…a B2B lead generation organisation informed me, last week.
I agree! You’re wasting time and budget where:
1) A MD or CEO is coshing you for instant sales. Content doesn't do business mouth to mouth. That’s a job for luck.
2) You’re producing ‘sports news’ vs. ‘sports I’m interested in’ news. Complex B2B purchases are collective decisions, each decision influencer having their own motivations.
3) Your content makes Kier Starmer seem magnetic. It will only work if you’re lucky enough to have truly crap competitors…
Why bother with content? It’s such hard (brain) graft to consistently produce?!
For all I know, you may already have enough pipeline to justify an over blown Christmas bash. I do hope so. But, if it's looking like £20 Amazon vouchers all around, then spare me 2 more minutes to read on.
McKinsey’s ‘Future of B2B sales – the big reframe’ came out last week. It’s well worth a peruse. The crux of their findings? B2B buyers now behave far more like B2C buyers. They:
• Expect to be able to find things out for themselves (on your site, digital platforms).
• Are FAR more informed than just a year or so ago (because of available information).
• Are NOT one uniform group. Winning deals means responding to the individual needs of ten buyers (or more).
• Have raised their expectations of pre-sales information available from potential providers.
The big shift? Marketing’s role has become far more about enabling buyers to act for themselves, with far less input from sales personnel.
Success in marketing’s revised role is heavily dependent upon being able to produce the right content.
How can you respond?
‘What should we write about’ is a challenge I commonly hear. I get it. It can be hard to see clearly from within the hurly-burly of your day to day.
• Start with SEO data. Which searchers do you want to attract? What are they looking for?
• Ask your client management and sales teams. Recently, a client found out that the issue their buyers really have is recruiting tech skills. Their content now makes a virtue of their ability to fix this challenge whilst also delivering a fab data solution.
• Map buyer roles & personas. What are their individual KPIs? How does what you’re selling respond to these needs? How can you help them understand their challenge plus possible solutions?
• Dive into competitors. What are they saying? They’re not doing it for the good of their health!
• Google the problems you solve. Read, learn & feature but DON’T copy what you find.
Primarily, commit to consistently producing and publishing on-buyer target content. Remember, brands (suppliers) that come most easily to buyers’ minds usually do best. This means multiple weekly LinkedIn posts, weekly blogs, and monthly papers.
But you’re busy, right? Then see what others have said about passing their burden to us!
We’ll make content easy to produce and effective for you.
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