In “How Catchy is Your Content?“, Ardath Albee (‘Marketing Interactions’) does a nice job of presenting and discussing a few metrics one can apply to content for B2B marketing (really to anything), to ensure the content gets the right reception. She calls the metrics “Catch Factors” (catchy!). She defines “Catch Factors” as “the preferences and aversions that form a prospect’s gut reaction to your content and communications” and lists five of them as:
- Urgency: Does it apply to a business problem they have now?
- Impact: is your information on a topic critical to their professional success?
- Effort: how much energy do they have to expend to access and understand it?
- Reputation: what’s their immediate perception of your company?
- Intent: what will they think you want from them?
Read her article for details, but I think she’s got a succinct, useful list. My observation is that if a manufacturer makes a marketing piece that uses a simulation of its product that shows how to solve a relevant business problem, it can nail four of the five (#4, Reputation, is more of a big picture item, but also #3 depends on how accessible the manufacturer makes the operation of the simulated product).