Your Expert May Be Killing Your Website Content - Part II

The best players usually don't make the best coaches.

The point guard on the Portland Trailblazers NBA basketball team recently hired a shooting coach to help him with his shot. The guy he hired never played pro basketball and he didn't do much in college. However, he's a good shooting coach, partly because he knows what it's like to lack the natural ability and gifts of the best players.

The same idea applies to content creation. Contrary to what you'd expect, the "people who know" in your company may not be he best sources for content. Despite being so good and knowledgeable, the experts nevertheless likely lack the ability to teach what they know. And, because great content often involves explaining to people who aren't as knowledgeable, your experts could be the main obstacle that keeps you from creating a steady stream of content.

An obvious solution to that problem is to ask people who are new to your company to write content, which would also help them learn more about your products. You'd certainly want to edit what they write, but at least you'd get some good content churned out.

Your Expert May Be Killing Your Website Content

I've wondered why so many companies have such a hard time embracing content marketing, and why so many fail to successfully implement marketing automation.

I recently discovered some answers, by accident, from two sources that couldn't be more different.

The first source was a client who has achieved tremendous success with her marketing efforts, but she was lamenting her inability to reach the next level by producing greater amounts of content (particularly articles and white papers). The reason? Their CEO is the expert, and since he doesn't have the time to meet with her...she can't create the content.

The second source was an article about a company failing at marketing automation. The article essentially sites the same issue as my client: insufficient bandwidth to create content. And because the company serves a high niche market, it couldn't rely on an outside agency to write content.

Next time: First of three steps you can take to reap all the benefits of content marketing.

Does Your Company Exhibit By Hope or By Objectives?

There are basically two ways to exhibit: Exhibit by Objectives or Exhibit by Hope. Renting floor space, sending your booth, equipment, products, literature and staff and hoping things work out is Exhibiting by Hope. This is one of the primary reasons many companies don't reap maximum benefits from trade shows.

Exhibiting by Objectives is the process of identifying your best reasons for exhibiting, converting those reasons to goals, developing plans for execution and measuring results. To begin the Exhibiting by Objectives process, you should start at least six months before show time by asking yourself and other key people "Why are we exhibiting?"

Here is the list of top reasons why companies exhibit. Review this list carefully and select the top three or five reasons your company exhibits at trade shows:

• Capture leads
• Introduce new products
• Create visibility
• Branding
• Meet with key customers
• Generate public relations/press coverage
• Test market an idea
• Gain distribution
• Gain access to "No See" buyers
• Write orders
• Demonstrate product capabilities
• Maintain visibility
• Image
• Competitive research
• Customer/industry research
• Get customer feedback
• Meet with distributors/partners

Identifying your reasons is a good start, but to provide the necessary focus, your reasons need to be converted to goals (i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic). Objectives take effort, but the rewards are well worth it. It's the difference between "making expensive appearances" and "making profits."

Position Your Sales Team Brings To Market

No doubt, polishing your media products has been essential to adapting to our new world of e-media. On the other hand, your competitors have likely been doing the same thing...and look-alike messages are all around us.

That's why a new priority should be set...one that puts the requirements of your sales team front and center. It's the need to communicate a market position that sets your brand apart...that differentiates it from today's commodity media.

How do you do that?

Assess your current value proposition.

Analyze your competitors' positions.

Refocus your approach on the most important aspect: your customer's selfish interest.

Conduct research to prove your enhanced sales story.

Build the communication tools.

And then train your team on the concepts and tools.

When A Prospect Isn't Ready To Buy

Does this happen to you? Everytime you try to do web research, it seems like you are immediately bombarded by salespeople looking to close a deal. It doesn't matter if you are only doing research. You get the same result -- lots of people wanting to get your requirements and send a quote.

This happens when lead-management programs make the mistake of treating all prospects as if they're ready to make a purchase right away. So, how can you set your company apart from the rest -- and prove a valuable resource in a prospect's research process?

Give as much -- if not more -- than you take. Prospects need a reason and benefit to share their goals and needs with you. They also need some assurance that their information won't be used for "evil."

Tailor your communication for each prospect. Make it clear that you're responding to a specific question or action. Each action should be traced back to a specific past behavior of the prospect.

The point: You'll earn the most goodwill (and, potentially, close the biggest sales) if you give the prospect exactly what he wants during the research process.

Do Your Sales People Need Fewer Leads?

If your sales team (including dealers) is missing revenue targets, their first impulse might be to cry out, "We just need more leads." After all, it's logical that more leads will generate more opportunities and more sales.

It reality, just the opposite turns out be true.

A sales paradox is at work here because reps actually need fewer sales leads -- or, more accurately, fewer raw, unfiltered, unqualified leads from marketing. Drowning your sales reps in more leads, especially those of poor quality, can simply make things worse.

Standard lead generation's focus on quantity floods the pipeline with far too many low-value leads that don't deliver sales and marketing ROI. Qualifying criteria are rarely met due to lack of marketing resources.

It's no surprise that many recent surveys of sales reps report that an overwhelming majority of marketing-generated leads are not being pursued because their quality is perceived to be poor. Rep calendars are cluttered with unqualified meetings; ultimately, money is being wasted on lead-generation programs that simply don't work.

Sales teams need qualified leads that have been carefully and consistently nurtured, as well as appropriately developed into high-value, sales-ready opportunities. Reps can then invest their time more effectively on the most likely buyers.

Source: Dan McDade

Next time: Attributes of a well-qualified lead.

How To Improve Offers (Calls To Action)

Last of a three-part series...

1. Make sure your offers are compelling. Your offer should answer the question: "What's in it for me." Things like pricing brochures, specs, and self-promotional videos are not compelling offers because they do not answer that question. Informational items like whitepapers, guides, and webinars are compelling.

2. Link back to your site in your offer. Although lead nurturing is a very powerful tool, provide a way for your leads to find you again besides through email. If they enjoyed your whitepaper, make it easy for them to remember where they got this valuable information by linking to your site on the cover page.

3. Create offers for every stage of the buying cycle. Just like your forms might vary for each phase of the buying cycle, your offers should as well. Someone at the top of the buying cycle may be more interested in an informational piece like a guide, whereas someone more committed at the bottom of the cycle might be more interested in a free trial or demo. You don't need to pick and choose. Create offers for each phase, and include a primary or secondary call to action to these various pages throughout your site.