Measure Twice, Blog Once: Partner Fine-Tunes Web Content with Benchmarking

For partners with limited marketing resources, there's not a lot of room for trial and error. Most partners don't have the bandwidth to create a library of blog posts or whitepapers, hoping they will appeal to prospects.

A new digital benchmarking tool is giving Microsoft partners data to help them monitor and focus their efforts on the most effective content and marketing activities.

Like most partners, ISAAC Intelligence Ltd. tries to take an objective approach to developing content -- which is much harder than it seems. Partners look at technology from a completely different perspective than prospects and customers. Passionate about the potential of the solutions, partners want to evangelize the business improvements they can bring to their customers. As a result, partner Web sites often reflect the passion but not the practical application of solutions.

And those Web sites don't deliver the expected leads because prospects and customers are trying to solve a problem. To connect with those potential buyers as they search the Web to learn about solutions, partners need to offer content that addresses specific business challenges.

A SharePoint and Office 365 partner, ISAAC is changing their approach to content creation. "What we're trying to do is simplify the use of technology. We're trying to have a conversation not about the technology but about the outcome," said Jason Yeomans, ISAAC managing director.

"We need to connect with the managing directors around the world who are sitting there looking at the business going, 'Why on Earth is it so difficult? Why can't I just get information to flow from one part of my business to another part of my business? Why does it always get stuck? Why are customers always complaining about this department not knowing what that department's doing?'"

Which is where the digital benchmarking tool, Maya, designed by Fifty Five and Five in association with Microsoft, is helping.

"The great thing with Maya is that we can benchmark ourselves at all points. It's that independent view that we all wish we had years ago," said Yeomans. "We may try a curve ball and do something quite different and then a couple of months down the road see where we are. We'll know for sure if it's worked. We'll know for sure if it's created better or worse engagement."

Maya is easy to use and it's free. Yes, free. After entering your company's Web site into Maya, the tool produces a detailed report on how well you're doing across all the most important digital marketing metrics and provides advice for improvement. Tracking your metrics over time, you can monitor progress and objectively evaluate your digital progress.

"The nice thing about Maya is we can integrate every piece of activity we do. Newsletters, social media, direct mail, ad hoc direct mail, Web site content, blogs -- we can start to have a coherent message right across the board," Yeomans said. "Whereas before, I would come up with an idea and write something, so we'd come out very much from my point of view. It's very difficult to gauge traction that way. Occasionally we'd get a lead from the Web site and say, 'Wow, that could've worked,' but we don't know for sure, whereas now we'll know for sure and be able to hone in."

In addition to the Maya tool, ISAAC has found working with a marketing partner who specializes in serving the Microsoft channel to be advantageous. While there are many services that can write blog posts or provide marketing advice, a firm that can provide perspective on the application of the technology has been valuable.

"Working with Fifty Five and Five, we'll tell them about something that a customer has said or explain a specific problem that is replicable across many organizations. We'll give them a direction or angle that we have in mind," said Yeomans. "They'll write something for us, come back, we'll edit and, before we know where we are, we've got a nice piece of content that can be added to the Web site, pushed out on social media and create some talking points."

Yeomans added, "It avoids that introspection where you come up with something but you might not quite have the right angle on it. By bouncing it off somebody who's external to the organization, you get a different view. I love that. I think that's the best way to test if you've got something that's got legs or not."

Every partner finds it difficult to achieve the right balance in marketing content. It's far more fun to evangelize for technology you are passionate about than to address the practical concerns of everyday business operations. With the Maya tool, Fifty Five and Five is providing partners with an objective way to evaluate the effectiveness of the content they create. As a free tool, it's a no-brainer to get you started improving your digital presence. 

How are you improving your content effectiveness? Add a comment below or send me a note and let's share the knowledge.

Posted by Barb Levisay on December 01, 2016