply those insights to content development.
• Applications for putting your customer focus to work.

Download the complementary eBook.

To learn more about creating buyer-centric content that produces quantifiable eMarketing results, you can always buy the book...