SalesVPI

Content Marketing Support Resource

I've just completed reading Rebecca Lieb's new book, Content Marketing:Think Like a Publisher - How to Use Content to Market Online and in Social Media. I'm immediately buying copies for my people and to use with customers. It's a terrific introduction and summary of the principles and top level practices.

This is book for people who want or need an initial understanding of Content Marketing. 

I read it in a couple of hours on a plane ride. This makes it a good book to share with senior executives and others to help explain "why we're taking this approach to marketing". We all need that. We're all working with a few who "get it," surrounded by far too many who don't. 

Given the significant mind, strategy and budget shifts required for organizations to pursue this course, making the case for content marketing is the first challenge proponents usually face. 

Given the "dabbling" approaches and under performance organizations experience, having the plan and discipline to execute effectively is the next challenge.  

To quote Lieb, 

"IBM recently published research finding that about 80% of those who begin a corporate blog never post more than five entries. They stop. Give up. Leave it abandoned by the side of what was once called the information super-highway. And that's just blogging.  The internet is littered with never-updated websites … and no-one-home YouTube channels. In the rush to adopt content marketing as a tactic, too many marketers forget that if you're continually publishing, you have to think like … a publisher." 

Given the collaborative nature of content marketing, if the people we work with and require to provide key inputs (subject exerts) don't understand, the velocity, effectiveness and outcomes of this approach are significantly reduced. This book can help.

Accessing Intelligence on Customers and Prospects

Jim Dickie's article in CustomerThink makes a strong case that good sources of content exist to help sales people better understand customers, especially the challenges they are facing.

His annual survey reveals 49.5% of participating firms surveyed reported that they needed improvement at thoroughly researching customers and prospects. His article suggests sources for assistance.

Over the past 18 months we've made significant progress in this area. Here are some of the tools our sales people use:

Landslide -- this is our basic selling environment which provides the essential contact information but more importantly, great tools to manage our selling process, activity notes, private individual portals, and great reporting and dashboards.

Inside View -- is integrated right into Landslide, so when working on an account or opportunity we see, with one click, summary company information, key people, key news, even job openings.

Stratascope -- for in-depth company research and simple, visual reporting on key business issues and financial realities along with competitive comparisons.

ZoomInfo -- for looking up contacts at target companies. We also use Jigsaw.

Linked-in -- getting better and better not just as a network and referral tool (VERY important), but for searching contacts at specific companies, and joining affinity groups to make referrals and company research even easier and faster.

Sales Genius -- for allowing sales to generate email campaigns quickly and easily to groups as well as individuals, and to track viewing of emails and links to programs and our websites. This helps us know who is really interested, and who (for whatever reason), never even viewed our communication.

Leadlander -- notifies sales reps when customers and prospects visit our website, and which pages they viewed. This helps us better understand areas of interest, but especially timing.

iCentera -- to manage all our documents in one central repository, and create customer and campaign portals to deploy relevant content to prospects and customers. Makes it easier than embedding content into emails, and convenient for customers to view content when they are interested. Tracks individual viewing and provides marketing aggregate data on how our content is used. Supports our "drip marketing" campaigns, and quick emails (with links to content) to individuals and groups.

These are the tools used by our selling organization and doesn't include the marketing tools.