A well-crafted B2B buyer persona can provide tremendous structure and opportunity for your company. What’s a buyer persona? A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on your company’s market research and data on existing customers. They help align your marketing and sales departments by setting a clear picture of who exactly your firm should be targeting and serving. In order to be effective, buyer personas need to be based on real-world information and not assumptions. The more specific you can be, the better. Create a customizable buyer persona in minutes now with HubSpot’s “Make My Persona” tool. Here is a five-step process to follow when creating a buyer persona for your company.
1. Research your audience
Let’s pretend you’re back in school for a second… You’re taking an exam that you didn’t study for. We’ve all been there. You miss classes, you don’t turn in the homework, and just show up on test day. It probably didn’t work out too well. Similarly to creating your buyer personas, you have to do your homework. Just like you can’t expect to do well on a test without understanding the concepts, you can’t possibly create an effective buyer persona without knowing your audience. Study the market. Ask yourself, “Who is already buying from me?” This includes demographics, behavioral patterns, goals, and buyer trends. Another way to learn about your audience is by using social analytics. These buyers may not be customers at the moment, but the point is if they are searching and interacting with your brand or industry online, there is certainly data to be collected.
2. Identify customer pain points
Find out what problems your customers are facing. What’s holding them back from reaching their goals? A great way to find this information is by simply asking your customer service team what questions they get the most. Figuring out these pain points customers are experiencing allows you to generate content tailored to resolving those issues. And don’t forget, not every firm has the same company size and goals. So a strategy that may seem fitting for a company with 50-100 employees, can certainly be different for a firm with ten.
3. Identify customer goals
When creating personas, you need to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. What motivates your customers? What are they actually trying to reach? These goals don’t necessarily have to align with a solution that your firm can provide, so don’t sweat it. This step is about better understanding your customers and looking for similar goals to what other firms may have. What’s the purpose? Data. Remember, the more information you can find about your clients, the stronger B2B buyer persona you can create.
4. Why you?
Now that you understand who your customers are, potential challenges they face, as well as goals they may seek, ask yourself, “Why would a customer choose me?” Because you’re the best!? Well, maybe so, but customers want to experience and generate those thoughts on their own — another reason buyer personas are so important. Buying personas help flip your thinking and consider your products and services from a buyer’s point of view. A tactic most marketers don’t even think about doing. If you truly want customers thinking you’re the best, you must know what they like and need. Once you understand why buyers would choose you, crafting personas tailored to your market becomes much easier!
5. Creating the persona
Now that you did your research, it’s time to start organizing your buyers. Look for characteristics and similarities as you begin creating your first buyer persona! Keep in mind, your persona is not just some folder on your computer containing all of your customer data. But rather a single, semi-fictional person that you can actually speak to and identify with! Make sure to give your persona a name, age, and job title. From there, you’ll start filling in more job-specific data such as the number of employees, responsibilities, challenges, goals and any other data you collected from your prior research! Here’s an example of a buyer persona created from HubSpot’s “Make My Persona” tool. As you can see, Marketing Mary appears as a real person and not just a group of people. She is a business worker with very similar qualities and challanges other marketers may face on a daily basis. For further questions about B2B buyer personas and how to make them, check out HubSpot’s free creation tool or get in touch with us today!
Finding a quality sales rep isn’t easy. In order to build a strong sales team, it’s imperative to find people who can meet quotas and handle rejection, while also staying persistent and not coming off as aggressive. Hiring the wrong person can keep your company from reaching important goals, so never rush the recruiting process! These effective sales interview questions dig into a salesperson’s skills, knowledge, experience, personality, and motivation. They can help reveal one’s true identity and whether or not they will fit the role and overall culture of a company. Sales Interview Questions:
How do you keep up to date with industry news?
In your last position, how much time did you spend cultivating customer relationships versus hunting for new clients, and why?
What is your approach to handling customer objections?
If you are hired for this job, what would you do in the first month?
Judging from your research, where do you think our company can improve and be better?
When do you stop pursuing a potential lead?
What is your best way to establish a relationship with a prospect?
What’s worse: Not hitting monthly quotas or not having happy customers?
What core values do you feel every salesperson should possess?
What is your long term goal in life and how will you get there?
Let’s take a more in-depth look at these sales interview questions:
1. How do you keep up to date with industry news?
Even if the target market from their last job was totally different, this will show their ability to keep up with relevant trends and news in the industry. Look for answers that revolve around reading publications, blogs, and up-to-date content sharing current data. If they don’t on their own, ask the candidate to elaborate on a recent article or piece of information they recently learned. Receiving answers like, “Oh, I just watch other companies,” or, “I like to wait until we notice a sales decline to experiment new things” should be seen as red flags and signs of someone who may not be a good fit for your company.
2. In your last position, how much time did you spend cultivating customer relationships versus hunting for new clients, and why?
This is a great question because there is no ‘right’ answer. Some companies will prefer salespeople to always be on the hunt and searching for new clients. While others may want them emphasizing retainer clients and continuing to nurture relationships with them for future deals. Although both are vital for sales, this will help your company know the type of salesperson you’re interviewing.
3. What is your approach to handling customer objections?
Put simply, listen for a process. Look for things that revolve around, “I like to ask what exactly the prospect’s concern may be, and search for ways I can help resolve them”. Having a prepared process to deal with objections instead of just winging it is a must.
4. If you are hired for this job, what would you do in the first month?
Don’t expect a response that like, “Grow your company to make millions.” That’s not realistic. Instead, look for a goal. Hiring someone who is ready to come in with an idea and action plan in place is a great sign. Yes, you will have to provide proper training, but a candidate who’s a self-starter is never a bad thing.
5. Judging from your research, where do you think our company can improve and be better?
How can you expect an answer from this candidate when they haven’t even started or seen your company yet? Exactly! This question will test the candidate’s creativity as well as show how much research they’ve done before the interview. We often hear how important it is to educate ourselves about a firm and have questions prepared for them upon interviewing. This will test their approach.
6. When do you stop pursuing a potential lead?
The right answer here may depend on your company’s process and goals, so look for the obvious. Anything that comes off as “I try as long as I can because I refuse to lose,” should be noted and taken into consideration as an indicator of this candidate’s personality. You can check out HubSpot’s “Sign’s You Should Walk Away From A Prospect” to learn more about when enough is enough at winning prospects.
7. What is your best way to establish a relationship with a prospect?
Gather insight into how they approach and maintain relationships with prospects. Answers that contain constant emails and occasional phone calls should be a red flag. Instead, look for a candidate that collects information from the prospect and uses it to build rapport. For example, as a sales rep, if you’re on a call and find out this prospect likes to travel in his free time, ask where. Maybe his answer will resonate and be similar to the places you like to go as well. All of which can help build rapport and make sales calls feel more personal!
8. What’s worse: Not hitting monthly quotas or not having happy customers?
It’s important to listen for keywords with this question. The right answer may be dependent on the company and what their priorities are, but reps who go strictly after quotas rather than truly giving customers what they want should be noted.
9. What core values do you feel every salesperson should possess?
Listen for things like: “Putting the prospect first.” “Patience.” “Caring.” Remember, you’re hiring a sales rep. If they are not willing to deal with objections and aren’t very understanding or willing to adjust in certain instances, this is probably not the job for them.
10. What is your long term goal in life and how will you get there?
Like every interview, there should always be an open-ended question that doesn’t have to pertain to the job itself. Use this time to learn more about the person themselves and not just their qualities in the business world. Asking this question is extremely important because it’s a chance to learn something you may never have otherwise known about the candidate. They may share an impactful personal story about their life, and as a result, it drives and motivates them every day to work towards their goals until they get there. Now that sounds like someone I’d want on my team! Congrats! Now you are back with the best sales interview questions, for find the best salesperson for your team. For more tips and insights like these check out our blog or get in touch with us today!
IngeniousIO is an innovative solutions leader in the AECO (Architecture Engineering Construction and Owner-Operated) space. Their data-driven platform enhances a company’s entire project lifecycle through the use of a cloud-based application. IngeniousIO’s platform elevates efficiency and reduces tech spend by effectively managing operations including business development, project execution, and more! Their goal is to eliminate internal and external fragmentation within the ten-trillion dollar AECO industry.
Challanges
1. Raising awareness of their platform. They’ve invested thousands of dollars and many years to create a platform that brings value to their end customer. These resources would be wasted without raising considerable awareness of their solution. 2. Promote their offering in an accessible and interesting way. Their end customer is not likely to read lengthy whitepapers or market research reports, so IngeniousIO must find an alternative way to present their solution. If done effectively, the true decision-makers should be aware that a solution exists in the market that solves persistent issues.
Journey
After doing considerable research on their end customer, IngeniousIO decided that the best medium to communicate their message would be through video. They considered different formats, including demo and customer-centric case studies. Ultimately, through conversations with SmarkLabs, they decided to produce a video that highlighted key product features in a humorous, approachable way.
Solution
SmarkLabs took the lead in writing a script that communicated IngeniousIO’s message, consistent with the goals stated above. Once finalized, SmarkLabs went to IngeniousIO’s office for an all-day shoot. Knowing that the video would be promoted across social media platforms, we collectively made sure that the run time would be less than 60 seconds. We shot multiple takes of each scene to ensure that we had the flexibility to choose the best option during the post-production process.
Implementation/Onboarding
IngeniousIO proved to be a valuable creative partner throughout the course of the project by providing the onscreen talent and offering helpful suggestions over the duration of the shoot. By limiting the shoot to a single day, we were able to respect the client’s time while also making sure we had their undivided attention, ensuring the end product shone brightly. Once completed, IngeniousIO charted a path for their video to be promoted primarily on YouTube through the use of paid advertising.
Results
IngeniousIO allocated roughly $200 a day for promotion on YouTube. Through July 15th, after four weeks of promotion, IngeniousIO has generated tremendous activity from their targeted demographic; they’ve garnered over 475,000 impressions and over 260,000 total views. But that’s not all! The total view rate of the video, meaning those who have watched the entire ad beginning to end, is an astonishing 54%. Since its launch, 41,000 construction professionals viewed the video in its entirety! While views of the video are nice, ultimately IngeniousIO was hoping to raise their number of inbound leads generated. This month alone, they’ve garnered over 550 click-throughs which leads the viewer to a sign-up form on their website. At this rate, assuming industry standards apply, IngeniousIO has generated 90 new sales qualified leads this month! Due to the success of this partnership, SmarkLabs and IngeniousIO plan on partnering together on digital and creative endeavors for the foreseeable future. Click here to learn more about IngeniousIO’s unique, value-driven offering.
Do you want to expand your LinkedIn network? Interested in ways to find and attract quality connections? Growing your LinkedIn network helps gain exposure and can be a vehicle to establishing yourself as an expert in your field. In the B2B environment especially, it’s imperative you build a positive reputation for both yourself and your brand. LinkedIn is the best social network for B2B marketers to communicate with other businesses, share content, as well as engage with prospects. According to The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide, 94% of B2B marketers on social media use LinkedIn to publish content. In this article, you’ll discover five ways to help increase your LinkedIn connections and grow your network.
1. Post Frequently
I know, sounds obvious, right? But here’s the thing… Firms know posting consistent content is important, but how many are actually following through with a strategy? That’s the real question. For example, in the early stages of growth, many businesses tend to get in the habit of posting consistently on LinkedIn. Great! That’s what you want! However, after a short period of activity, they start to post less because they’re not seeing a positive ROI from their efforts. But here’s the problem… You need to give your posts TIME. If you are relatively new to the LinkedIn world in terms of consistently staying active, your page will need time to grow so it can reach an audience. And in order for that to happen, you must be dedicated to posting A LOT. That means posting multiple times a day or at the very least a few times a week. When you consistently stay in the feeds of your followers, there’s more opportunity to comment, like and share your posts. This interaction gets you introduced to their connections and gives you another way to grow your network. Be sure your posts are adding value by talking about your business as well as industry updates. For instance, if your company provides resources such as consistent blogging or webinars, share them! Get in the habit of promoting new content as well as company updates to your page. After all, if you are going to have a LinkedIn page, why not be as active as possible on it? Want to make these posts even more appealing and enticing for your readers? Include a CTA!
2. Engage With Your Connections
Review your LinkedIn feed regularly and share, comment on and like updates posted by your connections. You can start relationships with new connections by commenting on their updates and joining conversations on popular posts. All it takes is one helpful response on a post for that prospect or firm to notice you and check out your page. Do this enough times, and you will encounter people who want to learn more about you. That’s when your network can really start to grow!
3. Add LinkedIn URLs to Emails
Your LinkedIn profile can work for you in many ways: as a resume, a collection of previous client work, awards and accomplishments, testimonials, etc. all in one convenient spot. We all send emails, right? Sometimes hundreds a day to clients, prospects, and leads. In your email signature, start adding your LinkedIn URL at the end! Sending prospects to Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms may work, but none of those platforms provide the benefits and opportunities that LinkedIn does.
4. Add Keywords to Your Profile
Just like writing for SEO to get your content ranked on Google, keywords in your profile will help prospects find you. The main areas to focus on are your “Headline,” “Summary,” and “Experience” sections. These sections are all searchable and are where your traffic will spend most of their time. When filling out these sections and writing for SEO, tell stories, be creative, and use any keywords that you believe are most relevant to your content. Try putting yourself in your prospects’ shoes. Think about something you like to search and learn more about. What are the words that you’re actually typing? And how are the results that come up related to what you wrote? Now work in reverse order to make sure the keywords you would search for are prominently featured on your page!
5. Personalize Your Connection Requests
When you’re scrolling through your feed and click the ‘connect’ button on someone’s name, LinkedIn will send a pre-written message that’s cold and impersonal. Something along the lines of, “Let’s connect!” These types of requests are typically ignored. Visiting someone’s profile and sending something like, “Hi! I’d like to join your LinkedIn network” is also ineffective because it comes off as simple and lazy. Instead, visit the person’s profile and put some time and thought into your connection requests. Write a personalized note that is friendly and inviting. You’ll also want to explain why you want to connect and the advantages it can bring to you both. Whatever you do, DO NOT make it a sales pitch! Remember, we are trying to connect with these individuals to build rapport and grow each other’s network. There is a time and a place for closing a sale, and trying to connect with someone new on LinkedIn is not the time or the place to be pushy with sales.
Recap
As mentioned earlier, getting peers and prospects to land on your LinkedIn page is the end goal. Post frequently using keywords, be active on feeds, use URLs in emails, and personalize your messages. When done correctly, this gives you the best shot at leading prospects to your page. And the more prospects you can funnel to your page, the faster you’ll grow your LinkedIn network! To learn more tips and strategies like these, check out our blog or get in touch today!
I get it, sales team, you’re frustrated. You’re spending long hours at work desperately trying to close deals with under-qualified leads, thanks to your marketing team. To make matters worse, maybe your marketers are accusing you of not properly following up with leads, resulting in lost deals. If that scenario sounds familiar, I’m here to tell you it’s all avoidable. According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound Report, just 26% of businesses operate under a marketing and sales service level agreement. That percentage is way too low. You are all a part of the same company, right? Everyone is trying to get to the bottom line and improve overall growth, right? Then why are we competing with each other! Now, I know what you’re thinking… How are we supposed to know who is performing best and where we need help if we all work together? Well, that’s where smarketing comes in! Smarketing is the alignment between your sales and marketing teams, created through shared goals and executed through a collaborative strategy. The better you are at smarketing, the lower your cost of customer acquisition will be. This means increased leads and more closed deals at a lower price. Here are a few facts every salesperson needs to keep top-of-mind when discussing marketing.
You need marketing to tell a story
No matter how great your product or service is, you should never rely on selling features alone. Creating a desire for your product helps bring more value and interest to your buyers. That’s where marketing steps in.
When you buy a car you will almost always have some sort of emotional connection tied with the one you choose. Before finalizing the deal, you need to be connected and know the product is right for you. Feelings and emotions that just can’t be felt from a salesperson’s persuasion alone. This holds true with any sale that’s not an impulse buy. Things like blogs, testimonials, social media efforts, and videos are just a few of the many ways you can use marketing to help tell a story and increase emotional appeal — ultimately easing the sales process.
Marketing helps build trust
“Nobody likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy.” The old fashioned, high-pressure sales tactics no longer work. Even if you have won the sale, that doesn’t mean you’ve garnered a long-term relationship. When was the last time you bought something from a company you didn’t trust? Odds are, most of your purchases feel comfortable because you trust a firm or brand. Buyers want to conduct business with people they know, like, and trust. Lucky for you, you can get your prospects closer to these goals with help from your marketers! Present your marketing team with questions and objections that often arise from your conversations. As a result, marketers can develop content that addresses how your product/service will help serve these needs.
Marketing helps determine when a person is “sales-ready”
Your marketing team can use data and tactics to help determine which prospects are actually sales-ready. Instead of cold-calling 500 prospects, marketing can help strip out the “noise” and provide a clearer direction for the sales team. Out of those 500 prospects, marketing may identify 50 that could use a hard sales pitch, while the remaining 450 require further nurturing. The point is, sales can direct their time and efforts to those prospects who are actually interested. Monitoring behaviors like email opens and click-throughs, social media engagement, and downloads are all great tell-tale signs that a prospect may be sales-ready.
You need each other
Simply put, sales without marketing is difficult. Without marketing, you’d have to make up for lost ground — tackling the tasks of storytelling, being persuasive, and finding emotional appeal without the assets you really need! As a result, it’s a lot harder to grow the company and increase revenue without the support of marketing. The bottom line is this: Marketing provides the roof over the sales force while they’re inside working hard to close deals and increase revenue. When used correctly, your marketers will help eliminate any outside noise and funnel quality leads to the sales team. Proper alignment between the sales team and the prospect is what ultimately closes deals. What’s vital to remember is that the “sales team” is actually made up of both salespeople and marketers. After all, you serve the same function and should have the same goals. Now that you have a better understanding of how these departments should align, gather your sales & marketing teams together to bury the hatchet and start fresh! For more tips and insights like these, check out our blog or get in touch!
In today’s market, differentiating yourself is tougher than ever before. Companies must find smart, unique, and powerful ways to connect with their audiences. Old school strategies like cold calling are now one of the least effective ways to demonstrate value to your target buyers. Understanding and implementing relevant growth marketing tactics can help convert a lead into a customer, which is ultimately every organization’s end goal. Here are three B2B marketing tactics that can help accelerate your growth today.
Sell Your Story Before The Product
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “every business needs a story.” Well, it’s true. A study from the Digital Marketing Institute found that companies who tell a compelling story increase the value of their products and services by more than 20 times! In a competitive market, providing quality content and services isn’t always enough. You need to be able to talk about your service or product in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd. This is where a good story can be most useful. With so many companies competing for market share, each must find a way to tell a unique story that bolsters their brand. In essence, this addresses the “why” behind a company’s actions. Let’s take a look at the Golden Circle model to illustrate the importance of the “why”. The Golden Circle is an innovative model created by British-American author, Simon Sinek. Most organizations start with “what” they’re going to do and then try to figure out “how” they’re going to do it. Sinek believes this is an ineffective way to craft a business. If you truly want to connect to your audience, you must understand “why” your product or service would resonate with your target customer. Find ways to craft a story that speaks to the “why,” as opposed to the “what” or “how.” While having case studies and testimonials is useful, they tend to primarily address the “how” and “what.” You first need to focus on making your brand personable and memorable, which can be accomplished through the power of storytelling.
Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence is the act of gathering and analyzing data about products, services, and competitors to help support strategic planning within an organization. When done right, competitive intelligence allows you to track competitors’ digital footprints for opportunities and inspiration. When crafting a B2B marketing strategy, it’s vital that you keep up to date with what competitors are doing. This includes what they’re posting on social media, ad usage, website trends, campaigns, and even their customer reviews. If you are considering running a campaign for the first time, use competitive intelligence to analyze the success or failures of similar campaigns to optimize your own strategy. This type of relationship is not dissimilar to a family dynamic. In a family with multiple children, the youngest has the opportunity to examine the choices their older siblings make. In theory, this should provide them enough “competitive intelligence” to repeat the successes and avoid the pitfalls that they observed. Just like in the business world, this type of access gives the younger sibling an advantage that the older sibling wasn’t afforded. As we all know, access to that information does not always mean a guaranteed path to success. You must find ways to incorporate that information into your strategy and be prepared to pivot as you continue to gather intelligence.
Webinars
Your content needs to be easily digestible and accessible, and webinars help accomplish that. Webinars are a great way to showcase and demonstrate your firm’s value. Most buyers conduct the majority of research on their own (81% of buyers; AdWeek). By providing a way for your customers to learn more about your business in a non-threatening way, you allow your buyers to conduct their research while positioning yourself as a thought leader. The most successful webinars are the ones that target a single market or address a specific need. This opens the door for more leads and higher conversion rates. Now that you have learned a few of the best growth marketing tactics, go ahead and give them a try! For more tips and strategies like these, check out our new Smark Toolbox 2.0 below or get in touch today!
One of the biggest bottlenecks in launching a marketing campaign is the review and approval process. Late approvals can keep content from going out on time, affecting the entire timeline of a campaign. This issue is something many marketers face, with one in five Content Marketing World attendees revealing that tangled review and approval processes regularly delayed their projects by over a week. To help solve this, we put together a guide to help you review and approve content more efficiently. With these strategies, you’ll be prepared to submit constructive feedback and feel confident in your ability to determine whether a piece of content will perform well.
1. Set expectations
To ensure you’re satisfied with an article, it’s important to set expectations with the writer or marketing team you’re working with at the start. Always be sure to clarify who you want to target, what message you want to communicate, and what you’re hoping to achieve through the article. It’s also important to communicate specifics, such as the word count you want to reach and the number of images you want in the article.
2. Focus on the big picture
Rather than getting hung up on spelling and grammar mistakes, you should focus on the overall message of the article. Spelling and grammar are easy to fix, but changing the main message or theme of an article will require an entire rewrite. It’s unlikely that your audience is analyzing the article and reading it from start to finish, so keep that in mind when you’re editing and providing feedback.
3. Ask yourself questions
When reviewing an article, it helps to ask yourself questions. Here’s a list of some important ones to guide your review process: Does this article address my audience’s pain point? Or, more importantly, does it address the pain point that your product/service provides a solution to? The best way to grab your audience’s attention is by addressing a common struggle they face. Does it offer a solution or actionable advice? This question is to make sure that you’re providing your reader with value. If you begin with a problem, you should follow up with a solution that helps your audience, whether it’s expert advice or a product/service. Does it connect back to my company’s value and mission? Every piece of content posted on your site should support the promotion of your product/service. Because of this, each article should always reiterate your company’s value offer and mission. Does the information provide match my audience’s depth of knowledge on this topic? If your audience is well-versed in a topic, your article should demonstrate a similar knowledge. You want to be sure the article isn’t too high- or low-level that it doesn’t feel relevant to your audience. Does it contain a keyword I want to rank for? Keywords are important because they help attract views to your site. Each piece of content created for your site should be focused around a specific keyword. If the keyword isn’t obvious, you likely aren’t following the best practices for SEO.
4. Look for flow & coherence
Every article should flow, moving smoothly from one topic to the next. This is accomplished by including transition words and using connecting ideas. It also helps to include subheads that organize the sections of your article and signal a change in topic. In addition, taking complex ideas and making them easier to understand is the mark of a good article. You’ll want to determine whether an article possesses this type of coherence by reading it aloud and listening to ensure everything makes sense and sounds consistent.
5. Check sources
Every article needs sources in order to be factual and credible. Any claim made in an article should be backed by data or statistics. This is what sets you apart as a trusted source. The article should include information from leading publications in your industry. In addition, it’s a good idea to conduct regular interviews with subject matter experts so you can ensure you’re up-to-date on the latest trends and innovations in your industry. In addition to outside sources, your article should include relevant internal links to your site.
6. Pay attention to CTAs
At the end of the article, you want to inspire your reader to take action. For this reason, it’s important to include a call to action. However, this doesn’t mean you should just drop in a random CTA that doesn’t make sense. For example, if your article is titled “10 Ways to Make the Most of Your HubSpot Investment,” your CTA could be something like “contact us today for a free HubSpot audit.” Another important thing to note is that you can include multiple CTAs throughout your article to drive traffic to other resources or articles on your site. To learn more about reviewing and approving content, reach out to us! We’re here to help!
If you’re part of a small team, you know how difficult it can be to stay on top of content demands. From posting on social media to blogging, producing a steady stream of high-quality content every week requires valuable time and resources. However, it’s not something you can skip — it’s proven to be effective in attracting new visitors and converting them into leads. In fact, new benchmark data from HubSpot shows that “the small companies that publish 11 or more blog posts per month drive much higher traffic than companies of the same size that publish fewer than 11 blog posts.” If you’re having trouble producing enough content and time isn’t in your favor, read these ideas for some quick, easy ways to generate and repurpose engaging content.
Podcasts
As of June 2019, there are over 750,000 podcasts. The popularity of podcasts has steadily risen, with many people using them as a form of education and entertainment. On top of that, they’re super easy to produce. All you have to do is sit someone down and interview them while recording the conversation. The content doesn’t stop there though. You could transcribe the podcast and turn it into a blog, make it into a video by filming the conversation, or pull quotes and create images for social media — the possibilities are endless.
Webinars
Similar to podcasts, webinars are a great way for B2B companies to reach their audience. In fact, a study from the Content Marketing Institute found that marketers rate webinars in the top five in terms of the most effective tactics they use. The main reason for this lies in the fact that webinars help build trust with your audience and provide them with valuable information. In addition, webinar registrations allow you to collect data on potential customers such as their email, phone number, and company name. There are also many ways to repurpose webinars, similar to the ones listed above for podcasts.
Surveys
Surveys are a great place to start when developing a content strategy. They allow you to ask your audience questions, uncover their challenges/pain points, and uncover out what kind of content they’d be interested in. Beyond this, survey results can inform your content with unique data. For example, your survey data could be used in a whitepaper, data visualization, slide deck, research article, or quotes on social media. Supporting your content with your own data will differentiate your brand and help you stand out as a trusted expert in your industry.
Recap an event
Most people take notes when they attend conferences to remember important bits of information. You can use these notes to create a blog recapping the event. To make the recap as valuable as possible, you’ll want to take detailed notes throughout the entire conference and be sure to highlight the main takeaways from each session. Also, by adding pictures, videos, and details about each speaker, you can help your audience feel like they were part of the event too.
Turn blogs into slide decks
If your audience isn’t responding well to long-form blogs, try turning them into a slide deck where you can simplify the information and focus on key points. The average person’s attention span today is eight seconds, according to a study by Microsoft. This means you need to make your content as short and as simple as possible. Slide decks are helpful with this because they force you to summarize, turning long sentences into short bullet points. In addition, they’re a great downloadable asset that customers can save for future reference.
Create an infographic based on a blog
Infographics are a great tool for engaging your audience because they are easy-to-read and visually pleasing. They include data points and statistics, shown in the form of a chart or graph, as well as copy. Because infographics offer a detailed overview of a topic, they can be used to summarize a longer-form blog post. This type of infographic would be called a “visualized article,” but there are many other kinds of infographics you can use for a variety of purposes. To learn more about them, check out this article by Pikotchat.
Interview SMEs (internally and externally)
An SME, also known as a subject matter expert, is a powerful resource for producing content. By making an effort to conduct interviews with SMEs, you can develop a large pool of content to pull from whenever you’re short on ideas. An interview with an SME typically revolves around asking them about their knowledge or expertise on a particular topic or field. It’s important to note that this can be done with both internal employees and external experts. In addition, the interview can be repurposed into a podcast or blog.
Interview customers for a case study
Do you have a customer who has seen success with your product? Submit a request to interview them for a case study! This type of content elevates you and your client by highlighting the mutual benefits of your partnership. An effective case study includes an overview of both companies, the problem, the solution, how the solution was implemented, and the results. It’s also important to note that case studies can be shared during the sales process to add credibility and help in turning prospects into customers.
Run a curated newsletter
Sending your clients a weekly newsletter is a strategic way to share the latest content available on your site. In reality, it’s a piece of content that advertises the content you already have. A newsletter should be divided up into different sections based on content, such as “On the Blog,” “Industry News,” or “Latest Resources.” A weekly newsletter helps you drive more traffic to your website and establishes your company as a trusted, reliable source of information. Lastly, it allows you to build a base of subscribers that can provide you with feedback on your content so you can make adjustments accordingly. If you’re having trouble keeping up with content and need some extra help, contact us to find out how we can support you in meeting your content goals.
Have you ever set aside money for a task or project and completed it for less than originally anticipated? How did it make you feel? What did you do with that leftover money? Rather than feeling satisfied with the site you now have, learn a few quick tricks and ideas on where that money can go to help turn your website from great to exceptional. As a marketing professional, focus on increasing website traffic and potential leads — a foolproof strategy for success. Here are a few savvy options your firm should explore to ensure your website stands above the rest.
1. Incorporate Explainer Videos
According to VideoBrewery, 85% of people are more likely to buy a product or service once they view an explainer video. This is no coincidence. Here’s an example of a simple, clean explainer video that effectively highlights a businesses service offerings (Spoiler – It’s ours!):
Research shows that viewers are more likely to stay engaged with a page that includes videos rather than paragraphs of text. Two major benefits to explainer videos include offering better clarification of your product/service and increased conversion rates. The key is ensuring the videos are quick and concise. A study from AdAge claims that marketers lose 33% of all viewers in the first 30 seconds of a video. What does this mean? People are busy. Think about all the times you scroll through your newsfeed on social media and see a video. You’ll watch the first few seconds and if you’re not intrigued, you scroll right past. Right? Grabbing the viewers’ attention in the first 3-5 seconds is vital because it addresses the first decision the viewer makes: to stay or go. If it isn’t captivating from the start, you’ve already lost.
2. Advertise
Source: Banners Nack Advertising is imperative if you want people to know who you are. The most commonly used platform is GoogleAds. According to WordStream and their Pay-Per-Click (PPC) statistics, firms make an average of $2 for every $1 spent on GoogleAds. Talk about good ROI! Before running your ads, it’s imperative to develop a well-thought-out strategy. Marketri found that 32% of companies wing their marketing efforts and have no strategic plan. Start with a goal, define your audience, and determine the services offered before introducing any advertising. Incorporating these three components will make your site more attractive, which gives your business a competitive edge.
3. Invest in Blog Writing
Investing in blog writing is a great way to not only boost search engine optimization but develop stronger relationships with current and potential clients. Just like subscribing to your favorite magazine or newsletter, blogs help keep your audience in the loop about industry news/trends and help position your company as an expert in the field. An Inbound Marketing Report from HubSpot found that 57% of companies who publish blogs consistently have gained at least one customer as a result of their efforts. Another benefit includes the option for readers to share this content on their own social media platforms for their peers to see. This can open up endless opportunities and positive exposure for your brand, and help work towards increasing visitors to your website.
Closing
There is no universal “right answer” on what to do with your leftover website budget. However, incorporating explainer videos, advertising, and blogging are a few tactics that have been proven to help optimize your new website and grow your business. Investing in these components is a great way to ensure your website is up to par, ultimately getting you one step closer to that next big deal.
To learn more about how to improve your website, check out our Launchpad Site below or get in touch!
First, let me introduce a key term that can help with navigating your relationship with a current buyer. Buyer enablement. Sound familiar? No? GREAT. That’s why you’re here. Buyer enablement is achieved when your company provides accurate and efficient information to facilitate a prospective buyer’s decision making. We understand what our client’s needs are, however, implementing a buyer enablement strategy can enhance the purchasing experience and lead to higher conversion rates. Let me break it down in 3 steps…
1. Identifying your buyer
You may understand the company you’re trying to sell to, but you need to evaluate and understand the person behind the decision making. According to a yearly study performed by TrustRadius, almost 45% of buyers are millennials. As much as it might pain the Boomers and Gen-Xers, try to get in the mindset of your fastest-growing target audience. Defining who your buyer is and understanding their values allows you to accelerate the buying process and convert otherwise lost clients.
2. Adapting your content
Once you establish who your buyer is, you can better understand their values. Awesome! You’re about halfway there! A study from Think Google shows that 89% of B2B researchers leverage the internet to inform their purchasing decisions. This means you need to provide buyers with precise data on the web. In order to create the most effective content, Gartner lists four principles of buyer enablement: Relevant: What are some obstacles your buyers face when it comes to making a decision on a Supplier? Eliminating menial barriers can give you an advantage over competitors Easy: Is the information about your company accessible for an online buyer? B2B buyers spend only 17% of their time meeting with sales representatives Useful: Is the information provided to the buyer effective? Distribute resources to buyers that can help them make a decision Credible: Have you established trust with the information provided? Make sure your content is up-to-date with reliable sources These are key questions to ask yourself to better understand buyer enablement.
3. “Grease the Buying Process”
How do you make the buying process simple? Easy—make the buying process simple. It’s very easy as a leader in marketing or sales to want control within the sales cycle. Research from Forrester shows that “60% of buyers would rather not communicate with sales reps as their primary information source.” Now before you think I’m under-appreciating the value of a sales rep, hear me out… Sales are the backbone of every company. This statistic mentioned above is a breath of fresh air. You can spend less time trying to oversell and more time figuring out how to close the deal! For content creators, create content with compelling calls to action through multiple media channels. You can also save your sales team time by providing relevant information that answers your buyer’s questions. The goal is to constantly adapt your content and allow the process to flow with the least amount of friction possible. Now that you have the tools to enable buyers, go figure out your own unique approach and break the ceiling for your next quarter goals! Have more questions? Reach out to us! We love helping companies set and reach their goals!
