Samantha Stone is a revenue catalyst who helps unleash the possible in organizations that have complex selling processes.
She’s a fast-growth, B2B marketing junkie, author, speaker, consultant and persona coach who has also managed to find time to raise four boys with her husband, David.
Throughout Samantha’s career she has launched go-to-market initiatives and led marketing strategies for award-winning, high-growth companies including Netezza, SAP, Ascential Software and Powersoft.
In 2012 she founded The Marketing Advisory Network to help savvy business leaders unleash the possible within their enterprises.
Let’s learn more about Samantha, her superpowers, and the weapons and tactics she’ll be sharing at #CMC17
What special skills and superpowers do you have and where did you get them?
I graduated from college with a degree in economics and started my career in sales. It was only years later that I found my true passion in marketing.
So much for my plans to save the world through public policy research!
I credit my marketing success to my early career moves which honed my power to be both analytical and attuned to building emotional connections with buyers.
What are your favorite content marketing weapons (tools) that help you win the battle?
The most important weapon in our quest to find content ROI is the power of curiosity. It sounds so simple doesn’t it? Ask readers what they would find compelling and you’ll be amazed what you will learn.
So few of us do take advantage of our curiosity. Instead we rely on what has been read & shared in the past, what our competitors are posting, where our sales people get stuck. While these are signals we should watch, alone they miss the opportunity to differentiate and inform.
In all of my persona interviews I offer a series of headlines and I ask interviewees to rank on a scale of 1 to 5 how compelled they would be to read the piece. One not at all and 5 I’d drop what I’m doing to capture it right now.
We should also get feedback on specific content assets from your intended reader. I’ll give you an example. I have been asked to present on jump starting your Account Based Marketing program.
The slides will be used during the presentation, then I will use the content in blog posts, and elsewhere. Before finalizing my presentation I sent it to a marketer who I know is just rolling out their ABM program.
I asked her two things – is this material helpful for you and what am I missing/haven’t drilled down deep enough on? My sample of one was small – but her feedback made the presentation better.
Who is your arch-enemy and how do you recommend they be conquered?
Common denominator man is my arch-enemy. He lurks in conference rooms across the globe, tricking marketers into believing the way to get efficiency is to create content with the broadest appeal.
He stands over our editorial calendars, whispering that each piece of content needs to appeal to everyone in our audience. But don’t be fooled. In trying to appeal to everyone, we build strong connections with no one.
Resist the temptation by being specific not only with who you are creating content for, but with what action you want the reader to take after consuming it.
Find out more about Samantha, and the other content marketing thought-leaders that she will share the stage with at Content Marketing Conference 2017!