One of the primary purposes of content marketing, and no doubt one of its most compelling benefits has always been that it helps to connect what marketing is doing with what sales is doing. However, the trends that have led companies to focus on content marketing have also raised some very important questions from business development professionals, one of which being, “How do we not only connect our content marketing to our current sales process but also ultimately enhance our processes along the way?”
In this blog post, we’ll highlight five questions you can use to make sure your inbound marketing efforts are worth it.
Here are five questions to evaluate your efforts and enhance your content marketing campaigns moving forward:-
What are the biggest gaps in your current sales and marketing process? Everything you do when it comes to content marketing should enhance your current sales and marketing process. Do you need more leads? Does your sales team need resources to close more sales? Are leads going cold? Taking time to identify the biggest gaps in your sales or marketing processes will help you find ways to use content marketing to help you overcome them.
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What questions do people have in different stages of the buying cycle? The entire goal of content marketing is to address the questions your prospective customers have at the appropriate time. Spend time thinking through the journey a prospective customer takes from learning about your brand to becoming a customer. What questions are they asking throughout that process? What problem are they trying to solve?
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What type of content can you create to answer those questions and give your prospects confidence in your company? Providing content that addresses the specific needs of where a prospective customer is in the buying cycle is critical for success. For example, new prospective buyers might be looking for helpful information like eBooks or infographics. Prospective clients who are considering doing work with your business might need case studies or product spec sheets to make a decision.
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What would help your sales team promote your content marketing resources: email script, suggested social updates? By encouraging your team to use tools for cultivating relationships with current clients and leads, you’re able to essentially kill two birds with one stone — generate new leads & equip your sales team with resources to help them succeed.
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How can you give people a reason to stay interested in your business? Consistently providing prospects with quality content is a great way to keep them engaged during the buying process. Don’t think of what you want to tell prospects, think of what they want to know.
Are you ready to overcome the obstacles that keep a lot of companies from experiencing the benefit of an integrated inbound marketing and sales process?
Download our free resource Biz Dev’s Guide to Inbound Marketing to dig deeper into these questions and enhance your content marketing efforts for greater results.