Meet Scott Stano, Director of Global Demand Generation at Arcserve— a comprehensive solution for organizations which provides assurance that they can recover their data and applications when needed—and our fourth Content Marketing Innovator this week. Scott Stano has his sights set on quality over quantity, bringing substance to his content through interactivity. Check out his interview with ion below:
What is your approach to content marketing?
Scott Stano: We take a streamlined funnel focus to content marketing—mapping our pieces with each stage of the buyer’s journey. For lead conversion, we focus heavily on thought leadership and engagement. Helping the prospect better understand the industry, their business and evolving trends is a sure-fire way to not only gain credibility for our solutions, but also establish preference in the buying cycle.
What content advice would you give to other marketers?
SS: I would advise any marketer to focus on quality over quantity. A lot of people think that content has to be a “factory” that constantly churns out new material no matter what. Quantity no longer matters as much as quality for search engine optimization (SEO), and blasting the market with less valuable materials leads to your audience “shutting off” your message. Content for content’s sake is the wrong move: focus on the “right” content.
Why did you incorporate interactive content into your program?
SS: I am a big believer of being different in your market space. Too often people will reference what competitor X or Y is doing, and invariably the conversation turns to “should we be doing that?” However, this mentality misses the analysis of “what isn’t our competition doing” and is there an opportunity to stand apart? After an overflight of our competition in the backup and recovery space, it was clear that next generation applications, like interactive content, afforded us the chance to not only differentiate ourselves from others, but better and more uniquely engage our prospects, partners and customers.
What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in content marketing right now?
SS: The personalization of marketing experiences online and on mobile presents tremendous opportunities for marketers to reach the right audience like never before. The ability to offer a person the most aligned material based on real-world behaviors is very exciting. By marrying marketing automation, CRM, retargeting and other engagement mechanisms, we are able present a much more complete picture of a person’s current level of interest in engaging with the company (or sales!).
What’s in store for the future of content marketing?
SS: Content is king and will continue to be for a long time to come. As people continue to engage more and more with rich media, including applications, videos, gameshow-like interactive experiences or the traditional written word, marketers must constantly assess if what they are providing is truly valuable to their end consumer. In this fast paced, internet and mobile driven world, we often get only one chance to make a good impression—make sure you’re staying one step ahead of what your audience expects from their experience with your company. Do you look like you’re speeding into the future, or stuck with one foot in the past? It’s a good question to ask yourself every day.
Who would think data protection and recovery architecture could be this much fun?! Check out Arcserve’s latest interactive eBook. Come back tomorrow to see who our final interactive content marketing trendsetter is.
