Most of us have fallen into the habit of labeling content like blog posts, infographics, whitepapers and presentations as “marketing content,” imagining that content serves as an advertising tool that drops potential customers at the salesperson’s doorstep, who takes it from there. In reality, content can guide customers, and salespeople, through every step of the sales pipeline. Oftentimes, what we label as “marketing content” can also be used as “sales content.” The content you use now for advertising may serve a larger purpose if it is effectively used throughout the entire purchasing process. Here are the beginner’s commandments for kick starting a sales content strategy:
- Know thy content. Discover what role each type of content plays. You’ll find that different kinds of content appeal to different stages in the pipeline. For example, an infographic usually works to pique a customer’s interest during the first stages of the sales pipeline. Later in the purchasing process, video content is attractive to customers, because they are at the point when they need an emotional connection to move forward. Whitepapers are usually viewed by the customers who are seriously considering buying the product, and soon.
- Track thy content. Empower your salespeople by tracking what their leads are viewing. When a salesperson knows what role your content plays, and they know what content is being viewed by their lead, they’ll know what the customer is thinking.
- Match thy content. Teach salespeople to react accordingly. When the salesperson knows what the customer is thinking, then he or she can push the right messages to the right person at the right time. When a salesperson knows that a lead is nearing the end of the sales process, the salesperson can import and distribute the content that performs best at that stage in the sales cycle. Perhaps they’ll suggest a videoconference or face-to-face meeting to someone who is viewing videos, or delve further into the topics that a weak lead is continuously revisiting.
In order to comply with the three commandments of sales content strategy, new technologies may be in order. Sales enablement platforms can help you to create effective salespeople who deliver the right message to the right person for sales enablement success.
