For the past year and a half I have been working as a Sales Peer-to-Peer champion for the Innovation Factory in Hamilton. It is a great organization serving a vibrant community. There are many benefits for me to be associated with the Sales Peer-to-Peer group. The biggest is that I get to meet and talk with some great growing firms and I help to organize some great speakers. At our Innovation Sales Peer-to-Peer for September 2014, former VA Partners employee and current UberFlipper, Sam Brennand gave a presentation on how to use Content Marketing to drive leads.
Sam started off talking about the fact that Content Marketing is also known as Inbound Lead Generation and Inbound Marketing. He described the process as: “Using educational, useful, and helpful content to build trust and long-term relationships with your prospects and customers.” Sam broke Content Marketing into 4 main components.
Creating Great Content
Decision makers are researching solutions to their challenges before a sales person or organization is contacted. Creating content that speaks to challenges and the questions that are asked to find solutions is a great way to determine the content that you need to create.
Distribute your Content
It is not just publishing a blog or video to your website. There are many digital means to distribute this content including social media and email marketing. Search engines love new content and this new content will help your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
Measure the Effectiveness
Analytics can be very powerful in helping to understand what is working for your Content Marketing Plan, and what is not working. Set not only engagement targets like pageviews, but also conversions. The ultimate goal is to convert visitors into leads.
Create a Great Overall Experience
The experience on your blog should make it easy for prospects and clients to find the information that helps them with their challenges and decisions. It should also make it easy for prospects to deeply engage with your content through newsletter sign-ups, social media follows, and downloadable assets.
Sam is just the first of a long line of great presenters we have lined up for the Innovation Factory Sales Peer-to-Peer. Our next event is on October 1st 2014. Dave Howe, from Sales for Life will be presenting on Social Selling.
If you are interested in finding out how Content Marketing can help your business grow, please contact me.
