For years a Web Content Management System (CMS) used to be something a company needed as a basic tool to maintain a website, a basic necessity, nothing fancy.
Times have changed. A CMS has become more and more important to ensure a successful website, whether B2C or B2B. And your website is now a strategic success factor of your online B2B marketing strategy. You do the sums!
Shift
Rob Cools of SDL Tridion has seen this shift in the last years and was happy to share some insights with readers of the B2B Marketing Forum blog. On the Forum on the 20th March SDL will host a special CMO TV live streaming event directed at marketers outside The Netherlands.
Rob Cools sees three important trends in Content Management Systems
- The shift from traditional web content to facilitating customer experience management.
- Customers are more demanding. They want personalised messaging that is available anywhere at anytime
- Social media have an impact on websites and information behaviour
As marketers we have lived through this transition. There has been a shift from focus on the sales funnel to an emphasis on the customer journey. We now focus on transforming initial visitors into customers.
A tip for marketers
Cools stresses we need to get the basics right. Ensure your website is quick and performing well. Profit from new media and focus on the customer experience.
When looking at a new CMS Cools lists 4 items to look for:
- Define your own role (CMS is not the holy grail). What do you want to get out of your website and how are you going to achieve this?
- How can a web CMS support you in that role (does it support different devices etc.)?
- What and how many languages do you need to support?
- Can you segment your website and reach your different target audiences through your site?