An earlier post, “Need Input from IT Marketers Who’ve Hired Freelance Customer Success Story Writers ASAP“, introduced a project that fellow success story writer, Pamela DeLoatch (b2bstorytelling.com), were working on.

The idea was to create a series of video interviews for b2b marketers interested in how to get the best from a freelance B2B case study writer.

Today’s post is an update on that project.

Pamela and I got a list of questions together from responses kindly submitted by members of LinkedIn discussion groups, created a general interview script, and then took turns asking and answering the questions.

The videos were recorded on Skype using a $20 software tool from ecamm.com known as ‘Call Recorder‘.
Their product’s tag line is:

Transform your Skype audio and video calls into QuickTime movies. Completely automatic, easy to use Skype audio and video call recording for Mac user

And that’s exactly what it did!

Here’s a screenshot of  video 2 (of 6) that’s in my new ‘samuraiwriter99‘ YouTube channel.

The interview went just over the hour and covered the following topics:
(This is a screenshot from the case study videos landing page on my site.)

For a first attempt, and using nothing more than a laptop’s internal camera and a USB headset, I’m reasonably happy with the outcome; although some of my unintended ‘grimaces’ are painful to behold. And that wall-mounted wooden coat hanger apparently protruding from my right temple is difficult to forget…

Having added a ‘freelance-b2b-case-study-writer-video-series‘ landing page, the remaining steps are to:

• Edit the video transcripts into a PDF-based report as a lead generation tool for our case study writing businesses.
• Create some podcasts using the audio channels from the interview and distribute via iTunes, or similar.
• Extract useful snippets from the transcripts and retweet them with a link to the landing page.
• Create a press release for online distribution.

Or, in other words, 2012′s the year that Samuraiwriter Services goes full duplex into the world of content marketing in the IT Networking marketplace(s).

And readers will have opportunities to contribute in a number of ways.

Here’s a mind map I put together to create this post.
(Click the image below and a larger version opens at the facebook fan page for Samuraiwriter Services.)

See below for an explanation of the key messages.

The high-level plan is as follows:

1) Write for B2B IT Marketers tasked with building and nurturing business relationships with specific buyer and influencer audiences in the IT Networking world.

2) Follow a monthly editorial calendar so we all know what’s on the menu and can also plan ahead.

3) This blog will follow the editorial calendar shown above.
I welcome guest posts from IT marketers and end users that address a monthly topic from the ‘content marketing’ perspective.

IT networking product and service pitches are not what I have in mind.
Successes and lessons learned from applying different content marketing styles and approaches to buyer/influencer personas are encouraged.

Also, I will be interested to hear from the targets of all these content marketing strategies – the ‘buyer personas’, themselves. You are real people with challenging roles, so if you want to use this blog as a platform to explain how IT networking vendors (and you don’t have to name names!) should be courting you as potential buyers, please get in touch.

4) A regular email newsletter that will focus on content marketing strategy and tactics for B2B IT Networking sectors.
This means looking at white papers, case studies, blog posts, videos, podcasts, data sheets, product briefings… in fact, the whole world of marketing collateral aimed at persuading and influencing IT networking staff from CIO to team leaders.
Each of these roles have varying degrees of technical influence and purchasing authority.

5) Get involved where IT B2B marketing people are active online. The usual suspects of Twitter and LinkedIn are on the list but I’ll also be grazing on FaceBook (business page), Google+ (separate profile and business page), connect.me (still in private beta) and at technologymarketers.com (look for ‘techcontentrocket’).
And of course, if you want to talk, email or skype with me in private about your b2b content marketing ideas, please get in touch.

Finally, since I’ve been living and working in Asia-Pacific since 1994, there will be a special focus on IT content marketing issues for Asian-based customers of computer networking products and services. There’s no shortage of material for Western markets but these are not always appropriate for the multiple cultures and business customs that exist in the East.

OK, that’s it for now.

The first edition of the email newsletter is provisionally planned for the last Monday in January (the 30th).
(Guest articles related to ‘IT Networking Security’ are due for review by 15th January.)

- Mark ‘IT content publisher‘ McClure

PS – Click here for a larger version of the mind map graphic hosted at the facebook fan page for Samuraiwriter Services.

If you might be in the market for a freelance b2b case study writer in 2012, and want to get maximum value for your investment, this post’s for you…

Fellow b2b case study writer, Pamela DeLoatch, and I have started a project on the critical questions businesses want answers to before hiring freelance writers.

For example:

• What makes one writer stand out from all the others?
• How can you know if you’ve got a dud or a keeper?
• What weight do you assign to any working experience the writer has had in your industry?
• What are the ‘extra skills’ you look for in a b2b case study writer beyond the writing itself?

My focus is in hearing from IT marketers who use freelance writers (or are thinking about doing so), while Pamela’s is in the general business-to-business arena.

Please leave a comment below, tweet me at @samuraiwriter99 or send email using my contact page.
But if you’re pressed for time, then just answer this one question:

What would you definitely check before hiring a freelancer to work with your b2b customer on a story?

Pamela and I are collecting data now and plan to update interested readers in January 2012 or sooner.

Thank you in advance for any constructive feedback you can provide!

- Mark McClure

Just an update on where I am with online social media.

Last July, in a post about Google Plus, I explained my thinking on reserving FaceBook for family/friends, and making use of Twitter, LinkedIn and a very new Google Plus for my b2b marketing activities.

Four months on and I’ve found little need to change those ideas.

In fact, with the emergence of Google Plus into at least the online light of day, I think it’s an ideal environment for a b2b service providers.

Here’s what I’m doing with Google Plus:

1) Google Plus Personal Profile:
This is branded as ‘Mark McClure on google+‘ and allows me to interact with people beyond the b2b tech marketing world.
All the fun of adding and being added to ‘circles’ is available.

2) Google Plus Business Page:
This is a business page for Samuraiwriter Services on Google+ and is where I’ll be hanging out my freelance IT writer shingle. I’ll be posting and commenting almost exclusively about b2b IT networking from a content marketing perspective. However, unlike my Google Plus personal profile, I cannot follow others until they first follow me. So please feel free to add my Google+ page into your circles!

It remains to be seen how companies operating in the b2b IT networking marketplace will adopt business pages in Google+ but I will be keeping a digital eye on their activities. If Google have serious plans for making community and social search a key part of their organic search engine listings then I think we’ll see some action here in 2012 and beyond.

- Mark McClure