The document discusses how interactive content can be used at different stages of the buyer's journey to engage prospects and accelerate sales. It describes common types of interactive content that are effective for each stage, including infographics and quizzes for early awareness, assessments and configurators in the middle stage of consideration, and calculators and solution finders late in the process when buyers are ready to purchase. The document advises marketers to start by focusing on one part of the buyer journey and experimenting with different interactive content options while maintaining a consistent brand story.

1. How to Use
Interactive Content
to Tell Your Story
& Accelerate
the Buyers Journey

2. Welcome
Mary Ward
Vice President of Account Services
at ion interactive

3. Today’s Agenda
• What Is Interactive Content?
• Why Interactive Content?
• The Early Stage
• The Middle Stage
• The Late Stage
• Where to Start?

4. What is interactive content?

5. Interactive Content
Browser-based digital content experiences
designed for visitor participation.
Interactive content typically includes
a feedback loop in which the outcome
of the experience is directly impacted
by the interaction of the visitor.

6. interactive content
enables you to deliver
engaging, educational,
differentiated content
experiences.

7. 46% of Marketers indicated their organization
has used interactive content as part of its
overall mix of content marketing tactics.*
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report
46%

8. Why interactive content?

9. Better Engagement
Advantages
Demonstrable
Consumption
Higher Conversion Rates
Strong Differentiation
Richer Measurement

10. 87%
87% agree that interactive content
grabs the attention of the reader more
effectively than static content.*
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report

11. 77% agree that interactive content
can have reusable value, resulting in
repeat visitors and multiple exposures.*
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report
77%

12. 75% agree that non-gated interactive content
can provide a “sample” of the brand, resulting
in a higher degree of lead nurturing.*
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report
75%

13. 73% agree that combining traditional
content marketing tactics with interactive
content enhances retention of my
organization’s message.*
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report
73%

14. 79% of content marketers who are using
interactive content plan to increase their
use of it in the next 12 months.*
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report
79%

15. Engagement
An engaging quiz drives 50 times
more participation.
50X

16. Conversions
Purchasing power drove 4 times
the number of e-commerce
conversions.
4X

17. Increase
FedEx uses embedded
interactive experiences to
make shipping easy and
increase revenue
by 82%.
82%

18. Increase in leads through
education.
7.5-10
Increase

19. Increase in
Conversions
36%
Increase in
Site Visits
21%

20. The Early Stage
Engagement & Awareness

21. Early Stage
An early stage is where they
become aware of your brand
and solution as well as their
need.
Middle Stage
A middle stage is where they
are considering their options
and discovering more about
their pain points and
requirements.
The Late Stage
A late stage is where the buyer
is getting ready to make a
purchase decision.
The Early Stage of The Buyers Journey

22. Your visitor wants
to know
Who is this company?—What
does your business do, and
what makes you unique?
Why should I care?—Is there
something about your brand
that’s compelling?

23. You want to know
Who is this visitor?—What’s their
name, and how can you follow up
with them? What does your business
do, and what makes you unique?
How engaged are they?—Is this
person genuinely interested? Are
they actually consuming the content
you’ve provided beyond a simple
click or view?
What are they most interested in?
—What parts of your content did
they find most engaging, and what
does that tell you
about them?

24. Interac0ve
Infographics
Transform facts, soundbites and
sta0s0cs into easily diges0ble,
entertaining content that’s fun to
consume. Using an interac0ve
infographic early in the buyer’s
journey will help you generate
social shares and increase your
reach, while also giving you a highly
measurable way to gauge which
factoids and insights are most
compelling for your prospects.

25. Na0onal Life Interac0ve Infographic

26. Lookbooks
If you’ve got a visual product or
concept to communicate, a
lookbook is a gripping way to nab
and hold a visitor’s aNen0on while
giving them a unique way to
discover your offering and see your
value.

27. Interac0ve
White Papers
White papers are especially useful
in the early stages for building
brand credibility and establishing
thought leadership. They’re great
targets for social sharing, and with
such high conversion rates for lead-
genera0on, you can use a
downloadable PDF version to
capture the visitor’s contact
informa0on and put a name to the
data you’ve collected.

28. eBooks
Interac0ve eBooks engage the user
in a “choose their own adventure”
experience. As they interact, the
content becomes more and more
specific and relevant to their needs
and preferences. Both the user and
marketer learn what’s important.

29. SalesForce Interac0ve eBook

30. The Middle Stage
Educa0on & Exchange of Informa0on

31. Early Stage
An early stage is where they
become aware of your brand
and solution as well as their
need.
Middle Stage
A middle stage is where they
are considering their options
and discovering more about
their pain points and
requirements.
The Late Stage
A late stage is where the buyer
is getting ready to make a
purchase decision.
The Early Stage of The Buyers Journey

32. Your lead wants
to know
What do I need to consider?—The
lead is s0ll learning the depths of their
own needs and defining their
preferences. It’s your job to help
them understand their op0ons.
How does this solve my problem?—
Is what you’re offering a viable
solu0on to their need?
Is it a good fit for my business?—
Will the ROI jus0fy the
investment?

33. You want to learn…
How qualified is the lead?—Is this
lead likely to make a purchase, and
are they a fit for what we offer?
What are their pain points?—
What are their challenges, and
what problems do they most
need solved?
What does their ideal solution
look like?—What features and
benefits are most pertinent
to this lead?

34. Assessments
Self-conducted online assessments
can be strategically designed to help
your lead identify their pain points
and see the opportunities for
improvement while providing
genuine value and
recommendations along the way.
As your lead completes the
assessment, you gain invaluable
insight into where their business is
at and how you can help them.

35. CMI Assessment
Results

36. Quizzes
Addictive and incredibly
shareable, quizzes are ideal for
generating leads and creating a
buzz on social networks. People
like to compete for recognition
almost as much as they do
tangible prizes, and while they’re
filling out a quiz, you’re learning
who they are, how they think
and what they care about—all
meaningful feedback for a sales
team!

37. Solution
Finders
Help your buyers zero in on the
solution that’s right for them.
Solution finders allow buyers to
navigate their way through
existing solutions exactly as they
see fit, answering the question,
“What’s right for me?” This
establishes a clear and
immediate fit for the buyer—
making it an invaluable content
piece for the middle of the
buyer’s journey.

38. The Late Stage
Ready to Buy/Act

39. Early Stage
An early stage is where they
become aware of your brand
and solution as well as their
need.
Middle Stage
A middle stage is where they
are considering their options
and discovering more about
their pain points and
requirements.
The Late Stage
A late stage is where the buyer
is getting ready to make a
purchase decision.
The Early Stage of The Buyers Journey

40. Your Buyer Wants
to Know…
What about “X”?—The late stage
of the buyer’s journey is where any
last questions on features or
implementation come to light.
Does everyone approve?—Especially
in B2B situations, the lead will need
to get their in-house teams on board
and supply them with information
to approve the purchase.

41. You want to Know…
Are there any final objections?—Is
there any information the buyer
is still in need of, or any concerns
they still need answers to?
How can we help the buyer get
buy-in?—What information do
we need to arm the buyer with
to get their internal stakeholders
on board?

42. Calculators
Late-stage calculators tackle tough
tasks like showing the ROI, TCO
and pricing. You can use these to
give your buyers useful tools that
make their discovery totally
transparent—especially useful when
there are other internal stakeholders
to convince.
Your sales and marketing teams
also gain valuable data from the
buyer’s participation and can use
the completion of a calculator as a
buying signal, triggering them to
follow up and close the sale.

43. Symantec Calculator
Results

44. Configurators
Late-stage configurators are
incredibly useful for letting your
buyer get hyper-specific with their
needs. Typically focused on
products rather than solutions,
configurators deliver the same
benefits as late-stage solution
builders, illustrating fit and
enabling that information to be
easily communicated among
stakeholders.

45. Solution
Finders
Late Stage Solution Finders are
even closer to the sale—used to
enable buyers to visualize their
lives with your solution. Solution
planners are perfect for helping
your buyer get a transparent
look into the solution they’ve
chosen, also arming them with a
detailed piece of content they
can share internally to break
down objections and illustrate
the value to stakeholders.

46. University of New England — Australia
Results
Solution Finder

47. Pick something re-usable and
valuable from a high-performing
piece
Optimize for one part of your buyer
journey first, and big or small, focus
your attention here as your
foundation for a program
Experiment, while telling your
consistent story
Get help!
Where to Start

48. mward@ioninteractive.com
twitter: @ioninteractive
* 2017 Content Marke0ng Ins0tute’s Research Report
Thank You