When customer prospects begin their research on overcoming a challenge, they’re seldom receptive to a “hard sell” pitch. To some, this may sound counterintuitive. It’s easy to talk yourself into shouting “I have the answer! I have just what you’re looking for!” at prospects because you know your products or services can help. However, the first step in the marketing funnel isn’t about sales, it’s about trust.
Rather than using a “push” strategy, many companies find great success starting with a “pull” approach. This is accomplished by creating content on your website and social media platforms that educates customers on your products or services before your sales team even gets involved. Focus on the general issue and provide tips on how others are overcoming the problem. Avoid self promotion here. Instead, build trust by offering helpful information with no strings attached.
Things like blog posts, webinars and white papers are all good places to start.
Keep in mind that creating content isn’t a one-time thing. You should be creating content on a regular basis, with the goal of giving your customers and prospects something of value. Once the prospect moves to the middle and bottom-of-funnel stages, you can start to discuss your product/solution.
This kind of contact is commonly known as lead nurturing, and it allows prospects to learn and educate themselves at their own pace. This makes them better leads when the time comes to communicate with the sales team.
Some of these leads may never convert, of course. However, since you’ve provided good educational content to them up front, you’ll be able to rest assured that you did everything you could to give your sales team a head start. It’s likely that those leads would not have been productive anyway, and you’ve saved your sales department some time and energy.
Do you want help in getting a content strategy started for your company? Contact the Anchor team today.