It is usually easy to see the benefits of putting different strategies into play, but many organizations are still not sure how to act on those creative plans. When more than one strategy is needed, interweaving the two is often a cause for frustration due to a lack of knowledge. Two incredibly effective strategies are content marketing and sales enablement. While you might see these strategies put into play separately, they should also be treated in tandem.
Below are some ways in which to put content marketing in sales enablement strategies.
A Central Location
Before you create any content, a centralized information hub needs to be set up. Content will not do anyone any good if it cannot be accessed. One of the best things to do is to create a cloud-based information hub and organize it in a meaningful manner. It should be very simple to understand but you should still provide employees with some training on how to use it.
Onboarding
An incredibly wise move is to get everyone going the right way from the beginning. When you hire new sales employees, provide them with an onboarding packet. In addition to anything else you find necessary, be sure they have copies of important facts about your company. Be clear about what you expect of them and then give them the tools that they need to succeed. Put the sales scripts you create into the onboarding packet, as well. By providing your sales employees with important information, you are setting them up for success.
Competitor Research, Case Studies, Customer-Centric Content
Sales employees should always have access to information about competitors and clients. By studying the research and case studies, they can put together things that the competition is doing right that your company is not, or your strengths as opposed to the competition. The case studies and customer-centric content can educate them on how to and not interact with the customers.
Sales Scripts
One really terrible feeling is when you really want to do a great job, but you honestly have no idea what to do. Your sales team will be at the forefront of interacting with customers and trying to generate sales. The last thing any of you need is for a sales employee to freeze around a customer, whether at the beginning of the sales journey or at the end. Instead, create sales scripts that all your salespeople can utilize. These scripts will not be for the purpose of copying straight from the paper, but for giving them a direction in which they can be comfortable. After studying the script for some time, they will begin to put their own spin on it.
Blog Posts
Blog posts are more than an entertaining piece of content to read. They are a tool for businesses to use. While they do help attract leads and possibly move them to the next step in the sales journey, they have an equally important role closer to the end of the sales journey. Content marketers should create blog posts geared toward the end of the journey for two reasons. The first is that they can provide salespeople with knowledge and wisdom that they can use to close sales. It can be a form of ongoing training that keeps the sales team up-to-date and educated.
eBooks and Whitepapers
There should be highly relevant content such as eBooks and whitepapers for the potential buyers who make it farther down the sales journey. This content should be easily accessible to the sales team, preferably in the centralized hub mentioned earlier. These materials can continue to educate salespeople, but they can also help push the potential client closer to a purchase. The information in these materials should further demonstrate how the product or service could benefit them.
Quick Reference Sheets
Quick reference sheets can be an incredible help to your sales team when they need to access something very quickly. There will always be some information that needs a reference in order to answer a question. For example, if you run an electronics company, there is going to be a lot of technical information to know. As humans, salespeople are not likely to remember it all. It would be a wise move to create some quick reference sheets for the tech specs of the electronics your company sells. Then, next time your sales employees are asked something they do not remember, they can quickly find the answer.
If you are ready to take your strategy a step further or start a new one altogether, you should consider bundling content marketing and sales enablement into one. The two powerful forces can amplify the results you get when they work together. Gather your sales and marketing teams and determine what content needs to be made available. Then work with an organized coworker to develop the centralized information hub so the sales department has access to what they need when they need it.
Want to bundle sales enablement and content marketing? Reach out to Bython today and see how we can meet your needs.
