The answer often has to do with poor alignment between sales and marketing teams. Unfortunately, this tends to be a common issue in general, but it’s an especially obvious pain point when it comes to content marketing. Fortunately, the solution is simple: improve communication and get both teams on the same page. Sales have the pulse on prospect and customer needs; marketing has the messaging platform. Through collaboration and a continual feedback loop, it’s easy to start creating content your sales reps will actually use.
Hold Regular Meetings Between Sales & Marketing
This is by far the simplest action you can take that will have the most impact. Ask your sales department what they need. Ask for feedback about past, current and future content. Meet as often as you need to get feedback quickly, and keep in mind that the more feedback you receive, the easier it is to tweak your strategy and change your content to meet the needs of your sales team.
Know What Type Of Content Your Customers Need Throughout Their Journey
The type of content a generic lead requires, versus the type of content a high-level prospect about to sign on the dotted line needs, varies drastically. Both sales and marketing must understand your sales cycle and what leads, prospects and buyers need and expect from you in terms of content.
Rein In The Promotional Content
Yes, the ultimate goal of your content is to sell your product or service, but many buyers are turned off by a hard sell and overtly promotional content. Instead of “me, me, me” content, focus instead on content that says “you, you, you.” Get feedback from sales about common customer concerns and how they overcome them; use content marketing to answer those concerns and explain how your solution is the answer.
Make It Easy For Sales To Find And Send Your Content
A shared file system on a cloud server is usually the best setup as everyone will have access to the most recent content in real-time. Organize your content by persona and touchpoint within your sales cycle, and make it easy for sales to find and send content quickly.
Only Create Content That Satisfies Your Goals
A case study whitepaper that you spent $1,000 to create is only effective if it fulfills its intended purpose. If you expected sales to send it to 100 prospects every month, but your analytics are showing that the file was only downloaded 30 times, it’s important to figure out where the disconnect is. Are sales doing a poor job of promoting the content, or is the content itself not what prospects need or want at a particular point in their sales journey? This is why it’s so important to meet with sales and get continual feedback about your content.
Publish On Platforms Where Your Target Audience Already Is
It’s easy to think of content marketing as emails, web content and downloads, but savvy brands know that they can use a variety of content published in unexpected places to build authority and connect with potential customers. LinkedIn is an excellent source of leads and traffic as it has more than 400 million users across many industries. Your target audience is already on LinkedIn and likely looking for a solution just like the one you provide. Making sure you optimize your LinkedIn profile is the key to unlocking the opportunities gained through this versatile social media site. If you’re frustrated because sales aren’t using the content you work so hard to create, you need to get to the root cause of the issue. Partnering with a website management company can help you analyze your existing content strategy and make suggestions for improvement.
