Hello Friends!
How is the last full week of May treating you?
No major news updates from us this week — just cranking away on our deliverables.
That said, yesterday we released the final video in our series explaining the MessageUp Framework. In 3+ minutes, it explains why following through on marketing plans is crucial to sustained marketing success. Visit the MessageUp YouTube channel to check it out, as well as the other videos in the series.
In today’s newsletter, we’re highlighting four questions that you should ask yourself to assess whether increasing your focus on content marketing might pay dividends for your business.
Below that you’ll find some articles we found informative and helpful this week, including one offering tips on something marketers everywhere are trying to wrap their heads around — how to market in a cookie-less world.
Ask Yourself These 4 Questions About Content Marketing
Why should you invest time and effort in content marketing? That’s a general question, not one of the four we’re going to discuss, asked by leaders in many businesses.
Here are four scoping questions to help address that wider issue:
Q1: How Do Prospective Buyers Discover We Exist?
In the days of yore (pre-pandemic, but maybe a lot longer ago than that), your answer might have been they meet us at a trade show, they see us in an industry magazine, or our salesperson visits their office. Today, while each of those is still a possibility, the dominant answer is via the internet.
Which begs a follow up question: How do prospective buyers discover you exist using the internet?
What questions are they trying to answer? What search terms do they use? How does that bring them to your website?
Content marketing strategically places information that you author in places where those prospects will find it when they search on relevant topics.
Without it, you’re relying on less effective, outdated approaches and buyers will be more likely to find your competition than find you.
Q2: How Do Prospects Assess Whether We’re a Fit for Them?
Returning to the days of yore, the answer used to be that they spoke with your salesperson, who guided them toward the features and benefits of your products.
Today, the answer — again — is via the internet.
Prospects hate dealing with salespeople. Instead, they prefer to do their research in stealth mode, gathering and analyzing information about competing solutions and only revealing themselves once they’re about to make a purchase.
Content marketing equips them with both the information they need to perform that analysis and guidance on how to properly compare competing solutions. It helps them make an informed choice that’s right for their situation.
If you don’t put this information out there, someone else will. That’s called handing over the keys to your market.
Q3: Where Do Buyers Find the Information They Need to Buy Our Products?
Are you comfortable putting everything there is to know about your product onto your website?
Many people baulk at publishing in-depth specs, pricing details, and manufacturing processes. They consider this confidential information that should only be revealed if absolutely necessary when negotiating a sale.
In reality, all of that information is out there somewhere. The power and reach of the internet means that users can readily combine snippets of data into a comprehensive picture of your business. And they’ll fill in the blanks if you don’t publish the answers for them.
Doesn’t sharing this information make it easier for copycats to compete with you? Sure, if keeping that information secret is your only differentiator. Besides, people talk. If someone wants to know the inner workings of your business, they will figure it out.
Being transparent and helpful to your buyer is far more powerful than opacity and mystique. Content marketing helps you earn your buyers trust, demonstrate industry leadership, and win mind share that turns into market share, once they’re ready to buy.
Q4: Does My Team Have the Materials it Needs to Sell Our Products Effectively?
Marketing, sales, and customer success teams are no longer effective when they act in isolation. Today, revenue operations is the vogue term for everything your company does to attract, engage, convert, and retain its customers.
Those customers need relevant, helpful information at every stage of their buying journey. From evaluating solutions to making a purchase to getting the most out of your product, buying more, and becoming an advocate for your brand. Each stage calls for different information shared in different ways.
Your team should have that information in hand, ready to share, in formats that suit and delight your prospects and customers. Whenever they have to “cobble something together,” it’s a missed opportunity and costs your company both time and credibility.
Content marketing goes beyond publishing a weekly blog or some helpful webpages. An organized, audited, evergreen content library makes your whole team more productive and keeps your customers engaged and buying more.
How Does That Make You Feel?
If you feel good about the four questions, congratulations — you have a good handle on content marketing. Keep going!
If something made you uneasy or pointed to a gap in your content marketing strategy, decide what steps you can take to make things better. Needless to say, we’re here to help.
What We’re Reading
Here are some articles we’ve been reading this week that you might enjoy and find helpful:
Uncovering permission-based marketing: Seven tips for a cookieless future revealed
John Allen, Director of SEO at 8x8, explains the two main types of permission marketing and shares seven tips for using them appropriately and effectively.
5 Top Tips to Improve Your B2B Marketing Copywriting and Get More Sales
Trademodo might specialize in marketing for seafood companies but the five tips Paul Pan covers in this post are applicable to any B2B business. Did you know that embedded lists attract 70% more traffic than the same content organized in paragraph format?
UGC Guide: What is User-Generated Content?
As TJ Kiely at Meltwater writes, user-generated content is the latest darling of the marketing world. And, while it gets a lot of traction in the B2C domain, we think much of what's written here applies just as well to your B2B business - building authenticity, brand loyalty, and trust.
Bob Myers Reminded Me that Automation is a Team Sport
This isn't a marketing read, per se, but contains some excellent reminders for all of us about the importance of building a solid team rather than trying to win a championship. We talk a lot about getting the right people on board before implementing a content marketing strategy, so there's a hook here somewhere...
How Does Digital Marketing Differ For B2B And B2C Marketing?
We’re often asked whether B2B marketing is really all that different from B2C marketing in the digital age. Our answer? Yes, it's really very different. This handy piece by Ian See at Supercharge Lab summarizes some of the key points where B2B and B2C marketing diverge.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading!
Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss any of our future publications…
We appreciate you!
~ Team MessageUp