Marketing Tactics a Salesperson Would Be Wise to Learn 2 - Messaging and Content.

Many marketers will invest a large proportion of their time developing key messaging to help put their products in the best light and utilize them as hooks to build content around for different channels. There is nothing to stop us salespeople using that messaging or developing our own.

Marketers will typically develop messaging based on some of the following factors:

Aligning with company goals

Focus on your target market and their problems or solutions to their problems

Competitor messaging

Value offering

Define the brand personality but be authentic

Create a sense of urgency

Use customer stories and personalize

I think messaging is becoming more important for sales people, be that in your initial call introduction or headline or first line in emails. Prospects are busier than ever and they want information in small chunks so they can identify if its relevant or of interest to them. So out of the above, the ones that jump out for sales people are the more customer centric ideas. Your target market and their problems, solutions (And be original), offer something of value

and use customer stories and personalize

I have never like the idea of developing urgency into messaging it looks and sounds like something self serving like closing a deal to your own timeline - even if it is genuinely a time limited opportunity - it never sounds like that. The challenge with short concise messaging is avoiding industry jargon or even worse using the same "marketing speak" that everyone uses . Its important to be your self, be a little individualistic and use simple wording where possible. (Appreciate that is not always easy if you are trying to convey a message in a short space, so it may take some thinking about)

The messaging should be what gets you the attention and forms the foundation of the conversation or content - something you can build on. Using highly valued and personalized content is what marketers aim for, though there is a limit to how personal they can be because they are promoting a message to "many" in most cases. We, salespeople however can be a little more personal in our "sales content marketing" as we are selling to smaller groups - personalization matters...as does quality/value.

Content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media. This approach establishes expertise, promotes brand awareness, and keeps your business top of mind when it's time to buy what you sell.

Here is how we salespeople can use it:

To get the attention of prospects

Concise, relevant and useful or valuable content will not necessarily change your prospects perception of you from sales person to subject matter expert/guru but it can get their attention and change perceptions a little. After seeing your content, and not even in many cases reading it, you can be perceived less as a self serving sales person on the next contact. you may instead be seen as someone that possibly has a few interesting ideas, invests time in thinking about their industry and clients and may be worth connecting or talking to. I have referred to it the past as prospects not "running away from you quite as fast", they may slow down look over their shoulder to take a second look and maybe even stop to talk!

Expand your network

The value of generating content is that prospects you have not considered get to see your content and form an early impression of you, possibly reach out to you - or be much more open if you later recognize them as a prospect and approach them. They can also share your content with others, their peers who may be your direct prospects. Of course there is the added benefit that they may not be a prospect at their current company, but prospects do change companies.

To build trust and dialogue

Posting good content, a little more challenging but worth the effort (Quality v Quantity) earns that trust, that you are not another salesperson but offers value beyond what you are selling. Value enough for prospects to possibly not just read your content but engage with it and start conversations with you. This is the ideal scenario or dream scenario, it does not happen with all prospects but if you can offer them personal value things that will help them and their company you can move beyond simply making good initial impressions to potentially something much more valuable to both of you when they but into you and your offering.

Lead generation

This is how many marketers really use content, sure some use for branding but I imagine most usage is for lead gen. As a sales person I would avoid that. I would focus more on building the trust and personal brand so that they will reach out to you when ready otherwise in might be seen as self serving - and that's what we are trying to move away from . That said if you are producing a lot of good content and have a regular newsletter that is different, I think then it is legitimate to offer the choice of providing an email address to give them more value via a newsletter or other updates - but you really do have to be providing real value. Because they are makin a commitment to you - its a sale - they are giving you something - their valuable email address.

Original content v Curating content

There is value in sharing or curating content, but if you are able why not try producing original content that is where the real value is. It does not have to be 100% original - what is?You can mix it up as I do by summarizing existing content and adding your own thoughts. This is a greater investment of time, but it gives you a point of view or actually forces you to take a point of view on things. Whether the client agrees with the point of view or not I think again you earn trust and respect in taking a position. There is so much generic content out there anything with a strong point of view will get noticed. You may even end up showing up better in organic search - but that's not the main objective. (If that is an objective than you definitely need a more serious marketing led approach).

Three Take ways:

1. Use content in some form for your own personal branding ( I am worth speak to) and get the attention of prospects.

2. Build trust over time by producing good content (Useful or at least interesting to prospects)

3. Try and have something to say, your own point of view by producing original content (Hard at first, but keep going it gets easier)