With the rise of content marketing, sales outreach is changing. And for the better.
Modern marketers know that to stay competitive, salespeople must leverage content when selling. Which is why content is strategically produced not only to engage the buyer, but to convert. Sales-driven organizations know that content is the new cold call.
But content marketers too often say that sales folks aren’t using content to prospect, in their sales cycles or post-sale. Why?
As a salesperson myself, I could guess that they don’t see it as a priority. Here at Kapost we tease, “we only spend our time on revenue-generating activities.”
Let me be clear. Content marketing is most definitely revenue-generating. Content helps sales folks engage with prospects at all stages of the sales cycle.
So, how can you relay that message to your sales team in a way that inspires action?
Here are three things you may not have thought about when communicating about content with your sales team.
1. What’s in It for Me?
Just like you make content all about the buyer, when talking to sales, make it all about them. Help them answer questions like: Which of my prospects might be interested in this eBook? Did this infographic help one of my fellow salespeople close a deal? What specific questions does this blog post answer for my prospect?
Bottom line, if sales doesn’t know how it will help them sell, it’s not worth sharing.
2. Be Concise
When your sales person receives a page-long, un-bulleted description of fresh content, guess what…tldr. At the end of the day, content won’t ever trump closing business, but keeping your message to the point will get salespeople to read it.
3. Do Some of the Work
Can I tell you one of my most favorite things about how Kapost’s marketing team presents content to us? It’s when they draft a bit of copy that I can literally copy and paste into Twitter, an email, or wherever I need to share it.
Context is so important when sharing content because I want to be seen as an expert, someone providing insightful and valuable information, not just a link to our latest blog post. If you can help sales do their job faster and better, they will love you.
If you can learn how to communicate with sales about content, they’ll use it. And when they start using content to sell, they’ll see how valuable it can be in earning a prospect’s attention. And when sales is bought-in, they’ll be more likely to share suggestions for content. Everybody wins with content: marketing, sales, and your prospect.