As a marketing manager, I understand the full importance of content in the buyer’s journey. Depending on where awareness occurs, a customer could either be getting to know the solution I’m promoting, interested in adoption, or curious about the sale. Either way, it’s up to me to provide the information in a compelling, useful, and actionable manner.
Being able to provide great content is only part of the marketing challenge, since the web has become an increasingly noisier place. Not only do end-users have less patience, they also want their information in short, succinct, and bite-size pieces that provide immediate value. Thus, having a robust web content management platform is just as key as knowing the right messaging.
Unfortunately, wading through the web content management solution space is a completely different story. Not only are there a handful of solutions, but each also come at their own price range, usability, feature set, and functionality. Luckily research firm Forrester did the leg work in their most recent report released in late January 2017.
Customer Desires and Wants
Forrester was very thorough in their assessment of the systems in the market, using a 25-criteria evaluation to identify the top 15 vendors on the market. In exploring the solutions and associated needs, Forrester found out the following:
- Contextual content is a leader: Evergreen content is important, but support for context-driven content is becoming more salient in a saturated market that wants to be first. More and more platforms are driving towards support for rich media including video.
- Dynamic platforms rule the day: Static websites are now a thing of the past, replaced with content that meets present customer demands. The new platform must be scalable, provide extensibility, support APIs, and is based in the cloud.
- Content authors require support: The modern content platform also separates technology from the story. While writers and content creators should know their way around basic HTML, the emerging narrative is that structure and organization are more important, so that consumers can find the content they need faster.
- Marketers also require optimization: Similarly, marketers also need the right support to succeed in their content marketing efforts. Providing built-in digital marketing tools that drive search engine optimization, social media integration, and mobile (to name a few) are great considerations to start.
IBM Digital Experience Manager is an Emerging Leader
Among their evaluations was IBM’s Digital Experience Manager, now shipped with Watson. According to Forrester, the new cognitive focus of the product aligns with the cloud priorities of IBM and is emergent due to its open source nature. Both provide opportunities and hope for customers looking to make the most of their content and platform adoption efforts.
Forrester also examined the platform and noted that Digital Experience Manager is a platform best suited for the enterprise, particularly for already-existing customers. With Watson Content Hub leading the way, the availability of machine learning will also mean that organizations can respond faster to customer needs.
You can download the guide here.
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