I read a pretty interesting report this week from Alinean, Inc. They compiled survey results from IDC and others, and came to some conclusions about marketing B2B solutions. Alinean develops interactive demand generation and sales tools for B2B sellers.

As a provider of informational content for some of my clients, certain points in the report really caught my attention. I've pasted them below and added my comments.

51% of B2B marketers are increasing their spending on content marketing over the next 12 months, with over a quarter of the overall marketing and communications budget going toward content marketing. Print/Mail Consultants has been doing content marketing for about 4 years now. We're sold on the cost-effective results and we're helping other companies do the same thing.

Buyers are increasing their dependence on online content to drive research, comparisons, and purchase decisions. Not having enough content that buyers can use for research is clearly a disadvantage. But publishing content that focuses on bold marketing claims or is always selling can make buyers skeptical. Gaining the trust of future buyers means producing content that veers away from marketing. Testimonials and customer case studies, analyst reviews, helpful advice and tips, and financial justifications will all help to increase trust and decrease skepticism.

In the opinion of buyers, salespeople are adding less value to the decision-making process and are therefore engaged later in the sales cycle. Your sales force may be great deal-closers but you'll have to pave the way for them by publishing the relevant informational content buyers are seeking or the salespeople may never have a chance.

In today's frugal times content that helps buyers assess the economic impact of vendor solutions versus the cost of doing nothing is essential. According to IDC, over 90% of solution buyers say they require proof of bottom-line benefits. However, 81% of the buyers expect the vendors to quantify the business value of their solutions. If vendors are not providing at least some degree of financial guidance in their published content they may never be invited to present their wares.

IDC asked over 200 B2B solution buyers about the most important part of their purchase process. Vendor content ranked first, ahead of direct contact with vendor technical, sales, or executive personnel. You can leverage the value of your subject matter experts by giving them a forum to show off their knowledge such as a newsletter feature or blog.

According to SiriusDecision Buyer Studies, white papers are the most favored source of content in the early stages of B2B decision-making, followed by peer referrals, webinars, demos, and analyst reports. In the later stages, analyst reports and peer referrals ranked the highest. Of course you have to let potential buyers know the white papers are available. That means doing press releases and posting on social network sites. For best results, include trackable links to whitepapers in your monthly newsletter.

Content that is customized helps cut through the clutter of meaningless product information. According to MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm the most effective customization technique was segmentation by industry. If you market your products to in-house document centers, transactional document print/mail service providers, and commercial printers then crafting slightly different messages to your three different customer segments might be a good idea.

The way businesses buy goods and services has changed. There will always be a place for traditional marketing techniques. But I firmly believe that companies who neglect content marketing are going to find that they miss out on opportunities where they would have had a decent chance to make the sale - simply because customers focused on competitors who provided more information. Well-written content needs to be searchable for those prospects that are not familiar with your solutions. But it also needs to be delivered directly on a consistent basis, just so your organization remains on the radar screen of future customers.

It's no secret. That is why I go to the trouble to create monthly newsletters with original content for two different audiences. And the effort has paid off with sales, referrals, and invitations to events where my network of contacts can grow.