Content Marketing for Sales April 14, 2015
Jacquie Chakirelis@CLE_Mom
@NEO_MediaGroup
Amy Neumann@CharityIdeas
@NEO_MediaGroup
Three Key Takeaways
1. Content Marketing Can Play a Role in Today’s Sales Process
2. Content Marketing Can Help a Salesperson Connect with Prospects
3. Content Marketing Supports the Sales Cycle
Tweeting? @SMECleveland @NEO_MediaGroup Jacquie: @CLE_Mom Amy: @CharityIdeas
Source: Introhive Relationships Matter Study
“…a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content
to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
Did you know there are more than 2 million blog
posts published every single day?
B2B marketers are spending more time, money, and resources on content than ever before, as:
•35% of businesses have a documented content strategy•42% of businesses will publish new content at least weekly•55% of businesses will increase their content marketing spend in the next year
Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/01/5-pillars-successful-content-marketing/
Source: http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press_20140116.htm
Trust Issues
92% of people don’t trust companies who cold call
A New Sales Process
57% of a purchase decision is made before the
buyer even talks to the company
Cold Calling is Becoming Obsolete
How Can Content Marketing Build Relationships?Discover More Relationships• New leads can be identified through existing relationships and warm introductions and social selling. Think Linked In
• Through search optimizations, you can make it easy for leads to find you. Think ZMOT
Nurture More Relationships
• Building a mailing list to nurture clients. Gated Content
• You should understand that your clients’ needs help in speeding up the sale.
Create More Relationships• Expertise should be built through the sharing of relevant content on the internet. Social Media
• New relationships can be built through speaking at conferences and events.
Teacher
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• Educational Content pushes prospects to think differently about their business and how they can be more effective.
• Providing and sharing educational content positions the sales person and organization as a go-to resource for helpful information
Trouble Shooter
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• Establish yourself as a resource with your content and your prospects are more likely to share their challenges
• The more you understand the more you can share content to address your prospects pain points. Proving you can solve problems can help you gain trust
Coach
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• Provide content and insights to challenge your prospects to push themselves and their business forward.
• Identify your prospects strengths and weaknesses and the results that matter to them. Use this information to tailor the content and conversations to these topics
Thought Leader
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• As a thought leader, the positive perception and authority and expertise reinforces trust in your company and the products or services you sell.
• If your company is producing quality content, it will help build your reputation as an industry leader over your competitors
Source: http://blog.newscred.com/article/buyer-personas-are-great-except-when-they-suck/2a78397eba0a695c9e1a1db4e5693cd8
CONTENT SERVES THE CUSTOMER
• What content your target customers use,
• What topics, they are interested in• What types or formats of content
they prefer• Which channels they use• For each stage of the buyer journey• Define the keywords they use to
search • The actual questions they ask
They’ll Reward You With Their Business
QUESTIONS?How do You Measure Success? Content Marketing Metrics•Consumption:–Article views, estimated average time spent, bounce rate–Surface level data – measures amount of brand awareness/engagement
•Social Sharing:–Likes, shares, comments, pins, +1, tweets, etc…–Second level data – measures social engagement, relevancy/value of content, reach
•Lead Generation:–Click-thru’s from article links/in-article ads, form submissions, email/SM sign-ups–End game data – measures qualified leads/valuable traffic
•Lead Nurturing/Sales:–Google Analytics – measures audience intent (attainment of goals/events), value of visitors
QUESTIONS?Content Marketing Strategy Examples
Imagine Cool Kevin (audience), who is an experienced marketing automation user, wants to learn new ways to use your software (stage of sales cycle). You can create a how-to guide (content) to help him become a power user.
Boring Bob (audience), who is new to email marketing (stage of sales cycle), needs to create his first email blast. You can create the “Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing” (content) to help him get started
QUESTIONS?Pillars of a Content Marketing Strategy•Consumption:–Article views, estimated average time spent, bounce rate–Surface level data – measures amount of brand awareness/engagement
•Social Sharing:–Likes, shares, comments, pins, +1, tweets, etc…–Second level data – measures social engagement, relevancy/value of content, reach
•Lead Generation:–Click-thru’s from article links/in-article ads, form submissions, email/SM sign-ups–End game data – measures qualified leads/valuable traffic
•Lead Nurturing/Sales:–Google Analytics – measures audience intent (attainment of goals/events), value of visitors
Does content marketing actually work?
41%of people are more likely to express an intent to buy when looking at websites with branded or sponsored content.
To Help with Planning:
Who do you want to reach?What do you want them to know?
What do you want them to do?
* Source – 2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends, North America
82% - Brand Awareness
74% - Lead Generation
71% - Customer Acq.
68% - Thought Leadership
64% - Engagement
57% - Website Traffic
57% - Retention/Loyalty
47% - Lead Nurturing/Sales
Content Marketing Goals
• Communicate and support their brand.
• Differentiate their brand in the marketplace.
• Communicate thought leadership.
• Establish and demonstrate industry expertise.
• Engage prospects/customers in multi-channel environments.
• Fuel social media strategies.
Content marketing enables marketers to . . .
Awareness: –Educate, entertain; topic-focused –Deliver helpful, problem-solving information –Sponsored Articles, Lite White Papers, PR
Interest & Desire: –Persuade, differentiate –Sponsored Articles, Lite White Papers,
Blog Posts, Web Copy Action: –Engage, entice, qualify lead, convince –Brand-focused, express value proposition –Lite White Papers, Web Cop
Mapping the Conversion Funnel
• “Editorial-style” articles, authored and by-lined by cleveland.com, to be published and distributed on cleveland.com using the same techniques as our editorial articles.
Sponsor articles live in categories on cleveland.com:
• Business
• Food & Recipes
• Travel
• Health & Fitness
• Education
• More to come in the future
Native Advertising Example – cleveland.com
Idea and Headline Generation Tips
For content topic ideas:Topsy, Technorati, BuzzFeed, Twitter, Quora,
HubSpotAlso your company’s FAQsFor headline ideas:
Portent, CopyBloggerThink about natural SEO/long-tail terms
Where to Distribute Great Content
Social MediaLinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram,
Pinterest, YouTube, SlideShare
Newsletters/Email
Your Site/BlogLearning Center
Types of Content to Use
Many longer forms of content can be repurposed into short videos, presentations, infographics, podcasts, an article series, etc.
WhitepapersInfographicsStatisticsLong-form articlesBlog postsGuest blogging
Activity: Creating Great Content Ideas
Evergreen InfographicsListsQuotesCommunityHow To’s/ HacksTopical/TrendyNewsEntertaining/InspiringEducationalAbout Us/Promotional/Testimonials
Brainstorming
Content Grouping IdeasMapping Content by PlatformPlanning/ Scheduling– Timing and FrequencyPlanning – Annual Media Flight Plan by Events
Additional Resources
Northeast Ohio Media Group Bloghttp://www.neohiomediagroup.com/blog/
The Sales Lionhttp://www.thesaleslion.com/
Kaposthttp://marketeer.kapost.com/
Content Marketing Institutehttp://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
PR 20/20 http://www.pr2020.com/blog
Advance Digital: Who we are… Nationwide presence
with local scale
Nationally recognized Google Premier Partner and two-time Microsoft Digital Marketing Partner of the Year (2013,2014)
8th largest digital news property in the nation
ADMG’s 12 digital brands are the go-to sources for news and information for passionate communities across the country.
Ability to reach 98% of the digital audience in the US through our audience targeting platform
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