Unused by sales that is… A B2B study by research and consulting company Forrester claims that 60-70% of marketing content remains unused by sales departments. As someone who has worked in both, this is no surprise to me and I’d like to talk about why (and of course, what to do about it!)
No Strategic Industry Target
When your marketing articles and website content are generic and talk about everyone and everything, it’s usually because there’s a lack of marketing strategy. I love targeting by industries because it makes it super simple to find your target since they self-gather all the time and you don’t have to hunt for them one by one online or at generic events.
No Strategic Specialty
Similar to the above problem, being an expert in everything means you’re an expert in nothing. Once you strategically figure out what facet of the pain diamond you super-niche in, then your marketing content will reflect that. After that, every sales rep will be opening buyer doors using these collaterals that are all about the specialty you own.
Messaging Not Pain Based
70% of humans purchase something to solve a problem (a pain point). If the marketing content is all about that pain, then buyers will want to read it. And sales reps will want to use it.
Sales Wasn’t Involved
In our strategy process, I make each new client get their sales teams involved in the process of finding out the lay of the market. Marketing drives the questions and sales does the outreach necessary to get us the answers. Sales and Marketing have to cooperate to arrive at the best strategy. That’s when you’ll get marketing content that actually gets used.
3rd Parties Creating Content
Innocent off-shore vendors and inexperienced copywriters can’t tell the pain stories of clients you’ve rescued. Sadly one of the byproducts of working together with lots of clients is that they realize this and let their copywriters go. Your marketing content has to be about past client stories. About what problem you solved for them and how you helped them. Ending of course, with the result of your work together. Nobody else knows what you do. So either properly brief your marketing or find some way to generate easy content that showcases your true expertise in your field.
Online Optimization Hasn’t Happened
3 out of 4 B2B buyers refuse to deal with vendors in person after the pandemic. If this is the new reality, what does that mean for your marketing? It means that you might have to change the message to fit the format. For example, when I could no longer do conference keynotes, I had to learn how to do virtual livestreams without slides. It allowed me to engage with the audience better by answering their questions in the moment. In addition, your sales teams will also have to be trained in how to engage and target with prospects online. It is the future.
Whether you’re on the side that’s creating unused marketing collateral or on the side that’s ignoring this collateral, try the above suggestions and you will see that the world of buyers is a lot easier to navigate and to penetrate.
Want to reposition your messaging to grow your leads? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, watch my Podcast on YouTube or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk.
