These days even the most face to face, person to person sales deals can be assisted through social media, a website or maybe a cunning piece of content marketing. The battle for the sale can be won or lost before it is even fought.
Marketing online and building out an ongoing content marketing strategy is all about meeting your audience where they are at. We build out a set of answers to the problems our clients and their company are facing. But we must serve and reserve this at the right moments, feeding it to our clients as they discover more about our brand and gain confidence that we have the solution they are after.
Understanding the problems you clients have and where they are at in their understanding of both, powers the growth of your content strategy. Hitting the main problems and then developing answers to all their problems is a great way to develop an online reputation as a trusted consultant.
For those new to content marketing, MOZ.com have developed an online archive that easily places them as one of the best, if not THE most trusted consultants in the SEO space. You’ll see they have answered almost every question there is regarding SEO, and they have content for novices and experts alike. The experts keep following their blog and “Whiteboard Fridays” where topical updates are shared and in-depth reports discussed on Video, with an accompanying whiteboard diagram. They are truly
They are true ‘thought leaders’ and seen as trusted consultants.
MOZ even discuss the use of AdWords and other paid advertising online to support your SEO and content marketing efforts. Something that all companies should consider, to support the discovery of their content marketing and to get it in front of new and existing audiences. Layer over this Remarketing to get your audience to return and move further through your sales cycle and you have a relatively robust online marketing channel that brings your audience to where you are at. Hopefully, by the time your client is ready to discuss or make a purchase they have significant confidence in your product or service through the work you have shown online.
Qualify leads at various stages through the sales cycle can ensure that the content experience meets them where they are at.
Knowing this, the last paragraphs above are useless unless you get the basics of your SEO and content marketing right. Much like talking at an advanced level about the specifics of your product and technical elements to someone who is just discovering it. For most B2B salespeople, qualifying leads is an art and intuition they develop.
Customer feedback is essential here in discovering exactly how your content is resonating.his is not just your website or corporate channels but the way your sales team define themselves as thought leaders too. How do they “show their work”? What evidence is there of thought leadership online? How easy is it to see that they know their stuff and should be your trusted advisor?
This is not just your website or corporate channels but the way your sales team define themselves as thought leaders too. How do they “show their work”? What evidence is there of thought leadership online? How easy is it to see that they know their stuff and should be your trusted advisor?
As an owner, employee, CEO, CMO, maketer or consultant how hard is it to find proof that you’re a thought leader online?
Have a look through my Content Marketing archive for further thoughts on this and Thought Leadership. Hopefully, it prompts you, or gives you some ideas as to how to ‘show your work’.
Nick Allen - Marketing, Growth & Running 