How Much is Enough?
There’s no doubt that today “content” is the fuel that drives your marketing engine and consequently, the sales pipeline. But if you’re a marketer in an organization that sells ERP and/or CRM, you might be secretly saying “ENOUGH ALREADY!”
No doubt that it can be a challenge to create good, compelling content on a consistent basis, especially enough content to support a lengthy lead nurture process but the stats from MarketingProfs continue to reinforce how important it truly is. (See image.) And if you don’t believe it is important, just ask your salesperson if they would like a 375% improvement in the development of their sales opportunities. I think they just might fall over in shock, then celebrate with some high-fives!
During your planning process the question you’re now asking your marketing/communications team is “how much content do we need to develop?” According to the statistics, an average of 9 informational assets are downloaded during the purchase process. Note that these are “informational assets” – not a product brochure with the latest user interface highlighted or the list of 100 new features in the last release. Informational assets imply that the content is relevant to the “pain” the business is experiencing that causes them to seek a new solution – a big project write-up, inventory stock-outs, difficulty making payroll, losing a big customer, etc. It’s gotta hurt – bad – to change ERP systems!
Content Goals
- Attention – Tackling a new industry or have a brand new offering? Catching and keeping your ideal prospect’s attention is one of the top goals of your strategy.
- Shorten – A smart marketer creates content that informs and educates the prospect so they feel better prepared to make the purchase decision. If your content is salesy hype (no disrespect to the sales team), then you’re likely scaring prospects away. Sad to say but they can easily find another reseller that understands their business better than you do.
- Opportunities – If your sales team often complains about the quality of leads coming through the pipeline, bump up the content, not just in quantity but quality.
Tips to Use
- Original content is better than the publisher’s content. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use the publisher’s content because much of it is quite good. But if you’re going to differentiate yourself from the masses, invest in original content as well.
- Keep it coming. We ALL have very short attention spans today. Tomorrow’s winners in the customer acquisition battle will be the ones that excel at consistently delivering a relevant message.
- Engage socially. If you can’t consistently tweet or post, then reduce the number of social channels you’re trying to support. Focus on one (I’d recommend LinkedIn), then add another one (Twitter) when you have the resources to support it well.
The Good News
The good news to all this? If you’re with a reseller organization that’s serious about acquiring new customers, you have good job security in the years ahead if you can consistently deliver (whether it’s in-house or outsourced) content that prospects read, share, and download.
