Any marketer interested in generating demand needs to understand the role of well developed and strategically placed content. Otherwise, all the technical expertise in setting up, monitoring, and optimizing campaigns winds up burning through budgets and basically, failing to launch. Posts never take off: they do not get the number of impressions nor click-through-rates (CTRs) to move the audience towards viewing a demo and meeting with a salesperson. And ultimately becoming a customer.
Here's what every Demand Generation Manager (Performance Marketing Expert) needs to understand about content- and how to think when collaborating with the team's Content Manager. (For Content Managers, this is a friendly reminder of best practices.)
1. Prioritize Sales and Sales People
Think: Sales Objections and Sales Enablement. Before developing any content, talk to your market experts- your salespeople. They have their fingers on the pulse of the market and know what competitors are saying; why customers buy and don’t buy your company’s products (and why); and what matters most to being able to close the deal. Then, make the content work for them so that they can use it practically: sharing a blog article, passing along a whitepaper during discussions, or copy/pasting a campaign post to self-promote on social media (social selling.)
2. Substance Over Style: The Three R’s
Incorporate Data: Your messages will be more believable if you weave in data that is digestible and simplified. Think: the number of hours typically spent doing xyz; the percent of consumers doing such and such activity; the top trending worry in selected demographic, etc. You’ll be building an argument as to why your product saves the day, and you’ll deliver what I call the 3 R’s: Results (sales), Relevance (product fit), and Relatability (connection and loyalty.)
3. Who (else) is doing the talking?
Multi-Contributors: In-house bloggers and copywriters are great—they understand your company’s products already and have a flair for writing. But don’t forget your product experts and those that understand the market in which you’re selling. Look internally to your salespeople, product developers, technical gurus, and customer experience leaders) and look externally to industry pundits, influencers, and journalists. Viewpoints from different sources keep your content fresh and support your integrity around the topic (i.e., thought leadership.)
4. Imagine yourself in their shoes.
Personalize messages with genuine intent: It’s about being empathetic and being a fellow human being. The point is not to make your audience feel “special” but to deliver a message that is relevant to them professionally—but yes, you can get their attention with an angle that speaks to their lives as a whole. What they care about. Work backwards, too: An example from 2023 promotes tourism by focusing on something important to one of their targets: 50+ women.
5. Seeing is believing.
Don’t forget the visual learners: Just as people learn in different ways (by listening, seeing or touching), audiences digest information and messages differently, too. That is why we cannot forget to translate text and messages into things that can be seen. Think: Visual depictions of data; illustrations of product and benefit summaries; infographics; images coupled with keywords; and educational videos. Then, optimize with “stretch” (i.e., a series or group) and interactivity (i.e. polls, comments).
6. Distribution should be S.M.A.R.T.
Promotion: Creating brilliant content is a gift, but this gift will remain unopened if there’s no campaign. Content needs to be marketed— not just developed. This rule applies to everything that carries a message: from blog posts and whitepapers... to webinars and roundtables... to conference presentations and executive interviews. Promotion needs to be set with goals that are Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Relevant, and Time-bound and designed with strategic thinking: in the right places; on-brand and consistent; and “with legs” (can be used again.)
7. Tune in to the right channels.
Know your audiences: Who are these people who should buy your company’s products? (Fancy word: “personas”)? Where do they hang out (not just where they learn about products like the ones your company sells)? Understand your targets, and then discuss with your team where you can find them (which social media channels, which third party websites, which events, which online and offline publications.)
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