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/

QUESTION FOR YOU….

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE TOP CHALLENGES ALL SALES ORGANIZATIONS FACE?

B2B and B2C agree

Sales Process Has Changed

Source: Introhive Relationships Matter Study

Ditch the Pitch! Use Content to Build Relationships

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

Examples of Content Marketing• White Papers

• Blogs

• Sponsor Articles

• Video

• “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

Content Update Ideas•Share what you find interesting, including from industry-specific sites

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

QUESTIONS?Questions

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