How to Jump Start Sales Productivity with Content Marketing

Challenges: New Buyer Cycle

Marketing Sales

Source: Sales Benchmark Institute

Challenges: Sales Content

• 40% time spent looking/creating content

• 1 hr/week = $300k more per year

• Inconsistency of message

Sources: CMO Council, IDC

Content Marketing: Beyond SEO & Awareness

Sales Training

Prepare and Train

Positioning for target audiences

Benefit statements

Testimonials and case studies

Source: Marketo

88This presentation contains confidential information of Salary.com

Profile: • Organization size: Over 750 FTE’s

• Sales buying role: Decision maker or heavy Influencer, user

• Title: Comp Analyst

• Reports to: VP HR (smaller firm) or VP/Dir Comp (1000 FTE+ sized firm)

• Characteristics/motivation/personality: – HR person who is analytical, proactive, provides analysis and not just data.

– Has a stronger relationship with finance than with the person being paid.

– In a smaller organization, he’s a comp program planner, designer, developer, implementer, provides program support. In larger organization, focused on data/analysis only and his boss will be the program planner, designer, etc.

– Has peers but few reports, if any. Peers are comp analysts who focus on a unit or group (exempt/non exempt, sales/execs, international) or region.

• Where they gather, what they read: He looks for opportunities to self-educate, WorldAtWork. Gathers best practices and does not want to reinvent the wheel

Persona: Andy Analyzer

99This presentation contains confidential information of Salary.com

Persona: Andy Analyzer

Salary.com Impact• Perception of Salary.com: Questions the validity of the data and

the methodology, the sources. Asks the RIGHT questions

• Data sources : Various surveys

• Which solutions to propose: – CAMD

– CompAnalyst Full Suite

• How they use our solution: Will use all features including creating salary structures.

• Our value add: We meet/exceed their need for real reporting and for making comparisons/modeling.

• Key Messages:– Highly reliable, updated data combined with software to make it easy to

market price, stay competitive and not overpay

– Time saving, modeling and analysis tools designed by certified compensation professionals using comp best practices. Ensures accuracy, internal pay equity. Helps you model costs and scenarios so you can make smarter decisions, back up your proposals with data and reports.

– Low implementation time/costs compared to consulting firms. More analysis and time saving features than lower tier competitors.

Sykes – Sales Training

Success Tips

Get buy-in from sales managementGet Sales involvedRun training sessionsSales methodology

Sales Content for Great Sales Conversations

Prospecting and Social Selling

Sales Communications Later in the Cycle

5 Characteristics of Sales Content Effectiveness

Sales Content Effectiveness: Actionable

Captures attentionA new idea or insight

Shows subject matter expertise

Easy to consume and share

Has a call to action

Sales Content Effectiveness: Reusable

• Can it be used for internal sales teams and channels?

• Viewed and shared across any device?• Can it be personalized by sales reps?• Can it be easily updated?

Sales Content Effectiveness: Targetable

• Map to personas

• Provide for every stage of the sales cycle

• Tag to identify when to use

Sales Content Effectiveness: Findable

• Organized in one repository• Catalogued, searchable• Versioned

Sales Content Effectiveness: Trackable

• Is the content being used?• By whom?• When?• How much?• Alerts

• Is it engaging?• Is it converting?

Also track training content

3 Ways to Maximize Your Sales Content

Reengineer Your Content Production Process

Put someone in charge

Reengineer so it’s actionable and reusable.

Reorganize Your Sales Content

Target to personas and stages in sales cycle

Architect it so it works across programs, channels, devices

gCreate an editorial calendar

Systemize content targeting, delivery and measurement

Consolidate, catalog, target, update, approve, and manage your content assets

Implement tracking to measure usage, conversion, and training

Thank You!

Resources:

http://www.salesbenchmarkindex.com/ Sign up and get the research

Whitepapers, videos and more http://www.brainshark.com/campaigns/sales-communications-resourc

es.aspx

Thought Leadership Selling blog http://www.thoughtleadershipselling.com/

Brainshark blog http://www.brainshark.com/ideas-blog.aspx

pcrerar@brainshark.com

@pcrerar