A Guide to Content Marketing for Start-ups – The Bitter Business

This article on content marketing has been republished from The Bitter Business.

A Guide to Content Marketing for Start-ups – The Bitter Business

How can content marketing help satisfy a start-ups customer acquisition and quest for growth. Old sales tactics are declining and the push sales cycle can mean a new business is out of runway long before their business gets off the ground with revenue. The rapid change in buyer behaviour for both B2B and B2C means an unforgiving economic climate in which a start-up has to function. Thankfully, the meteoric rise of inbound marketing together with social selling has added a suite of new tools to the business sales and marketing toolkit.

While the sales and marketing field have been levelled they are also becoming more complex as buyers seek out useful and valuable vendors via quality content as they self educate like never before. So how can a start-up business win with content marketing and what does it stand to gain from it?

It begins with a plan

To develop a content marketing strategy, we must first understand the role of content in attracting the buyer in the digital economy. As buyers self educate online in both B2C and B2B markets they consume content as part of the buying journey. When we refer to “Content” we are referring to whitepapers, video, infographics, images, press releases, newsletters, help guides right through to thought leadership articles. Also, focus content themes and topics that match the interest of your “Ideal Customer Profiles” or “Buyer Personas”. When it comes to content curation do not consider content to be anything you find funny or amusing as you dive into the sea of digital content being published about your industry. Instead, think of content that adds value to customer or buyers journey, information that is useful and benefits the reader in some way. Start-ups who remember that content is bait and the better the content, the better the fish will have taken a big step towards getting their business moving forward. So ask yourself, “Who is your customer?” “What is their need?” and “How will you deliver on their need”. Now you can start to assemble a content marketing plan.

The first step as mentioned above is to define your target audience (ideal customer profile/buyer persona) in terms of Firmographics, demographics, age, occupation, habits, etc. Then, the start-up needs to plan who and from where will they create and source a steady stream of content for publishing. Next it is time to research what is their favourite social media platforms. This information allows us to define clear goals and social KPI’s. These may cover items such as content views, content downloads, traffic, blog visitors, total traffic, social reach and social engagement. Now the start-up can proceed with moving their plans from the drawing board into social media reality.

Put the start-up on the social media stage

We know from research that over 75% of B2B buyers seek business information online. Over 90% of consumers now consume content prior to making an online purchase. So it is no surprise to know that one of the greatest benefits of content marketing is increasing the exposure to potential customers whether it is locally, nationally or globally. That is why building a social brand and social reach through content is closely tied to the process of developing closer relations with the target audience, and getting to know each other. The ultimate goal of any content plan is to inform, educate, engage, inspire, and spark attention. This is no easy task as the work of attracting buyer’s attention has fierce competition. The best shot for a new business is to become a valuable information source with real insights and fresh, challenging points of view. Content blindness or overload can be avoided if the start-up can separate itself from the competition and rise above the noise generated by vanilla flavoured content.

Also it is important to avoid the pitfalls that go with content marketing. Don’t be tempted to write about product superiority and service excellence without social proof which may include influencer opinions or valid customer reviews. Do not overlook the value of visual content and videos. A whooping eight seven percent of the top posts on Facebook have pictures included, while it is thirty five percent on Twitter.

Another critical point is to convey the businesses personality and social purpose. Content should reflect the business culture and be used to plant seeds with targeted buyers on your beliefs and philosophy around serving customers. Finally, create a content sharing schedule so that the selected content must is posted regularly. Creating a calendar is paramount, as this enables start-ups to plan themes and topics to match buyer interests while scheduling posts ahead of time.

A content publishing engine room

Content creation falls into two main categories, “First click content” and “Second click content”. First click content is designed around the search engine optimisation (SEO) and driving traffic. It is heavily keyword focused with “Tips” “Guides” and “How to” type content the best themes to ensure sharing and thus getting the content at the forefront of search engine results page (SERP). Using content to build inbound links is one of the best marketing strategies there is, so ensure your content publishing engine knows what keywords to target.

Remember Google carefully monitors the content surrounding the anchor link (title, topic, theme, keywords) so it is vital that the quality of the content has to be top-drawer when doing link building. Other aspects of a content publishing plan are to monitor industry trends and new relevant keywords as to develop content or visuals. Identifying these elements can boost a business’s search ranking and drive more traffic.

While content marketing can be an inexpensive, yet highly effective lead generation method to reach ideal customer profiles, it does require investment in the production of the assets to be published. Create a content publishing engine that will help your start-up to attain a position of industry leader over a period of months. Sometimes if not often start-ups have little room for manoeuvre and must operate on a shoestring budget. So to make every Euro count, content marketing can have both short tailed and long tailed benefits by aligning all social media marketing to target buyers supported by quality, relevant content.

The runway is shorter than you think

A sense of paranoid can be healthy when launching a new business; one can live or die by their ability to quickly identify real wants and needs of buyers. The runway to getting the start-up of the ground maybe shorter than you think with more effort than you planned. This requires social selling with content, social media marketing, social reach and social engagement. To pull this off, the business must make the best use of content marketing strategies. Relevant, regular, appropriately themed quality content that engages the target audience to find you useful and valuable is the only way to make a name for the business quickly. If content is king, then badly written, irrelevant or copied articles, have little chance of becoming royalty. Always refer to the plan and only produce content that is tailored to the needs of the customers. It is about using content to be seen, be found, be useful and be valuable in the eyes and minds of buyers so the start-up can generate revenue sooner rather than later.

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The What and How of Sales Enablement

The What and How of Sales Enablement

Sales enablement is linchpin that a business uses to bridge
the gap between their sales strategy and how they execute this on social media,
the phone or face to face. In a fast moving digital world, common sales
challenges (buyer interactions, longer sales cycles, declining win rates,
slowing customer acquisition and shrinking deal sizes ) can be mapped back to
the same source — the conversations between sales people and buyers. 

The challenge for sales leadership is to equip the entire
sales team(s) with the ability to consistently and systematically have a
valuable conversation either online or offline with the right set of customers
at each stage of the buyer’s journey to optimise the results of the selling
system.

The goal of sales enablement is to ensure that every sales
person has the knowledge, sales skills and behaviours to maximise every
interaction with buyers.” In other words, how can sales leaders create the
environment to “get all your ducks in a row to give the salespeople the best
chance of closing a deal?”

A sales
enablement framework for the digitally connected buyers should include:

Targeting
the Right Prospects

Reports show that only 3% of buyers are in a purchasing
cycle when contacted by sales. This blunt sales effort can be extremely for all
stakeholders when lead nurturing is directed at the wrong buyers, who are not
ready to buy, or worse just are not interested in what you have to offer.

Sales productivity is impacted due to sales people’s efforts
not being focused on buyers who are middle of the funnel or already in the “I
may have a problem” mindset. A better use of social selling and social data
combined with sales intelligence as part of a sales enablement program will go
a long way to helping this challenge.

Aligning
the Sales and Marketing Teams

Sales enablement cannot be correctly implemented without
aligning marketing and sales. Both departments need to work together to arm the
sales teams with the right assets to have the right conversations with the
right buyer profiles at the right time and in the right channels.

The reality today is that sales people need to be engaging
and holding conversations with buyers throughout the whole journey, even while
the buyer is in status quo mode (not yet aware that they may have a business
issue that needs solving). It is about bringing a level of consistency to the
whole sales process as both marketing and sales work together to interact with
customers across the entire buying journey.

A consistent approach from sales and marketing will help
assess the sales cycle, identify problem areas, fix them, and achieve the sales
goals.

Understand
where content fits In

This involves developing relevant content to specific buyers
during a specific stage of the buying process. Content is a “must-have” asset
in successful sales enablement roll-outs. This includes blog posts, white
papers, infographics, eBooks, videos and reports which are deployed to engage
customers and potential buyers. During the sales process, the sales team need
to understand when to use each type of content and how to position it with
their buyers and prospects

 Ask and answer
questions like:

What are the online personas each prospect will display?

How do we create content that aligns with that persona?

How do we deliver content to the sales people?

Who will produce and supply this content to the sales team?

How will all sales people be trained to use content effectively?

Which is the right combination of company-created, curated
and shared content?

How to match the content to the stage the buyer is in?

The role
of social selling

For a whole host of reasons (which you can read in other
articles on this blog), social selling is crucial for a sales enablement
initiative in the sales 2.0 world. Once the content strategy has been mapped
into the sales process, sales people can use these assets as 2nd click content
to qualify prospects through the funnel. They can leverage the content to share
with and engage buyers, showing that your company is already aware of their
concerns and is ready to answer their questions.

A successful social selling program takes time to listen,
share, post, nurture, engage and convert. Sales and marketing should work
together to form concise messaging and offers that targets issues that buyers
may be addressing now.

Measure your Results with KPI’s

If you
can’t manage it, you can’t measure it, still holds true even if large parts of
the sales conversations has moved online. Rather than try to measure too much,
it may be more beneficial to focus on a small set of key performance
indicators.

A tip is to separate the sales enablement metrics into
two parts:

Performance metrics: How
did we do?

How many new connections did we make last month or how much content did the
sales teams share last week? How much reach, interest or engagement did we
ignite?

Diagnostic metrics: Which
is working/not working?

Which activities are working? What needs to be improved? What
types of content are the salespeople sharing and with who? What content is not
performing or which set of prospects are not responding?

These metrics will help all stakeholders make the right decisions;
decisions which help the buyers engage and drive revenue.

Always prioritise
the prospects

Too many times, businesses are thinking about “Me” and not
“Them”. The focus can be solely on the company, the product, the messaging, the
key differentiation, etc. They hone in on themselves and relegate their target
audience and the audience’s needs. This internal focus impacts on true sales
enablement.  So rather than helping the sales
teams understand the buyers, the focus can be entirely on helping the sales
team understand the products. Helping buyers through the buyer’s journey should
the core of all sales enablement programs, from awareness to decision.

A quick
summary

Sales enablement is critical as the business world in which
we function has fundamentally changed. Out with the explaining the companies’
products and why buy messaging.  In is assisting
prospects evaluate alternatives, helping and educating buyers. The focus
becomes truly enabling the sales team to engage throughout the whole buyer’s journey,
on their grounds and in the channels they choose.

The modern buying process means that different criteria have
to be introduced. Using sales enablement as the guiding principle, sales organisations
everywhere can set themselves up for success. The end result will be empowered and
productive sales people, skilled in helping prospects across the buyer’s
journey and bringing in more revenue, faster than ever. 

Social Selling Influencers – The Bitter Business

Social Selling Influencers – The Bitter Business

Social Selling Influencers

May 11, 2016 by brianoconn

The Bitter Business is delighted to be named in the TOP 100 BRANDS and influencers for Social Selling. The report complied by Onalytica was to identify which Social Selling brands and individuals were leading the online discussion. They analysed 263K+ tweets from 16 November 2015 – 4 February 2016 mentioning the keywords “Social Selling” OR socialselling OR socialsales OR “social sales” and identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter.

In the top 100 brands there is organisations such as Salesforce and Hootsuite and some top industry resources such as SocialMedia Examiner and Social Media Today.While 38 on the global list is a great achievement, it should be noted that The Bitter Business is flying the flag for social selling from Ireland.

Social Selling is an evolutionary step forward making the sales process more productive and meaningful

The Top 4 Reasons Why Companies Embrace Social Selling

 Old sales tactics have diminishing returns:

90% of decision makers say that they never respond to cold outreach

(Harvard Business Review).

Buyers use social media:

75% of B2B buyers now use social media to research vendors (IDC).

Bigger deal sizes:

Buyers who use social media have larger budgets – typically 84% larger than the budgets of buyers who do not use social (IDC).

Better Sales Achievement:

Social sellers realize 66% greater sales achievement than those using traditional prospecting techniques (Sales Benchmark Index).

Social selling starts by being about the relationship between sales professionals and the connections they have nurtured in social media spaces. While there is a lot of social selling that takes place on LinkedIn (which is considered the businessperson’s social media space), there is also a tremendous amount of it going on in all social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Google+, Periscope, Blab, and others. (If you aren’t familiar with all the social media spaces  and how to use social selling that your sales team can be a part of, don’t worry! there are lots of articles in our Social Selling category to keep you going.)

Connecting Content Marketing to Sales – The Bitter Business

How to use content marketing for improved sales enablement is a big discussion point among sales and marketing leaders. Most B2B companies rely on selling by direct sales teams to generate a large percentage of their revenues. For these companies, improving sales performance is a critical business objective, and sales enablement alongside the use of social media is seen as the best method for delivering company revenue goals.

When executed correctly, sales enablement has the involvement of both marketing and sales. Content marketing resources such as research articles, whitepapers, e-books, testimonials, video content and case studies plays a vital role in sales enablement. The marketing department are the ones usually tasked with creating the content assets.

Does your sales team understand your content strategy?

Research shows there can be a mismatch between the content that marketing produces and the content the sales people need to progress their sales opportunities. The findings included that:

• Only fifty four percent of sales people and sixty five percent of sales managers understand their company’s content marketing strategy.
• While 65 percent of sales people and seventy four percent of sales managers say the content their company publishes is valuable to their customers.
• However, a full fifty two percent of sales people and forty three percent of managers say the content their company publishes helps improve sales effectiveness.

The results show that nearly 50% of sales people do not understand the content strategy. So what is the issue?

Read the rest of the article here:

Connecting Content Marketing to Sales – The Bitter Business

B2B Sales Techniques for a Digital World – The Bitter Business

Source : B2B Sales Techniques for a Digital World – The Bitter Business

The buyer’s journey is changing sales models and how B2B sales teams sell. Sales 2.0 as a sales technique has been around nearly ten years now but still many companies struggle to embrace it. If you are in B2B sales then Forester projects that over the next four years, 1 million B2B sales people will be replaced by self-service e-commerce. Those that want to have a long term career in sales will have to up-skill and move away from transactional selling while companies will have toembrace a sales model along with sales processes that adds value to the buyer’s journey.

One Million US B2B Salespeople Will Lose Their Jobs to Self-Service e-commerce by 2020

The reality is (and numerous research proves it) that increasingly B2B buyers prefer to research solutions online plus then conclude the cycle by buying the products and services via the web. How many companies still insist buyers to engage with their sales teams as part of the buying process? Maybe it’s time for sales leaders to transform the historical sales models, one which facilitates a highly social, seamless buying environment where maybe the website and not the sales teams are at the heart of how companies procure and sell.

So are B2B sales dying? Absolutely not but it does mean we have to recalibrate our view of the sales process and what it means to be a sales professional. The sales funnel is no longer being calibrated and decided by sales as the buyers decides where they are in the process. The good news is that a company’s potential customer base is bigger than ever, thanks to social media, the web and accessibility of communication paths to buyers.

Sales needs to rethink where and how to add value in the buying process, when and with what should sales people engage with the buyer so it improves the buyers journey are critical questions coming down the line. The old sales methodologies of marketing bringing in leads for the sales funnel where sales would then commence the process to qualify prospects based on some internal criteria to narrow down the focus to the most likely to convert to customers is disappearing.

It just does not work like that any more. Buyers are not travelling a journey prescribed in some sales manual or CRM system; they are taking their own journey and leaving sales models in the rear view mirror. But the key message for sales here is NOT about catching up (more sales training anyone) with the buyer’s journey but where along the road can we add value. It is about the buyer needing information, resources, guidance, advice and help depending where they are on the journey,

Below are some suggestions on what it will take to be successful in sales for the road ahead and to add value to the buyer in their journey

CONTENT TIMING IS VITAL AS BUYERS MOVE ALONG THE ROAD.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 80% of decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus advertisements

A recent report from Forrester showed that over 33% of B2B marketers acknowledge that their biggest problem is figuring out how to deliver relevant content to specific buyers when the time is right. I recently wrote about “How to Use Content Marketing the ACD way” which may be worth reading.

IF OVER 66% OF THE BUYER’S JOURNEY IS DIGITAL, MAKE SURE YOU ARE WELL ROAD SIGNED.

If you read up on new sales methodologies or social selling, you have probably read that 67% of the buyer’s journey happens before sales ever get involved. Well this does not have to come true. Yes buyers are doing research online before contacting sales, so smart sales teams should position themselves as helpful signs or stopping of points along the way. Social selling, credible social presence, inviting and quality (even personalised) content will help flag you to buyer’s as they travel in search of solutions.

BUYERS TRUST OTHER TRAVELLERS ALONG THE JOURNEY, SO SALES CANNOT BE STRANGERS HITCHING A LIFT AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

Research shows that only approx. nine percent of B2B buyers trust vendor content especially when it comes to data and claims. So they look for independent signs and also they trust information that comes from people they trust: valued social influencers, social network connections, ex-colleagues and friends. Sales has to work hard to get trust by offering valued contributions, staying in touch with existing buyers and sharing information that helps even when it’s not your own. Avoid the big neon signs about special offers, free coffee for everyone and buy today. Seek first to understand (where is the buyer on the journey) and then let the buyer be understood (what do they expect). A socially engaged sales mentality is a must.

INVITING THE BUYER IN WITH GENUINE HOSPITALITY WILL BE THE MOST PRODUCTIVE.

This is not an outbound V inbound argument, outbound sales will always have a place, it’s just about deciding where to place it! Day was when only cold calling and mass broadcasting was the only way for companies to talk to buyers. Sales 2.0 along with social media have flipped this on its head. In an Aberdeen Group report, they found that on average, the most successful sales firms got sixty percent of marketing leads from outbound marketing, while forty percent came through inbound efforts. However the inbound leads converted at a higher rate. The lesson here is these firms used content and not sales pitches to invite the buyer in regardless of whether outbound or inbound. Be a trusted, helpful resource to the buyer along the journey and not interrupting them is the way to get the attention of buyers.

SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENT

Finally, one last thought. On the buyer’s journey, sales, marketing and customer service are seen as a single entity. The term “Smarketing” has been thrown into the mix as a means to convey that sales, marketing and customer service have to collaborate more closely. All departments working as one will create a deeper understanding of the journey a customer takes to engage with your company.

In the socially connected, social media business world, everything moves at a faster pace and this is driven by the buyer. Any business that hopes to get the attention of the traffic on buyers road then they must understand where the potential buyers are coming from, what they demand along the way, and be wherever they need you to be with the right service.

The Bitter Business

The Bitter Business

Social Selling – Social Media – Sales

The Bitter Business is a sales and social media marketing company based In Dublin.

Helping business grow by delivering innovative, sales, content marketing, social selling, lead generation, and customer acquisition strategies. A real performance based sales and marketing partner.

Focus on Sales, Marketing and Business Growth.

The Bitter Business is a risk-reward focused social media marketing, content marketing and social selling services company, capable of tailoring and implementing a sales and marketing strategy to fit the unique needs of a business. When you need sales, sales outsourcing, social selling, social media marketing, inbound marketing and lead generation, The Bitter Business will deliver the results.

 

 The Bitter Business is 100% Results Driven

We work with business owners, sales and marketers to deliver social media marketing and sales services that generate measurable business results.

• Speed up time to market and customer acquisition
• Optimise marketing, social selling and sales coverage
• Content Marketing Services
• Social Media Marketing Strategy
• Social Selling Training
• Proven results in SEO and SEM
• Customer Acquisition Services
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• Outsourced sales services

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Social Selling Training – The Bitter Business

Social Selling Training – The Bitter Business

Let me start by introducing The 5 C’s of social selling. Credibility, Connecting, Content, Conversations and Conversions.

Next it is important to understand that social selling is a process not an event. There are more networks than LinkedIn to target plus there are rarely short cuts to building value and trust with potential customers. True engagement via social media networks is like building the pieces of a jigsaw, the customer see’s the picture being built (with content sharing and participation) and then once they see the full picture (lead nurturing) you are now in a position to commence the sales phase, also known as customer consideration and decision.

Here are a few tips I would like to share.

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IN SOCIAL SELLING = VALUE.

To me, the most important thing is always provide VALUE to your potential customers and social network.

Social Selling is a game changer because it allows sales people to interact with buyers exactly where they are doing their research – online. Due to the change in the buyer’s journey and self-educational content being published online, sticking with old sales models and techniques is no longer an option. If buyers do not see the value a business or sales person can bring (credibility), they will simply move on to someone who will.

However, if a sales person goes our way to help the buyer through their journey from research, awareness to consideration with content and helpful conversations, they will have presented themselves and their company as a partner to potentially do business with. Therefore, always strive to provide to your social network and prospects.

SO HOW DO WE “PROVIDE VALUE”?

Well, providing value to people simply means being helpful.

At a detailed level, providing value on the social networks can be separated into a series of helpful actions (sharing content and information, engaging in conversations etc) so buyers come to acknowledge the sharer, which overtime gives sales people a deeper understanding of the buyer’s profile. Sharing is about giving freely really useful information on an area of interest, market trends, latest research or vendor whitepapers including the competition. It could be facilitating the introduction to someone the buyer might benefit knowing. Another share could be to notify them or a group to a webinar, event or briefing that would be beneficial for them to attend. These are just a few examples of how sales people can provide value to contacts and connections on an on-going basis (stay visible).

In my experience, the best social sellers are the ones who follow the 5C’s which is supported by doing research and being creative. Let’s say that during your research you see “snowboarding” in the interests section of one of your prospect’s profile, try sharing a cool snowboarding video with some text (could snowboarders be better business people) to a group or directly to the prospect. You could make a lasting impression, create awareness and establish credibility.

HOW SHOULD I REQUEST A LINKEDIN CONNECTION TO A PROSPECT?

Connecting is the 2^nd C in the 5C’s of social selling. Before we discuss how one should request a LinkedIn connection, let us state what you should not do.

1 Never send a generic connection request to a prospect

2. Never include a sales pitch or mention your product/services in a connection request

None of the above will start your business relationship off on the right footing. Why not try a conversational approach. Using a casual tone just let the prospect know that you understand they have in interest in “abc” and you are available if ever they need information in your area of expertise. The only goal here is to maximise the chance of the prospect becoming a first degree connection. Doing so makes conversations, content sharing and building credibility easier as you set out on a conversion journey with the buyer.

Provide content and value:

Providing Context – Why is this prospect getting sent a connection request? Did they look at your profile, like or comment on some content you shared? Do you both share mutual connections?

Providing Value – People buy from experts, so position yourself as a valuable source on information for some specific topics.

The request text might read like this:

“Dear [NAME],

Thanks for looking at my profile and commenting on the article I shared in [name of group]. If you ever require information on [area of expertise], feel free to use me as a resource for whitepapers and research.

Kind Regards,

[NAME]”

When it comes to connecting, if you do not have some real context, then do not send a connection request. It is better to nurture the prospect through Content and Conversations to build up your Credibility prior to requesting a connection.

SHOULD I WRITE AN EMAIL TO A PROSPECT?

Surely Social Selling has nothing to do with emailing a prospect I hear you say. Believe it or not butsocial selling and email prospecting can go hand-in-hand. You see, we now know that social selling provides us with a new way to engage with buyers AND it also provides insights into their social media lives. Some buyers are socially aware and others are socially active. These insights can be used to decide if the prospect fits your ideal customer profile alongside how to engage with them. Thanks to B2B lead generation tools, a prospects email address can be easily acquired so combining social selling with a warm emails can increase your chances of receiving a positive reply. .

As the buyers journey has changed It is important to interact with the prospect where they are active online whether that is LinkedIn or elsewhere. If the prospect is not active on social media then no point trying to engage them there, so sometimes trying the more traditional methods of communications such as an email or phone call can work better.

There is so much more to social selling, feel free to contact me regarding training workshops or comment on your own training tips.