How to push for more sales with valuable content
Marketing with valuable content is a very effective way of pulling people into your business, but you can also use it to help you open doors and make direct contact with people who have never heard of you before – the hardest job for any sales person. If you want to know how to use valuable content as a ‘push’ strategy that won’t switch off potential new clients, read on.
Use content to start sales conversations
Valuable content is the perfect conversation starter for people you want to do business with. It flies under an organisation’s anti-marketing radar, because it is useful. Lead with the valuable stuff – send an article, an e-book or even a printed book – and you will earn the right to engage with prospects.
“Well-researched and valuable content demonstrates better than anything else that you understand your buyer’s world and most importantly their critical success factors then the buyers will find you more interesting and will be much more willing to meet you.”
David Tovey, author of Principled Selling @principledsell
If the prospect you want to meet feels there is already a relationship based on your marketing activities they will be more motivated to meet you and spend time with you to explore opportunities to do business together. You will have a better, warmer sales meeting.
The key, as ever, is to start by knowing who you want to work for (we like the ‘dream clients’ phrase David Tovey uses in his Principled Selling book mentioned above). Be crystal clear on their needs and interests and provide content that hits that sweet spot. Continue to deliver value with each and every contact, build that relationship and earn the right to sell.
Valuable tip for your next sales campaign
Remember that the prospects you are targeting are as busy, as cynical, as suspicious and over-sold to as you. The only way to stop people hitting the delete button or marking your email as spam is to provide something that they find interesting and of value.
- Send them a link to a blog article
- Post a useful e-book, whitepaper, guide
- Point them to relevant research
- Sum up their challenge in an inspiring infographic.
Make your next sales campaign a valuable content sales campaign. Being valuable is the key.
Other articles you might like
- Tips for your valuable content sales campaigns
- Valuable content and the art of great sales follow up
- Case study: How Conscious Solutions uses valuable content for sales success
- Why sales hates marketing
Great article Sonja…and I would add “Be easy to find”. Someone might not need that great insight at the very moment you send it. If they are like me, it lodges in their brain, and then comes up from memory like debris from the deep, and without the name attached. Often have I wracked my brain trying to remember who WAS it who wrote that interesting article on “latent voice episodes”, what was the name of that architect who sent me the idea about tilting buildings, and who was that consultant who did courses on negotiating skills. If people call their companies “Purple Beach” or “The Big Potato”, then I won’t be able to find them unless they have their specialism and their name prominent on their website, or if, by happy co-incidence, they sent me an email with a descriptive footer which includes their contact details.
And Sonja, I love the word ‘infographic’ – is that a new word? Is it patented or can I use it?
Hello Jane. Thanks for the insightful comment. It’s all good isn’t it putting stuff out there but if you don’t get remembered then the moment is lost. Nonsensical names for a company really don’t help!
Infographic is a great word for something that has been around for an awfully long time. They have really taken hold in today as a way of representing an idea/data visually, packaged for digital sharing. Our friend designer Lizzie laughed long and hard when I first asked her if she could create infographics for a client. I don’t think she saw this as anything new and was surprised at buzz the around the term.
Have a look at the lovely examples on this site http://visual.ly/#gc_filter or even better – http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/. Valuable content made visual, and beautiful.
Sonja