Selling with Content

05/16/2023

It’s a dilemma that plagues B2B marketers everywhere…

…the stuff that worked yesterday isn’t working so well today.

Only five years ago, you could write a blog, load up the database with target emails, and send business development reps (BDRs) to chase down the clicks.

Today, unless it’s something your buyer really, really cares about, any outreach is going to be ignored.

It’s the same with outbound sales prospecting.

Very few decision makers answer unrecognized phone numbers, not to mention the sea of poorly written email messages that get deleted every day.

And that’s assuming your message got through their SPAM filters in the first place.

It’s no wonder why sales and marketing teams are struggling to generate enough qualified leads to hit their growth targets.

The buyer has changed the way they buy and most vendors have been slow to align with their expectations. They’ve built their organizations around the salesperson gatekeeper, and buyers won’t talk to sales until they’re ready.

If this rings true, you’ll want to check out these five critical resources that will give you a competitive advantage.

It’s a dilemma that plagues B2B marketers everywhere… …the stuff that worked yesterday isn’t working so well today. Only five years ago, you could write a blog, load up the database with target emails, and send business development reps (BDRs) to chase down the clicks.

04/06/2022

We can't break through the clutter by adding to it.

03/29/2022

Who are you ACTUALLY creating content for?

If you said “our customer—duh!” of course that’s what you’re going to say.

But it doesn’t work out that way for most.

(If you don’t believe me, check out your Linkedin post feed).

Much content actually gets created for ourselves--and the main consumers of that content are your competition.

This is typical of marketing agencies—we share content that the marketing industry likes, but not what the customer needs.

What the customer wants to know is, “How good are you at delivering on what you do?:”

How do you ensure your content speaks to your customer directly?

Here’s some ideas:

- Tell stories (like use cases, but that’s such a boring word)

- Think about writing a letter to a specific person on how to solve a problem—a recent conversation you had with a prospect, how you solved a client problem, etc.

- Get all of your content ideas from talking to buyers. If you don’t have access to them, talk to sales and customer success to uncover directly what issues buyers have.

- Interview industry subject matter experts, prospects and clients for articles and find publications that will publish it for you.

- Start a podcast and invite prospects and subject matter experts to interviews—then develop more content based on their conversations.

- Constantly work on crafting headlines. (Probably should be number 1.)

When we work with clients, it’s imperative that we talk to prospects and clients so we understand what actually motivates them to buy and not what we “think” motivates them to buy.