Buying is believing: how meaningful content translates into sales
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When measuring the results of your content marketing, it’s all too easy to fall into the same old metrics: website traffic, conversion rates, social shares, comments, leads, etc.
These are all important to measure, but even if you’re seeing positive results in these metrics, they don’t necessarily mean you’ve published great content.
There’s only one metric that really matters to your business: Revenue.
The purpose of marketing is to bring in new business and retain existing business so you can increase revenue. If your content isn’t contributing to your revenue – no matter how indirectly – it isn’t worth the investment, is it?
78% of marketers struggle with content marketing ROI. This can sometimes lead businesses to abandon content marketing altogether. But more often than not, they can’t get positive returns on their investment because their content just doesn’t create much value.
As we’ve discussed before, not all content is equal. If you want to create meaningful content that translates into sales, you need to start with your audience. What do they truly value, and how can you deliver that value with content?
Tell Your Audience Something They Don’t Already Know
Let’s say you’re a software developer and you’ve created an app that you think astrophysicists will love. All you have to do now is convince a few astrophysicists to try it out. You decide to use content to reach your market.
Unfortunately, you now find yourself in the difficult position of attempting to tell astrophysicists something new and interesting about their field of study.
Your software engineering degree did not prepare you for this.
This scenario might sound unlikely, but this is the exact situation most businesses find themselves in when they create content for their target markets. Just because you’re selling to customers in a certain industry doesn’t mean you’re an expert in that industry. You can hire the best copywriters in the market, but they probably won’t be industry insiders.
How can you expect people in your target market to trust the thoughts of an outside? How can you expect them to act on those insights?
In most cases, they won’t trust you. If all you’re offering are the ideas of your marketing team and the information you found elsewhere on the internet, your audience has no reason to give your content a second glance.
You need to offer them something they can believe in. Who do they trust more than anything? They trust their peers and colleagues.
Instead of writing your own thoughts, why not ask the experts? You can conduct a survey to gain both qualitative and quantitative data, then use that data to launch an entire suite of high-value content assets.
According to Search Engine Journal, the content types that gain the most engagement are:
Authoritative blog posts
Infographics
Opinion pieces (analysis)
How-to guides
Original research articles
Going back to the previous example – those astrophysicists you’re targeting may not be interested in a blog post about the latest space news (especially if it’s published on some app developer’s website).
But they may be interested in an original research report about how experts in their field are using smartphone apps to communicate, manage projects, and drive results.
Not only would such a report offer them more value, but it would also show them that you aren’t just some random app developer after their money. You’re plugged into their field. You’ve done the research and you know how to address their challenges.
On its own, content doesn’t generate value for you. It needs an audience. If you can get it in front of the right people, hold their interest, and inspire them to act. Only then will it lead to measurable results and sales.
Use Content for Sales Enablement
It’s a common misunderstanding that content only applies to the marketing side of the business, not the sales side. But if you want your content to translate into sales, you should prepare content for the both the marketing and sales process. Then you need to align your sales and marketing teams.
According to one study, 75% of B2B organizations whose content marketing efforts and sales teams are highly aligned have a documented content strategy. In fact, businesses with high content marketing and sales alignment have high levels of collaboration across the board:
(Source: Content Marketing Institute)
Some marketing materials, like blog posts, can also be used in sales conversations. Are you trying to explain a difficult concept to your prospect? Send them a value-driven post as a resource. It will be easier for them to digest the information in their own time and you’ll have something meaningful to talk about on your next call.
Here are some other types of content you can use during the sales process.
High-value blog posts
Case studies
Customer testimonials
Whitepapers
Competitor research
Industry analyses
One-pagers
Infographics
Once you have these assets in place, you can trace them directly to your sales results. If you have a big enough team, you can even do A/B testing to see which content assets are most effective.
High-Value Content is Within Reach
If you want your content to drive sales, you have to offer something of value. A single survey can generate a wealth of data, including quotations in the form of interview responses and qualitative answers.
Contact rand&rand today to get started on your next project.
