What If How You Sold Was as Important as What You Sold?

The common challenge with marketing is that large and small organizations have a problem standing out in our modern landscape. Products and services are largely undifferentiated to buyers, and trust is at rock bottom, especially for unfamiliar brands.

In order for your business (especially for B2B organizations) to be successful in today’s marketing environment, you’ll need two things: a compelling product or service and a differentiated buying experience you own.

Many businesses are under the mistaken notion that if they just create a great product or service that is sufficient. It’s not.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for putting really compelling offerings out there, but here’s what every smart and profitable organization understands:

If you really want to create a better product, service or company, create a better experience and wrap it around what you actually sell.

This is where educational content lends tremendous power to any size business. You can create content that works as marketing (building know, like and trust) and that creates a better experience because you’re delivering independent value to customers with content before you attempt to make the sale.

In other words, in many cases how you sell is more important than what you sell.

Over the years I’ve identified four types of content that every business must create to develop a differentiated buying experience. Organizations that get this and create and organize content to generate awareness, build trust, educate and convert at any point along the journey will win.

Suspect Content — Everyone in your target market

When your entire target market is not aware of your company, product, service or the benefit it offers, then the first objective of content is to simply build trust.

Trust can be built through:

• Blogs
• Testimonials
• Customer Reviews
• Articles

At the heart of every transaction is TRUST and in general, trust is what’s in short supply. If more people trust you, everything else will fall into place.

There’s a really big gap between someone being aware of you (which is really hard) and someone trusting you, enough to invest in you or buy from you.

Prospect Content — Anyone who has taken action to solve a problem that you can assist them with

There’s an huge difference between awareness and action. Putting something in the world for awareness is useless if it doesn’t lead to taking action.

As the market begins to trust you and competition increasing in that market. Prospects will compare you on price unless you give them a differentiation….your unique process, your solution, your message and your approach.

Examples of a unique process or approach:

• 5 Components of a Successful _______,
• How to __________ in 5 Steps,
• 10 Steps to ______________ Success,
• 8 Steps to Successfully Implement __________,

At this stage you need to educate about that differentiation:

• Special Reports
• Information Packed Guide
• Marketing Kit
• Seminar

People want to be educated not sold. They will sell themselves if you just commit to educating.

Customer Content — A person or organization that has bought products or services from you

You’ve done all this work attracting and educating now show your customers how to get the most out of what they just bought. This builds loyalty and community.

• How-to Information
• New Customer Guide
• Workshops
• Q&A Sessions

This is were most organizations stop their content marketing but you should continue it if you want keep customers and create repeat sales.

Advocate Content — A person or organization that tells others and basically sells for you

The last stage of content that creates and keeps a customer is one that’s often overlooked. Ultimately, great content has the ability to help your raving fans spread the word, increase awareness, generate leads and convert prospects .

• Referral certificate or coupon
• Access to “behind the scenes” content
• Customer appreciation events
• Referable emails

An even bigger benefit is that your content differentiates you from the competition in ways that traditional features and benefits fail to in a cluttered marketplace.