Business Bedrock

Content marketing - when less is more

By Jill Riddiford, B2B Marketing Consultant at Carpe Diem Consulting. 

Marketers can sometimes feel pressured to produce a large volume of content without considering what type of content may be most effective and when.

With buyers today better informed, how can Marketing and Sales engage customers before they even know they have a problem – before they reach out to a sales organisation? (See steps in new buyer journey below and opportunity to engage early.)

Consider the case of the owner of a medium size business who relies on various IT infrastructure to keep his company running smoothly.

This Mr B2B potential buyer doesn’t wake up in the morning and decide suddenly that his business needs a new accounting system (the calm point at the left hand side, above.) It often takes a near disaster such as data loss or a security scare to shatter his sense of status quo, and spark his buying journey (the next point after calm.)

These status quo shattering moments occur frequently. Marketing and Sales can listen to when these occur, knowing that these instances would be a good point to reach out to the prospect with a timely, relevant and targeted message.

Being proactive

But the ultimate goal is to be the one doing the status quo shattering. The marketer of the accounting system should develop ‘disruptive customer insights’ and package these up into different marketing and sales collateral. This could be the online publication of whitepapers, blogs and webinars with early engagement keywords to attract buyers in the early stages. It could also be providing Sales with the tools and training they need to deliver these insights, enabling them to shatter the status quo. 

Typical thought leadership style of content, which teaches customers about something they could be doing, is not appropriate here. 

Disruptive, or “challenger” content deliberately gets the customer to “unlearn” something they already know or believe about the way their business operates. It also needs to be uniquely relevant.

To produce this type of material, marketers need to be investigative and curious, digging deep into their customers’ business challenges. The objective is to provoke the customer out of their comfort zone and focus on the potential cost of inaction. 

Aligning sales and marketing

This approach requires Marketing and Sales to work together. The job of B2B marketers is no longer just to generate leads and “throw these over the fence” to Sales. As Sales and Marketing have different perspectives on the same customer situations, collaboration and sharing of ideas between Sales and Marketing is the key to producing the best content.

 Although finding unique insights, packaging them up and enabling Sales to deliver them can be challenging, the good news is that the creation of disruptive content typically means that less content is required from marketing teams because of the increased impact of what is published, e.g. in terms of social media shares, reposts and reviews.

Content along the buyer’s journey

Looking at the buyer’s total journey, different types of content can be more appropriate at different times.

But the most effective time is early in the process – status quo shattering. In this way, interruption marketing is not such a bad thing if it means creating disruptive insights.

To read more about content marketing and the new buyer journey, see our whitepaper: The rise of Challenger marketing: 7 guiding principles on how to challenge the customer.

Should your employer fear your killer LinkedIn profile?

Top 4 concerns we have encountered from employers 

Our tips on the best way to write a killer LinkedIn profile are well documented, and in terms of number of downloads is our most successful piece of content ever!

Salespeople in particular are just waking up to the power of using their LinkedIn profile effectively - as well as their connections strategy, engagement in groups, and blogging on LinkedIn - to both attract and engage with prospects and customers.

Numerous pieces of research point to the fact that B2B buyers typically get at least 60% of the way through their buying journeys before engaging with a salesperson. That is of course unless during their web-based research when they are “Googling” the symptoms of their problem, they accidently land on a salesperson’s LinkedIn profile!

As Google is giving LinkedIn heavy weighting in their search rankings, salespeople’s profiles are appearing regularly as customers research their problems online.

The profiles of enlightened salespeople that used to be full of “I regularly make 120% of target” statements are now full of keywords and content relating to the types of business symptoms/problems they and their companies solve (especially if they are a Carpe Diem client!).

This, and regular refreshing of their profiles, can attract very high Google/Bing rankings which you would think employers are rejoicing about. Surely now we have “multiple company websites” that are attracting prospects as they embark along their buyer journey? 

Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth and many employers are running scared.

Top 4 concerns and antidotes

Below we list the top 4 concerns we have encountered from “nervous” employers – and we offer our commentary as to the “antidote” for each concern.

Concern #1

If my salesperson connects with all my customers they might all leave with her if she goes and works for my competitor.

Antidote #1

It’s great that your salespeople are building strong personal brands, and that customers want to connect with them - but it shouldn’t just be about “relationship building".

If your customers are really going to follow the salesperson to their new employer – what does that say about the value you’re offering the customer via the salesperson? Make sure all your salespeople are mouthpieces for genuinely disruptive insights that are developed proprietary to your organisation.

Concern #2

My competitors will know who we’re talking to if my salespeople connect with our prospects. 

Antidote #2

In our “internet everywhere” world and with the propensity to post everything on social networks, it’s safe to assume that everyone knows everything:  what prices you quote at, who your customers are, who your salespeople are talking with etc.

Again, if you develop a strong value proposition and adopt the Challenger approach by offering them unique customer insights – they’re going to stick with you anyway because of your superior value to their organisation.

Concern #3

What if my salesperson “says the wrong thing” online?

Antidote #3

Many organisations, particularly publicly listed ones, tie themselves in knots in case an active LinkedIn member “says the wrong thing” online, which gets repeated over and over again. But it’s no reason to not “do” social media – the pros can certainly outweigh the cons.

You need to educate your staff and have a social media policy in place - as part of a broader communications strategy - so you can limit the risk.

Concern #4

A prominent LinkedIn profile will surely attract recruiters, who will endeavour to poach my sales staff.

Antidote #4

Recruiters are getting canny – they can now largely see through the “sales journeymen” and are less attracted to statements around “personal sales brilliance”. More of them understand that the BEST salespeople are using their LinkedIn profile to attract customers. 

You need to consider - what is it that you are actively doing to keep your star employees even though everyone else wants to get them?

Sales coaching is a great example here. Don’t just coach your “mid-tier performers”, sales managers also need to coach their stars so they know they’re loved! As much as you need to market to customers, you need to ensure you’re “marketing” to your sales stars to ensure they recognise the value in staying with your organisation.

So - yes there are some downsides - but if all of this makes employers realise that they have to "up the ante" in terms of organisational value proposition and the attractiveness of the organisation to start sales employees - then the downside is worth the upside. Contact us to learn more about how to use LinkedIn to drive sales and marketing success.