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Research Outline
Prepared for erik M. | Delivered September 16, 2019
Manager To VP- Best Practices
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Goals
To identify psychographics of director level employees, including insights into their career ambitions, career pain points, and content consumption for purposes of developing a go-to-market strategy.
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Early Findings
Continued research indicates that there is some data available on content consumption by directors, but it is industry-specific. In addition, while there is some information available on career pain points and ambitions for director-level employees, most of it is general in nature.
CONTENT PREFERENCES SURVEY
The 2018 Content Preferences Survey polled 168 B2B buying professionals,
26%
of whom held the title of director and
29%
of whom held the title of manager.
About
64%
of the respondents said they "prefer podcasts at the top of the funnel, while
48%
said webinars were valuable to them in the mid-stage of their buying journey."
Approximately
84%
of respondents said they "either frequently or occasionally access business-related content on their smartphone."
Nearly three-quarters (
74%
) of the respondents stated that blogs are the most shared content among peers and colleagues. Case studies were the second-most shared content at
64%
, followed by infographics at
62%
, white papers at
61%
, and webinars at
61%
.
The
71%
of respondents who said they read blog content was an increase over the
66%
in 2017.
Blogs
were tied with white papers as the most frequently read content.
When "tackling
business challenges
,"
76%
of respondents stated that infographics were helpful, followed by interactive content at
51%
.
Email is the channel used most often to share content at
70%
, followed by LinkedIn at
52%
.
Nearly
80%
of respondents stated they had consumed case studies within the last year.
CAREER PAIN POINTS
Skill gaps are challenging for directors looking to become VPs. As BlueSteps states directors that want to move up in their industry must ask themselves, "What new projects in your current role can you take on to both
gain new expertise
and, in the process, demonstrate your learning?"
Three barriers to advancement from director level to VP include "lack of a
strong professional network
, mismatched experience and education, and poor personal presentation."
CAREER AMBITIONS
Bob, a director at a global investment bank, indicated he wanted to be seen as a
well-respected thought leader
.
Bob also said he wanted to be viewed as a "
driver of transformation
."
Although not specific to directors, the number one reason (
64.4%
) why employees switch roles internally is to "
further career advancement
," which for a director, VP is the next logical step. Another
41.8%
indicated they switch roles to expand their skills.
Likewise, the number one reason why employees switch companies is to "
further career advancement
," although at a much lower rate than internal switches (
41.4% compared to 64.4%
).
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