We’ve all seen graphics like the one below telling us that we need to have a “content strategy” that leverages social, keyword research, voice definition, blah blah blah! What I hear very little about is how to use content to help drive sales (is that a dirty word?) Many people do not realize that there are ways to use content to help give us information about those people in our marketing funnel that are actually in the buying cycle. Certain marketing leaders throw around such terms as “thought leadership or influencers” but don’t have a clue as to how to transform this strategy into sales. This is my attempt at clarification.

Why should I create content (PLEASE DO NOT SAY TO BUILD LINKS!)

Creating content that people want to share is difficult especially when that content is generated by a business. The problem that I have seen time and time again at large enterprises is that their content is almost entirely geared towards selling stuff.

If Toyota created a piece of content about how amazing the new Camry is, how likely would you be to share it? I’ve also seen certain businesses that create content for content creation’s sake believing that being thought leaders is a goal in itself. There has been very little done in the area of a content strategy aside from trying to build links and increase SEO (who cares about this if sales don’t go up).

I have a drinking game at search conference after-parties where I take a drink whenever someone says "Content is King!" (two shots if they say, "it is king, queen, jack, and ace!") As some of you know, I'm usually shit faced by the end of the night.

Here is the rub though: What happens if you're in a boring industry? It's easy to build engaging content when you're selling vacations or video games, but what about if you're selling Electronic Medical Records (yawn!). How can you use content that isn't sales related, but is engaging while helping increase revenue? I'm so happy you asked!

OK...Now what?

Now that we know that content strategy involves more than the act of content creation or link building, what is an example of a good, but extremely easy content campaign? How can we leverage content to help our sales reps by providing leads that are not ice cold?

Example:

1. Create an informative webinar on healthcare reform. Talk about government regulations, HIPAA, preparing for value based reimbursement, etc. Do not try to sell anything!
   
   
2. The people that signed up for this webinar are then entered into a Healthcare Reform specific nurture campaign. Do not try to sell anything!
   
   
3. Using marketing automation (I know, I know) and your CRM, provide the people in your campaign quality content that further explores healthcare reform. Occasionally add a piece of indicator content (content that shows that someone is potentially in the buying cycle) on a problem that your product solves. An example is "What to Know When Switching Electronic Medical Records Systems." Do not try to sell anything!
   
   
4. If a person consumes the indicator content their contact information is given to the inside sales team and they are invited to sales oriented webinar such as coding services, EMR implementation, etc. These services are necessary due to new government regulations so there isn’t a huge leap from knowledge to sales. Even if the person does not attend the product specific webinar, they have still indicated that they are concerned about a problem your product solves. This would be substantially better than a cold call.
   
   
5. If the person consumes the sales oriented content, they should be fast tracked.
   
   
6. WIN!
   
   
7. Continue serving content to your customers in order to build brand loyalty, grow engagement, and gain repeat customers.
   
   
8. WIN AGAIN!
   

This way content is used to engage and to market.

It starts off with an informative piece of content that actually helps people (ding, ding, ding!) while building trust. After giving helpful content, we then give people an opportunity to learn about our services while showing us who is in the market to buy something.

It's 11:00pm do you know where your Wonka meme is?

Webinars and white papers are a fantastic way of getting people into a lead nurturing campaign that is specific to their interests. Many people love adding leads into a nature campaign but instead of being strategic, they shove everyone together and blasts the whole lot of them with content (spam) that means absolutely nothing to them.

By using indicators and flagged content that shows you that someone is most likely ready to buy something, you can get the right people to consume the right content, reduce your opt out rate, and drive sales. Yay!

Obligatory Infographic

If you tell me that marketing is like dating one more time...

An effective content strategy requires us to become thought leaders (I hate the term also) in specific topics. That necessitates us to build a level of trust among those who consume our content. Only after that trust is developed will people be receptive to our sales messaging (the "end game").

Marketing in the digital age is just like dating (I hate myself for saying that).

You need to play it cool and serve up a great conversion before you get to the heavy petting. The problem arises when there is a requirement from senior leaders to constantly prove ROI for every campaign. This is akin to your buddies asking how "things went" after you go on a first date.

Content marketing requires patience and consistency (even more important than patience), but the good news is that with an effective content strategy, you will definitely be able to prove causation.

Danger Will Robinson!!

Now that everyone understands the importance of content an influx of pure crap has filled search results. I’m not talking about keyword stuffing or content automation, but content by people who have no business putting ink to paper (this guy included). If you find yourself among the 95% of us who are functionally illiterate, please realize that there are plenty of people out there who are completely capable of writing good content. Hire them! In all that is holy don’t write content yourself if you are unable to string a sentence together.

Not only will people not share/link to your content, but it will have a horrible impact on your brand. How can you expect people to take your business seriously if you don’t take your own content seriously? OK, enough about that!

In conclusion

Creating content is easy (with the right resources). The difficult part is creating content that is of high quality, engaging/interesting, and that can be used to pinpoint people who are in the buying cycle. Many of us have done a very poor job at this.

Marketers have to understand that social shares and inbound links are all good, but if your content is not helping drive sales, it's doing nothing for you.