Content is the pillar behind any Inbound Marketing strategy, yet most content doesn’t sell or generate revenue for the organization creating it. Content helps you attract, engage and delight prospects, but ultimately it’s main role is to convert leads into buyers, and most content marketers aren’t achieving that.
So, how do we fix this issue? In this blog we summarise a presentation from Marcus Sheridan at HubSpot’s Inbound 2020, who has given the seven essential steps to creating content that delivers massive results and return on investment (ROI) for your business.
Here are seven steps, from Marcus Sheridan, to create content that sells:
#1 - Always start with a sales-first approach
Content must be a sales-first initiative. The ultimate way to test this on your existing content is to evaluate how much of your content would your sales team want to integrate into the sales process immediately?
Content that doesn’t help a salesperson with a prospect right now, is probably not helping your organization drive new revenue. Marketing content needs to be aligned with your sales team. This will allow your organization to create one revenue-generating team - as opposed to a sales and a marketing team that work in silos.
#2 - Start at the bottom of the funnel
Content marketing typically starts at the top of the funnel and is aimed at those who are considering your product. However, Sheridan argues that your content should, first and foremost, be targeting your buyers at the bottom of the funnel, who are actually asking your sales team questions right now.
Content that is aimed at the bottom of the funnel should be focused on five main topics that your buyers are asking right now. These are the subjects that move every buying decision in every industry:
- Cost
- Problems/negatives/issues
- Vs/comparison
- Reviews
- Best
These are the questions that most buyers are asking, but many organizations want to avoid answering. Creating content that answers these questions directly will create trust between your brand and the customer.
Tip: Don’t be scared to talk about the drawbacks of your product and compare it to other products, buyers will trust your brand if you’re willing to openly discuss these conversations and you’ll be able to own the conversation rather than leaving it in the hands of a competitor.
#3 - Integrate your sales team into your content team
Your sales team are the people who are getting questions all day from buyers, and that makes them your subject-matter experts. It’s crucial that you integrate your sales team into your content marketing strategy, so you can answer the questions that your buyers are truly asking.
This is the exact same reason why you should include your sales team in the process of creating your Buyer Personas.
#4 - Create a “learning center” on your website
Inbound Marketing is all about becoming the “Wikipedia” of your space. To do this, you need to create a learning center of valuable content on your website. This goes way further than just your blog. It’s about creating a resource where you buyer can access everything they need, from videos from your sales team, ebooks, podcasts, guides, blog articles and much more.
#5 - Teach your sales team “assignment selling”
Useful content can bring huge revenue and ROI opportunities for your B2B organization, but only if your sales team learns to integrate it into their sales process. That’s why it’s important that you create content that the buyer wants to read before they make a purchasing decision, and then ensure your sales team integrates that content intentionally into the sales process.
#6 - Keep all teams in your company aware of marketing initiatives
To ensure your entire organization is aligned with your content marketing strategy, it’s crucial that your marketing department keeps everyone aware of:
- The newest content that has been produced.
- What content is getting results, and why.
- What’s ahead and what to look for going forward.
#7 - Measure return on investment
The ability to prove that a specific piece of content generated sales for your organization is key to the success of marketing departments. Without the ability to show ROI on your marketing initiatives, there’s no way that you can expect your marketing department to receive more resources and more help from the rest of your organization.
Interested in learning more about content marketing, Inbound Marketing, and creating content that drives revenues for your B2B business? Contact The Brit Agency today. We would love to answer any marketing questions that you may have.
