It happens to us far too often: we find an intriguing white paper, complete the registration form for access and mere minutes later get a phone call or email from a very hopeful sales rep. They're always surprised when we're not ready to sign a contract for a complex SaaS product (nevermind that it requires at least six months of implementation and signoffs from multiple stakeholders) … before we've even had time to read the report we downloaded. And if it's happening to us, it's happening to your clients, too.
This year has presented a difficult business environment, to say the least. We understand why organizations are overeager to make sales. But they would be more likely to find success by nurturing their leads carefully, tracking interest and staying close, initiating a conversation at the right moment that leads to more education and other connections.
But how, especially when we've learned that the customer journey and sales funnel aren't an orderly procession from awareness to consideration to purchase?
Make a plan. What will you do when prospects don't move the way you want them to? Maybe consider splitting your approach: a list of target accounts where you'll act quickly, and a way to establish intent before you have salespeople reach out. (Hint: Ask about our Intent360 program to identify surging interest in your brand or solution among our first-party audience members.)
Build your brand—with the individual. Folks don't download your whitepaper because they're excited about your brand—they want the information that sparked their interest in the asset. Developing a relationship with them will take more than that one interaction—you know this, but how well are you acting on it? Display advertising, especially on- and off-portfolio, will help, but only when they remember your company name and associate it with smart, relevant information. Which means you need to…
Offer the right content. Thought leadership and education, yes, tell us something we didn't know. Well, you know it, but is your content really still just a thinly veiled sales pitch? It's an easy trap to fall into--expressing a real opinion backed up with real information in clear language that's interesting to read was hard in high school. It's only gotten harder now that you have to contend with SMEs who get lost in deep thoughts that have nothing to do with marketing, demanding stakeholders and legal and compliance reviewers whose caution threatens to neuter any content's chance of hitting KPIs. But it's not impossible—and you've got to do it if you're going to stay connected with those all-important MQLs and SQLs. How can you do it?
Work with a partner who cares. Developing content assets that will actually nurture your audience and figuring out the right tempo and channel for distributing them shouldn't be a solo effort. Does your partner know how to find the intersection between what's interesting to your desired audience and your messaging framework? Can they prevent issues with legal and compliance reviewers that could send you back to the drawing board? Do they know how to get the best from your SME in one interview (and possibly harvest additional assets from that single session)? Are they looking at how your work together fits into your larger content library and nurture efforts?
They should. And (here it comes) we can. Talk to us about what's not working with your customer journey and let's audit your outreach and assets. Then let's figure out what needs reworking, what's missing and how we can help. In the meantime: Please, go easy on us prospects. And when things turn up, we'll remember you.
Written by the Arizent Custom Content Team
