June 2018 - Adventures in Marketing

Smarketing: The process of integrating the sales and marketing processes of a business. The objective is for the sales and marketing functions to have a common integrated approach.

Sales enablement could be the missing piece to get sales and marketing on the same page. It seems like since the dawn of time, sales and marketing have been on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. Sales thinks marketing does not get it (how sales really happen). Marketing feels like their efforts are not being recognized. Inherently both departments have the same goal, revenue growth. So, why is it so hard to get everyone on the same page?

Typically, the marketing and sales divide stems from differing ideas on what tactics are best to achieve those goals, determining who is responsible for certain tactics, and lack of coordination between departments. Marketing is focused on data and engagement. Tactics and strategies such as content development, inbound campaigns, media relations for example. The disconnect between marketing and sales becomes apparent when the benchmarks for marketing success are all measured by tasks and activities. Sales managers and CEOs cringe when marketing talks about blogs, SEO, and trade show engagement. We hear it every day, Just bring in better, more qualified, sales-ready leads!” What they are not saying is “Sales does not have time for anything that does not impact revenue.”

According to Forbes Magazine, B2B customers today are more than 70% of the way through the decision-making process before ever calling a sales representative. Then let me ask you this, which department’s strategies impact the buyer more during the first 70% of their interaction? If you just fell off your chair and realized it’s marketing, you’re not alone. Sales spending on tactics such as automation and CRM usually outpaces marketing 3 to 1.

Are you rethinking the importance of marketing’s role? Getting the two departments on the same page is not easy. You have decades of mistrust and misconceptions to overcome.

Three steps to bring your sales and marketing departments in alignment

You must agree on who your targeted prospects are and what motivates them to buy from your company. Spend the required time on buyer persons. Why Developing Buyer Personas is Invaluable for Manufacturers

2. Determine which leads stay with marketing as Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL’s), and which leads are sales-ready (a lead developed enough to hear from a salesperson) as Sales Qualified Leads (SQL’s). See this case study on how this is done.

3. Have a clear and established Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) between marketing and sales. If marketing does their job and agrees to develop X amount of SQL’s to sales, will sales agree to contact each and every lead by a benchmarked and agreed amount of time? See the State of Inbound article about alignment and SLA’s). Read the article here.

Too many terms? Need a political go-between departments? Let our team be your buffer and co-pilot through the process. We’re happy to share our experience and show you how others are impacting revenue growth with a few well-coordinated discussions.

biannual-content-audit

Content is an incredible tool to strengthen relationships with prospects and customers alike. If used effectively, content has the power to turn a prospect into a customer. Is your content moving the needle and bringing in sales qualified leads (SQLs)? A biannual content audit is essential to determine if your content marketing is impacting sales, and if not, figure out why it’s not working. Below, learn how to perform a biannual content audit and create a content strategy that boosts brand awareness, lead generation, and customer acquisition.

1. Organize Current Content

One of the first things we do when working with our business-to-business manufacturing clients is establishing a centralized place to organize content. We call this digital archive “The Content Vault”. In it, you will find published editorial articles, unpublished blogs, white papers, landing pages, product photos, and digital collateral, all organized in an easy and simple to find place. It is essential to establish a system and maintain it. That way, no content is falling through the cracks and your salespeople and marketing team can easily access the content they need to be successful.

2. Determine Which Prospects Should Be Targeted By Content

When writing pieces of content, it important to keep the prospect you’re targeting in mind. Generalized content doesn’t appeal to anyone. To create a sound content marketing plan, it is essential that you take the time to identify your ideal customers. This process is called creating buyer personas. Buyer personas help manufacturers identify their best prospects. A purchasing manager and a sales engineer at a mid-level manufacturing company might both be buyers of your product or service. However, both buyer personas have their own motivations and challenges. It is essential that you have content that speaks to the persona in their language and addresses their unique problems and challenges.

3. Determine What Stage in the Buyer’s Journey The Content Fits

Once you have identified what content is suited for each buyer persona, it is important to evaluate which stage of the buyer’s journey the piece fits into. The buyer’s journey essentially refers to the steps that your ideal buyer takes in their decision. Below, I have highlighted how content can fit into certain stages of the buyer’s journey. For this example, you are a manufacturer of commercial cabinetry looking to work with “Designer Dan”, a Director of Design for Major Retail Companies (i.e. Piada, Cabela’s Dick’s Sporting Goods, etc.)

Awareness: Blog – How Commercial Cabinets Affects the Commercial Retail Experience

Consideration: White Paper – Retail Industry Design Trends Analysis

Decision: Case Study – How American Eagle Differentiated Itself within the Commercial Retail Space

When creating content for your buyer personas, aka ideal prospects, it is important to think about their buying process, not your sales process, and writing content that talks to their unique problems and challenges and answers their questions. Note that the awareness piece is a broader topic and the consideration and decision pieces get increasingly more technical. The decision stage piece of content should always be a differentiation piece about why someone should work with you instead of your competitors. Case studies are an excellent way to show prospects that you do excellent work and give 3rd party credibility to your brand. Don’t have case studies? Stumped on how to ask your customers to be interviewed for a case study? Check out our blog, How to Convince Your Stubborn Manufacturing Customers to Participate in Case Studies

4. Writing Content with SEO Strategy in Mind

Have a lot of pieces of content written about one specific topic? Utilize that to your advantage. Search engine optimization has changed drastically. In the past, the way to rank in search was by including specific keywords or key phrases in your content. Now, the way to rank in search is more so about the volume of content you have on a specific topic. The way to beat the search algorithm is by writing a significant amount of content on a certain topic and categorizing all the related the content together. That way, Google’s search algorithm will identify you as an expert on that topic and you will rank higher when prospects are Google searching for things related to your product or service. Check out The Biggest Change in Internet Search: How to Beat the New Keyword Algorithm biannual-content-audit for more information.

5. Filling in the Gaps

Once you’ve done an audit of your current content and organized it into a manageable system, it’s time to evaluate where the gaps are in your content and create a content plan moving forward that addresses those areas. Creating a content map is a great way to lay out your campaign strategy for the next 6 months to a year and determine the type of content necessary, graphic elements required, and where the content will be utilized. That way, your company won’t lose momentum and will be creating targeted writing that impacts lead generation and sales. Check out Why Manufacturers Need a Content Map for tips on how we design content maps with our business-to-business manufacturing clients.

Why sales enablement should be part of your marketing strategy

Why a Biannual Content Audit is Essential for Sales Effectiveness

Archive for month: June, 2018