Content Marketing
for Sales
April 14, 2015
Jacquie Chakirelis
@CLE_Mom
@NEO_MediaGroup
Amy Neumann
@CharityIdeas
@NEO_MediaGroup

Three Key Takeaways
1. Content Marketing Can Play a Role in
Today’s Sales Process
2. Content Marketing Can Help a Salesperson
Connect with Prospects
3. Content Marketing Supports the Sales Cycle
Tweeting? @SMECleveland @NEO_MediaGroup
Jacquie: @CLE_Mom Amy: @CharityIdeas
Source: Introhive Relationships Matter Study

“…a marketing technique of creating
and distributing relevant and valuable content
to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined audience –
with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

Did you know there are more than 2 million blog
posts published every single day?
B2B marketers are spending more time, money, and resources on content than ever
before, as:
•35% of businesses have a documented content strategy
•42% of businesses will publish new content at least weekly
•55% of businesses will increase their content marketing spend in the
next year
Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/01/5-pillars-successful-content-marketing/

QUESTION FOR YOU….
WHAT DO YOU THINK
ARE THE TOP
CHALLENGES ALL SALES
ORGANIZATIONS FACE?

B2B and B2C agree

Sales Process Has Changed
Source: Introhive Relationships Matter Study

Ditch the Pitch! Use Content to Build Relationships

Source: http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press_20140116.htm
Trust Issues
92%of people don’t trust companies who cold call
A New Sales Process
57% of a purchase decision is made before the
buyer even talks to the company
Cold Calling is Becoming Obsolete

How Can Content Marketing Build Relationships?
Discover More Relationships
• New leads can be identified through existing relationships and warm introductions and
social selling. Think Linked In
• Through search optimizations, you can make it easy for leads to find you. Think ZMOT
Nurture More Relationships
• Building a mailing list to nurture clients. Gated Content
• You should understand that your clients’ needs help in speeding up the sale.
Create More Relationships
• Expertise should be built through the sharing of relevant content on the internet. Social
Media
• New relationships can be built through speaking at conferences and events.

Teacher
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• Educational Content pushes
prospects to think
differently about their
business and how they can
be more effective.
• Providing and sharing
educational content
positions the sales person
and organization as a go-to
resource for helpful
information

Trouble Shooter
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• Establish yourself as a
resource with your content
and your prospects are
more likely to share their
challenges
• The more you understand
the more you can share
content to address your
prospects pain points.
Proving you can solve
problems can help you gain
trust

Coach
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• Provide content and insights to
challenge your prospects to push
themselves and their business
forward.
• Identify your prospects strengths
and weaknesses and the results
that matter to them. Use this
information to tailor the content
and conversations to these topics

Thought Leader
CONTENT CAN TRANSFORM SALESPEOPLE
http://marketeer.kapost.com/content-transforms-salespeople-infographic/#axzz3WUCJKX6K
• As a thought leader, the positive
perception and authority and
expertise reinforces trust in your
company and the products or
services you sell.
• If your company is producing
quality content, it will help build
your reputation as an industry
leader over your competitors

Source: http://blog.newscred.com/article/buyer-personas-are-great-except-when-they-suck/2a78397eba0a695c9e1a1db4e5693cd8
CONTENT SERVES THE CUSTOMER
• What content your target customers
use,
• What topics, they are interested in
• What types or formats of content
they prefer
• Which channels they use
• For each stage of the buyer journey
• Define the keywords they use to
search
• The actual questions they ask
They’ll Reward You With Their Business

QUESTIONS?How do You Measure Success? Content Marketing Metrics
•Consumption:
–Article views, estimated average time spent, bounce rate
–Surface level data – measures amount of brand awareness/engagement
•Social Sharing:
–Likes, shares, comments, pins, +1, tweets, etc…
–Second level data – measures social engagement, relevancy/value of content, reach
•Lead Generation:
–Click-thru’s from article links/in-article ads, form submissions, email/SM sign-ups
–End game data – measures qualified leads/valuable traffic
•Lead Nurturing/Sales:
–Google Analytics – measures audience intent (attainment of goals/events), value of
visitors

QUESTIONS?Content Marketing Strategy Examples
Imagine Cool Kevin (audience), who is an experienced
marketing automation user, wants to learn new ways to
use your software (stage of sales cycle). You can create a
how-to guide (content) to help him become a power
user.
Boring Bob (audience), who is new to email marketing
(stage of sales cycle), needs to create his first email
blast. You can create the “Beginner’s Guide to Email
Marketing” (content) to help him get started

QUESTIONS?Pillars of a Content Marketing Strategy
•Consumption:
–Article views, estimated average time spent, bounce rate
–Surface level data – measures amount of brand awareness/engagement
•Social Sharing:
–Likes, shares, comments, pins, +1, tweets, etc…
–Second level data – measures social engagement, relevancy/value of content, reach
•Lead Generation:
–Click-thru’s from article links/in-article ads, form submissions, email/SM sign-ups
–End game data – measures qualified leads/valuable traffic
•Lead Nurturing/Sales:
–Google Analytics – measures audience intent (attainment of goals/events), value of
visitors

Does content marketing actually work?
41%of people are more
likely to express an
intent to buy when
looking at websites
with branded or
sponsored content.

To Help with Planning:
Who do you want to reach?
What do you want them to know?
What do you want them to do?

* Source – 2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends, North America
82% - Brand Awareness
74% - Lead Generation
71% - Customer Acq.
68% - Thought Leadership
64% - Engagement
57% - Website Traffic
57% - Retention/Loyalty
47% - Lead Nurturing/Sales
Content Marketing Goals

• Communicate and support their brand.
• Differentiate their brand in the marketplace.
• Communicate thought leadership.
• Establish and demonstrate industry expertise.
• Engage prospects/customers in multi-channel
environments.
• Fuel social media strategies.
Content marketing enables marketers to . . .

Awareness:
–Educate, entertain; topic-
focused
–Deliver helpful, problem-
solving information
–Sponsored Articles, Lite White
Papers, PR
Interest & Desire:
–Persuade, differentiate
–Sponsored Articles, Lite White
Papers,
Blog Posts, Web Copy
Action:
–Engage, entice, qualify lead,
convince
–Brand-focused, express value
proposition
–Lite White Papers, Web Cop
Mapping the Conversion Funnel

Examples of Content Marketing
• White Papers
• Blogs
• Sponsor Articles
• Video

• “Editorial-style” articles, authored and by-lined by cleveland.com, to be published and
distributed on cleveland.com using the same techniques as our editorial articles.
Sponsor articles live in
categories on cleveland.com:
• Business
• Food & Recipes
• Travel
• Health & Fitness
• Education
• More to come in the future
Native Advertising Example – cleveland.com

Content Update Ideas
•Share what you find interesting, including from
industry-specific sites

Idea and Headline Generation Tips
For content topic ideas:
Topsy, Technorati, BuzzFeed, Twitter, Quora,
HubSpot
Also your company’s FAQs
For headline ideas:
Portent, CopyBlogger
Think about natural SEO/long-tail terms

Where to Distribute Great Content
Social Media
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram,
Pinterest, YouTube, SlideShare
Newsletters/Email
Your Site/Blog
Learning Center

Types of Content to Use
Many longer forms of content can be repurposed into short videos, presentations,
infographics, podcasts, an article series, etc.
Whitepapers
Infographics
Statistics
Long-form articles
Blog posts
Guest blogging

Activity: Creating Great Content Ideas
Evergreen
Infographics
Lists
Quotes
Community
HowTo’s/ Hacks
Topical/Trendy
News
Entertaining/Inspiring
Educational
About Us/Promotional/Testimonials

Brainstorming
Content Grouping Ideas
Mapping Content by Platform
Planning/ Scheduling– Timing and Frequency
Planning – Annual Media Flight Plan by Events

Additional Resources
Northeast Ohio Media Group Blog
http://www.neohiomediagroup.com/blog/
The Sales Lion
http://www.thesaleslion.com/
Kapost
http://marketeer.kapost.com/
Content Marketing Institute
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
PR 20/20
http://www.pr2020.com/blog

QUESTIONS?Questions

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with local scale
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and two-time Microsoft
Digital Marketing Partner
of the Year (2013,2014)
 8th
largest digital news
property in the nation
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are the go-to sources for
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across the country.
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US through our audience
targeting platform