Even though the buyer is in control of the sales process, and we’re in hyper-competitive markets, this is the best 
time to be in sales. Sales people are more productive and we are more effective thanks to technology (the cloud) and data. This perspective was evident at the recent Sales Hacker Conference New York City. Max did an excellent job assembling innovators across the sales-tech landscape to help start-ups and open-minded sales executives drive cost-effective growth. For a full rundown of the many cool hacks presented please visit the Sales Hacker Conference blog.
One of the best Sales Hacks of the day is actually a marketing strategy – content marketing. Who knew? Tim Bertrand of Acquia offered great insight for start-ups to position themselves for commercial success while minimizing the cost of sales?
Crank the Content Engine to Drive Cost-Effective Leads
The single moment you have a new business idea, crank up the content engines immediately. All companies, regardless of the growth stage, must think and act like a media company. Building your audience is key to your success. For start-ups, your audience of today evolves into your best customers of tomorrow. It is never too soon to start laying the foundation of your industry views, market position and special capabilities via authentically written blog posts. The profile you build and credibility you earn over time not only appeals to your customers, but also gets the attention of Google (indexing) as you signal your strengths in your special areas of expertise.
An effective content marketing strategy (thank you CMI) will drive very cost effective inbound leads, which are key to a start-up’s early success.
Content Marketing Helps you Win Business
Sales executives of established companies should also take this advice. The most effective sales people have moved beyond social media only as a prospecting research and intelligence gathering tool. They use content marketing (blogging) and social distribution to raise their own expert profile in the market. Your buyer can find most of what they need to know about your product/service online, but often get superficial information about the sales person. Buyers still ultimately buy from people they like and respect. Put forward a point of view on your industry or services and you’ll be amazed at the immediate legitimacy you gain with the buyer.
Do you have a blog set up? If not, what’s holding you back?
The Content Marketing Institute has phenomenal resources to get you started on content marketing.
Build a Successful Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like to know how this applies to your business. Stop searching for the knowledge and have it delivered directly to you by Subscribing to Read the Review & Save a Few [News Letter], your weekly debriefing to all the Sales Acceleration Software News, Reviews, & How-to’s!
