Earlier last week, NetLine sponsored B2B Content-2-Conversion 2016 in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. This year, the conference boasted 700+ attendees from all over the world, an expo hall filled with passionate thought leaders, and fireworks that sparked a light in all of us to be better storytellers and visual curators.

We had a chance to connect with familiar as well as new faces, all while talking about the latest trends and tactics in B2B marketing. Our connections were all over the map. Literally! From sunny California, all the way to the other ends of the world, such as Europe, Canada, Asia and even South Africa! Who knew that Scottsdale was going to unite the world’s best in class content marketing thought leaders all in one place? But our hearts felt for those from the east coast who couldn’t wait to escape the -15 Fahrenheit degree weather and to come to Arizona where the weather forecast called for 80° and lots of creative fuel to ignite better ideas for 2016.

So let’s get to it..

But First, Let Me Take A Selfie!

What better way to kick of day 1 of C2C than by taking a selfie with some of the brightest thought leaders and industry experts. In case you didn’t know, selfies are a way of life.

Booth #19

Our team really enjoyed manning our booth in the sponsored exhibit area and getting to know some of the most valued experts in content marketing. We also felt esteemed in talking to prospects that sometimes feel challenged in finding meaningful ways to let their content grow their business. While we know we have a strong offering in the Content Syndication Lead Generation space, it’s great that we continue to help our customers generate more net-new leads than most of our competitors, by exposing their branded content to the widest syndication network.

The benefit of attending these events, especially in an exhibition capacity, is the ability to gauge how relevant we are to partners and customers, as well as how we compare to our competition. Needless to say, our C2C event experience was incredibly meaningful.

Our favorite sessions!

“Right Message, Right Buyer – at the Right Time”

Did you know that 93% of marketers say they do content marketing? If everyone is a content marketer, how will you break through the noise?

Heidi Bullock, The VP of Demand Generation at Marketo, disclosed the secret formula for content engagement:

E= Relevant Content+Right Time+Personal

That’s just it…create relevant content, distribute it at the right time, and make it personal. How hard can it be, right? Unfortunately, 60% of B2B Content Marketers struggle with producing engaging content.

Here are some tips to break through that noise with your branded content:

1. Address a need: What does your reader care about? Not what you care about.
2. Be relatable: This is all about knowing your audience and who you are speaking to.
3. Make a point and get to the point.
4. Standout!
5. Listen to inputs from sales, social, and, of course, your customers.

It’s important to remember that not all content is meant for every buyer in the journey:

• Early stage content, also known as pre-purchase content, should be geared around thought leadership that is enjoyable to read, while serving to build brand awareness and intent.
• Middle stage content, which helps push buyers to make a change, should incorporate tools that help buyers find you when they are looking for solutions.
• Late stage content, supports buyer’s current readiness to evaluate your product/services, and should provide product specific information to help evaluate and reaffirm solution selection.

As important as it is to create relevant content and deliver it at the right time, the most important is to personalize the experience!  The personalized experience starts with how the buyer comes to find the content all the way to how they can interact with it. Visitors that are presented with personalized content are 5X more likely to convert. Personalization across all channels is vital to growing your top of funnel and increasing conversions. We all like our birthday cards to have a personalized message and our name on it, right? Your content should do the same.

“Be Human”

The biggest take away in this session was learning that humanization of our content marketing and brand is an integral part of driving engagement. We must “speak human” and “be human”. Somewhere in our jam packed calendars–the need to meet quota, and rush hour traffic, we forget that we deal with people. Let’s not sell products, but rather, let’s sell information by educating and inspiring. #BeHuman #BeInTheNow

NetLine Sponsored Round Table Discussions

A large part of NetLine’s mission is to show leadership in the Content Syndication space. During C2C, we sponsored a two-day round table discussion, “Content Syndication for Lead Generation”.  We were excited to have Liz Miller, SVP of Marketing from CMO Council, lead our Wednesday discussion, which turned out to be a great opportunity for her to dig into why no other content syndication vendor can compare to NetLine. The discussion boasted lots of great questions and comments about content syndication and how NetLine’s technology generates more net-new leads per campaign. Thanks Liz! We love you too! Can you say #winning?

Closing Session: CXO Perspectives on Content & Demand Gen

After three days of great food, networking, and some fun in the sun, we closed out the event with the CXO Perspectives on Content & Demand Gen. Liz Miller from the CMO Council, once again rocked the stage by discussing the study that was done with NetLine, The Lead Flow’s that Help You Grow. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, take a peek!

But as Liz stressed in this session, our focus needs to shift to driving lead flow with branded content and to try to avoid:

• Developing content that lacks relevance for the intended audience.
• Syndicating or distributing content that does not reach the decision maker.
• Leveraging the ineffective syndication channels that solely focus on reach but not on relevance of your target audience.

But don’t worry, NetLine can most definitely help you leverage the right syndication channels to reach those decision makers with your branded content!

It’s Not Goodbye, It’s See You Later C2C!

These three days in Scottsdale, Arizona flew by with a blink of the eye but we were all left with some incredible goals and aspirations for 2016. Thank you to the team at C2C and the Demand Gen Report for putting together yet another incredible event!

C2C17 – We’re coming for you! Until next year!