Why Content Marketing is really Content Selling « Smart Selling Tools Blog. Content-marketing is the practice of using information in many forms as a means to get and maintain prospects’ attention over time, with the goal of developing them into interested buyers. The practice has been around a long time. It was not born of the Internet age. Content-marketing exists is for one reason: to function as an extension of the sales team.
Here’s why. No company has enough salespeople to contact the entire universe of prospects – or to stay in touch with them over time – or to coach them along until they’re open to a purchase consideration. So sales organizations typically rate and rank their list of prospects based on the likelihood that each will buy. Content-marketing gives organizations the ability to extend their sales-reach – to keep in touch with more prospects than would otherwise be possible; to build interest over time. Prospects operate on their own time. Content-marketing equals “business development.” 50 Questions Answered About Content Marketing. Whether you are a content marketing newbie or someone with more experience, you’re bound to have questions.
Here are the answers to 50 common ones. Do you have other questions? Share in the comments, and we’ll point you to an answer or ask one of our contributors to write a future post on the topic. Getting started What is content marketing, and how is it different from traditional marketing? How should I get started with content marketing? How can I change the culture in my organization to support content marketing?
I’m new to content marketing and don’t have a lot of time to spend. How to I monitor my brand online? Developing a strategy What is content strategy? I want to create a content strategy. How many tactics should I use? How do I create an effective content mix? What process and templates should I use to map by B2B content to the buying cycle? Understanding your buyers How do I develop a buyer persona? What is a web persona, and how is it different from a buyer persona? 10 Must-Have Templates for Content Marketers. Popular Today in Business: All Popular Articles One of the things that can help most with content marketing is templates – those step-by-step guides that walk you through how to do something.
Luckily, our CMI contributors like to share their expertise and documents. Here are 10 templates that every content marketer can use. Planning template Do you have so many ideas but aren’t sure what you should tackle first? Here’s a spreadsheet you can use to prioritize. Content questionnaire What do you need to cover at a content marketing kickoff? Buyer persona This straightforward buyer persona template from Barbara Gago is a great way to help you document your buyer needs. Related Resources from B2C» Free Webcast: The 7 Deadly Sins of Lead-Gen Landing Pages Content mapping template Marketers talk about mapping content, but how do you do this? Editorial calendar If there is one tool I can’t live without, it’s my editorial calendar. Step-by-Step Templates for Mapping your B2B Content.
Popular Today in Business: All Popular Articles A lot of B2B marketers talk about the need for content mapping. In short, this is the process of identifying what information each of your personas needs throughout the buying process. It’s time-consuming, but not difficult when you follow the steps below. Here’s the process I use as well as some templates to get you started (you can view them all below or download them in one PDF). Identify your buyer personas Check out the template I provided last week for your buyer personas. Determine what questions your personas have at each stage of the process Once you identify who your personas are, identify the questions they have for each stage of the buying process. EarlyEarly (mid)Early (late)MidMid (late)Late To figure out what questions your personas have, ask questions or analyze user/professional groups and do plenty of research (find studies and reports that have been conducted on your target market, or conduct them yourself).
Map the content. 5 Tips for Creating Content that Matters. Popular Today in Business: All Popular Articles Recently my firm had the opportunity to do a joint webinar with Robert Rose of the Content Marketing Institute and Big Blue Moose on how to make marketing content that matters — that is, content that provides value to consumers beyond simple awareness. We had an engaging discussion about how to create purposeful content that: Meets the needs of sales and marketingIs compellingCan be created quicklyCan be created cost-effectivelySupports the sales cycle We covered a lot of ground in our discussion (which you can listen to or view in its entirety). But I’ve put together some of the main tips and takeaways here as a summary. Understand your audience Whether you create content to raise awareness of your products and services, establish thought leadership, increase your search rankings, feed your social media engine, or nurture your leads, remember that your ultimate goal is to generate sales leads.
TO DO: Start by analyzing your sales funnel: 20 Ideas for Content That Engages. The cry of “Content is King” has been a rallying call for bloggers and on-line publishers for years. Creating and marketing your content is now as easy as typing text and uploading images and videos and then hitting the publishing button. This has been facilitated by the advent of social networks and blogging software that facilitate fast efficient multi-media publishing. The reality is that everyone is now a publisher as social media has provided easy to use tools which has put a personal printing press in everyone’s hand. We are not only creating but sharing this content on desktops, laptops, ipads and smart phones to our Facebook and Twitter streams. The mobility of the smart phones has accelerated this publishing revolution that allows us to share anytime and anywhere as the impulse takes us. The more engaging the content whether it be video or text the more likely it is to be shared.
The “Content” Explosion InformsEducatesSolves problemsEntertains The Thirst for Knowledge 1.Videos 2. 3. 4.