scholarly journals Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraint Holliman ◽  
Jennifer Rowley
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inbound Marketing ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Content Marketing

Purpose – This paper aims to draw attention to the emerging phenomenon of business to business (B2B) digital content marketing, offers a range of insights and reflections on good practice and contributes to theoretical understanding of the role of digital content in marketing. B2B digital content marketing is an inbound marketing technique and hence offers a solution to the declining effectiveness of traditional interruptive marketing techniques. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 key informants involved in B2B content marketing in the USA, UK and France, in five industry sectors. Findings – B2B digital content marketing is an inbound marketing technique, effected through web page, social media and value-add content, and is perceived to be a useful tool for achieving and sustaining trusted brand status. Creating content that is valuable to B2B audiences requires brands to take a “publishing” approach, which involves developing an understanding of the audience’s information needs, and their purchase consideration cycle. Valuable content is described as being useful, relevant, compelling and timely. Content marketing requires a cultural change from “selling” to “helping”, which in turn requires different marketing objectives, tactics, metrics and skills to those associated with more traditional marketing approaches. The article concludes with a theoretical discussion on the role of digital content in marketing, thereby contextualising the findings from this study within a broader exploration of the role of digital content in marketing and relational exchanges. Originality/value – As the first research study to explore the use of digital content marketing in B2B contexts, this research positions digital content marketing with regard to prior theory, and provides both an agenda for further research, and suggestions for practice.

Somewhat pushy but effective: the role of value-laden social media digital content marketing (VSM-DCM) for search and experience products

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Emeka Izogo ◽  
Mercy Mpinganjira
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Brand Attitude ◽  
Product Type ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Content Marketing

PurposeMarketer-generated value-laden social media digital content marketing (VSM-DCM) relates to content that is neither too “pushy” nor too “pully.” On the foundation of media engagement, motivation- and attitude-based theories, this study rationalizes and investigates the mechanism that underlies the effect of VSM-DCM on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors devised a 2 (product type: search vs. experience) × 3 (VSM-DCM: utilitarian vs. hedonic vs. utilitarian + hedonic) between-subject design (N = 360) after three pre-tests (N = 223).FindingsThe authors show that VSM-DCM formats are effective in enhancing brand attitude and eWOM intention for different products. Specifically, market-generated VSM-DCM that simultaneously embeds utilitarian and hedonic values is the most effective for optimizing brand attitude and eWOM intention in both search and experience product contexts. The effect of VSM-DCM formats on eWOM intention is mediated by brand attitude, while product type (search vs. experience) moderates this indirect effect.Originality/valueThis paper breaks new ground by highlighting the relevance of marketer-generated VSM-DCM in the DCM context and by illustrating the mechanism through which it leads to consumers’ intention to engage in eWOM. In so doing, it contributes to the debate on DCM implementation and the contextual factors that moderate the optimization of DCM outcomes.

Local capacity building after crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wine Tesseur
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Local Capacity ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Local Capacity Building

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of languages and translation in the context of capacity building in NGOs in Kyrgyzstan. It argues that language barriers can impede local capacity building, while translation can help in overcoming some of the issues encountered. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on what NGO workers have said on the role of languages and translation in their work in 34 semi-structured interviews conducted in Kyrgyzstan in January 2018. The discussion is structured around a theoretical understanding of capacity building at three levels: the organisational level, the individual level and a broader enabling environment. Findings First, the paper demonstrates that knowledge of English plays a key role in accessing international funding and information. Second, it describes the challenges that NGO workers encounter when translating information related to development into Russian and Kyrgyz. Third, it argues that donors do not overtly consider the important role of languages. Together, the findings suggest that ignoring the role of languages and translation can have a negative effect on project outcomes and power relationships. Practical implications Policy recommendations for international NGOs and donors drawn from this case study and from comparative case studies on Peru and Malawi have been published in Crack et al. (2018). Originality/value The paper argues that taking the role of languages and translation into account can result in a more in-depth understanding of aspects that may contribute to better local capacity building.

B2B digital content marketing in uncertain situations: a systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrzad Yaghtin ◽  
Hossein Safarzadeh ◽  
Mehdi Karimi Zand
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Content Marketing ◽  
Valuable Content

Purpose Despite the significant potential of digital content marketing (DCM) to establish public and professional awareness, especially in uncertain situations, no previous research has investigated how to plan business-to-business DCM to help firms and society get through a crisis. Thus, this study aims to offer an integrative framework for providing valuable information for managing uncertainty, particularly during the pandemic crisis. Design/methodology/approach Through the lens of business awareness, this research explores relevant content types that can help firms and society get through the pandemic crisis. For this, the systematic review of 52 articles appearing in publication outlets for more than one decade (2010 to 2021) was conducted. Findings Based on the findings from the literature review, this paper identified two main categories of valuable content types for firms and society during the pandemic, namely, business-centered content types to enhance industrial environment awareness and human-centered content types to raise emotional awareness during the pandemic crisis. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research delivers the first scientific article that focuses on presenting an integrative framework for providing valuable content types helping firms and society to manage uncertainty.

scholarly journals The relation between innovation sources and ICT roles in facility management organizations

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ada Scupola
Keyword(s):  
External Source ◽  
Facility Management ◽  
Strategic Orientation ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
The Government

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present research findings on the relation between internal/external sources of innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) as a supporter/enabler of facilities management (FM) organizations, as well as on the strategic orientation towards open innovation of FM organizations. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a qualitative research approach. The data collection includes qualitative semi-structured interviews with key FM managers and directors and secondary material such as company brochures, reports and information provided on the participating companies’ websites. Findings – The results show that the FM organizations in the study sample are starting to develop and engage in open FM service innovations, even though they still mostly conduct closed innovation activities. The findings show that FM organizations mostly take an ambidextrous strategic orientation towards FM service innovations, while they also embrace an exploration approach. Concerning the role of ICT in FM service innovations, the study shows that in the explorative organizations, ICT was mostly an enabler, while in the ambidextrous organizations, ICT mostly supported and enabled the innovations in question. Only in two innovation instances was ICT identified as having a utility role. Practical implications – The findings of this study challenge researchers and managers to rethink how and why a strategic orientation towards innovation, the sources of innovation and the role of ICT might affect service innovation in FM organizations. One important implication for FM managers and researchers is the importance that the government might have as an external source in fostering FM service innovations, especially in light of changing environmental requirements, such as energy consumption. FM managers should also consider how they could use ICT to improve and innovate FM services and service delivery and the kind of sources (external/internal) they should use to carry out this task. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the empirical and theoretical understanding of the sources of innovation and ICT as a supporter/enabler, as well as the strategic orientation towards innovation in FM organizations.

scholarly journals Fostering brand engagement and value-laden trusted B2B relationships through digital content marketing

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 1759-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimmo Taiminen ◽  
Chatura Ranaweera
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Customer Relationships ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Brand Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Engagement ◽  
Value Perceptions ◽  
Relationship Value ◽  
Content Marketing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how digital content marketing (DCM) users can be engaged with business-to-business (B2B) brands and determine how such engagement leads to value-laden trusted brand relationships. Design/methodology/approach Through an online survey, data were collected from the email marketing list of a large B2B brand, and the hypothesised research model was analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling. Findings This paper identifies a bundle of helpful brand actions – providing relevant topics and ideas; approaching content with a problem solving orientation; as well as investing in efforts to interpret, analyse and explain topics through DCM – to foster relationship value perceptions and brand trust. Critically however, cognitive-emotional brand engagement is shown to be a necessary requirement for converting these actions into relationship value perceptions. Research limitations/implications This paper furthers the understanding of the dual role of helpful brand actions in functionally oriented DCM. Additionally, this paper offers evidence of the central role of cognitive-emotional brand engagement in influencing value-laden customer–brand relationships. Practical implications This paper introduces a bundle of helpful brand actions that forms the basis for the dual roles of a brand in enhancing customer value and in fostering brand engagement and building relationships. This approach helps practitioners to steer brand-related perceptions arising from DCM interactions towards building trusted brand relationships. Originality/value This paper contributes to the marketing literature by revealing a potential approach to DCM in managing customer relationships. Instead of focusing solely on the content benefit-usage link to support engagement, this paper reveals the potential of helpfulness as a brand-initiated DCM engagement trigger in engaging customers with the brand, vis-à-vis the content.

scholarly journals Emotional appeals in UK business-to-business financial services advertisements

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mogaji ◽  
Barbara Czarnecka ◽  
Annie Danbury
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Print Advertisements ◽  
Emotional Appeal ◽  
Emotional Appeals ◽  
Business Customers ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the use of emotional appeals in business-to-business (B2B) bank advertisements and to understand business owners’ perceptions of such appeals. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1,834 print advertisements collected from British newspapers were content analysed. In Study 2, semi-structured interviews with 17 business owners operating a business current account with a British bank were carried out. Findings Emotional appeals are embedded in B2B financial services advertisements, and business owners acknowledge the presence of emotional appeals; however, the perceived congruency between emotional appeal and financial services could not be established as participants reported a largely utilitarian, need- and benefit-driven decision-making process. Research limitations/implications Accurately measuring emotions aroused through advertisements is considered a limitation. In addition, the sample of participants considered for this research project was small and medium-sized business owners. Practical implications Emotional appeals should be used in conjunction with detailed rational information about financial products, as emotional appeals only arouse interest. Relationship is considered crucial in capitalising on the emotionally appealing advertisements. Customers must feel appreciated and loyalty should be rewarded. Originality/value The paper responds to numerous calls for more research into the role of emotional influences on the relationships in a B2B context and on the behaviour of business customers.

Mixed language queries in online searches

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengyi Fu
Keyword(s):  
Information Retrieval ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Language Information Retrieval ◽  
Mixed Language ◽  
Online Searches ◽  
Cross Language

Purpose With the increasing number of online multilingual resources, cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) has drawn much attention from the information retrieval (IR) research community. However, few studies have examined how and why multilingual searchers seek information in two or more languages, specifically how they switch and mix language in queries to get satisfying results. The purpose of this paper is to focus on Chinese–English bilinguals’ intra-sentential code-switching behaviors in online searches. The scenarios and reasons of code-switching, factors that may affect code-switching, the patterns of mixed language query formulation and reformulation and how current IR systems and other search tools can facilitate such information needs were examined. Design/methodology/approach In-depth semi-structured interviews were used as the research method. In total, 30 participants were recruited based on their English proficiency, location and profession, using a purposive sampling method. Findings Four scenarios and four reasons for using Chinese–English mixed language queries to cover information needs were identified, and results suggest that linguistic and cultural/social factors are of equivalent importance in code-switching behaviors. English terms and Chinese terms in queries play different roles in searches, and mixed language queries are irreplaceable by either single language queries or other search facilitating features. Findings also suggest current search engines and tools need greater emphasis in the user interface and more user education is required. Originality/value This study presents a qualitative analysis of bilinguals’ code-switching behaviors in online searches. Findings are expected to advance the theoretical understanding of bilingual users’ search strategies and interactions with IR systems, and provide insights for designing more effective IR systems and tools to discover multilingual online resources, including cross-language controlled vocabularies, personalized CLIR tools and mixed language query assistants.

scholarly journals User-driven efforts in creating knowledge graph information system

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-111
Author(s):  
Stanislava Gardasevic
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Resource Discovery ◽  
The Body ◽  
Knowledge Graph ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Study Objective ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that involved students of an interdisciplinary PhD program. The study objective was to gather requirements to create a knowledge graph information system. The purpose of this study was to determine information-seeking practices and information needs of this community, to inform the functionalities of a proposed system, intended to help students with relevant resource discovery and decision-making. Design/methodology/approach The study design included semi-structured interviews with eight members of the community, followed by a website usability study with the same student participants. Findings Two main information-seeking styles are recognized and reported through user personas of international and domestic (USA) students. The findings show that the useful information resides within the community and not so much on the program website. Students rely on peer communication, although they report lack of opportunities to connect. Students’ information needs and information seeking are dependent on their progress through the program, as well as their motivation and the projected timeline. Practical implications Considering the current information needs and practices, a knowledge graph hosting both information on social networks and the knowledge produced by the activities of the community members would be useful. By recording data on their activities (for example, collaboration with professors and coursework), students would reveal further useful system functionalities and facilitate transfer of tacit knowledge. Originality/value Aside from the practical value of this research that is directly influencing the design of a system, it contributes to the body of knowledge on interdisciplinary PhD programs.

scholarly journals Sinabung volcano: how culture shapes community resilience

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-303
Author(s):  
Marta Mori ◽  
Ronan McDermott ◽  
Saut Sagala ◽  
Yasmina Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aid Dependency ◽  
Relief Operations ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
Cultural Experts ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how culture, including traditions and social structures, can influence resilience and how culturally sensitive relief operations can put affected people and their context at the core of any interventions. Design/methodology/approach A case study of the Mt Sinabung volcano area in Indonesia was undertaken. As part of the case study, an analysis of interventions was conducted, which was complemented by semi-structured interviews with Karo cultural experts and humanitarian organisations. Findings Culture influences the manner in which the Karo people react to volcano eruptions with varying implications for recovery. In addition, relief organisations which understand people’s actions through a cultural lens have better managed to tailor programs with long-term impact, thereby avoiding aid dependency. Practical implications Practical examples of disaster management activities that adequately account for the beneficiaries’ way of living prior to the eruptions are provided. Aid actors are provided with guidance concerning how to better tailor their activities in line with a cultural lens. Originality/value The study provides empirical grounding for claims concerning the role of culture in planning interventions in Indonesia and other similar contexts.

Beyond social capital: a capability approach to understanding Refugee Community Organisations and other providers for “hard to reach” groups

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Refugee Community ◽  
Community Organisations ◽  
Purposive Sample ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of the “capability approach” as an alternative framework for understanding and conceptualising the role of Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) and other providers for groups conventionally considered “hard to reach”. Design/methodology/approach – A study of the education services of RCOs, drawing primarily on semi-structured interviews with 71 users, is put forward as a case study for how the capability approach can be operationalised. Findings – The capability approach is found to offer various valuable insights, relating to its appreciation of the multi-dimensional nature of human wellbeing, the significance of individual diversity, and the importance of human agency. Research limitations/implications – The case study is based on a relatively small purposive sample, and may have limited external validity. As the research design proved strong for exploring how RCOs develop their users’ capabilities but weak for exploring if and how they may also constrict them, further research in this area is required. Practical implications – A number of valuable attributes of the capability approach are highlighted for broadening the understanding, the role of RCOs and other service providers. Social implications – The paper outlines the potential of the capability approach to contribute to policymaking related to RCOs and other providers, and to debates relating to social exclusion, cohesion and integration. Originality/value – The paper draws attention to the value of the capability approach within the field of migration research.

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