What the ‘Bleep’ is Wrong With Content Marketing? Part II; Eradicating the Elephant in the Room
So what can stand in the way of conquering killer content through the collaboration of business lines and marketing departments alike? Time to clear the air. There are all sorts of reasons why the business and the marketing folks don’t play too well in the sandbox. The ‘Business Guys’ are usually busy, stressed and concentrated on sales and making numbers. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, business execs are afraid to make commitments to marketing projects for fear it will prove a slow and arduous journey. And to some extent, as in cases involving complicated production or approval processes etc. — they can be right.
The marketing folks on-the-other-hand, are wary themselves. Their fears include believing that busy business people will be hard to work with, impossible to pin down and will probably speak too quickly in industry lingo that’s impossible to understand — about a topic that’s hard to make sexy! And it goes back and forth.
Sometimes Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) think marketing departments don’t really understand their business. They often assume that its marketing’s job to represent the brand, but don’t really feel marketing efforts affecting their own personal sales efforts, or bottom lines. And oh, marketers ( even if they’re amazing!) are almost always labeled ‘cost centers’ by cynics leery of the lack of clear ROIs at the ready.
Could Content Save the World??
But the future will demand a new order, a new partnership, a new way of doing. Could demands for extreme content from coming customers have just delivered the best gift ever to business leads and marketers alike? Could seamless content collaboration throughout organizations enable businesses to share expertise and knowledge faster and better than ever before — making everyone smarter, safer, healthier, greener? Could content save the world??
If marketing teams could nail down a dynamic, user-friendly way to engage SMEs , giving them an outlet for their commentary, and empowering them to shine as influencers in their industry — we just might be able to drum up some excitement here. If joint efforts to bring breaking news forward, began to positively affect the brand’s, and the executives’ own market eminence, we could have a very serious win/win. Add to that the new information delivered to business people to help them make decisions in the marketplace, and we are looking at a win trifecta!
Good Things from Good Things; How Content will Cure the Conversion Conundrum
A great part about this story is that in doing the right thing for people — helping SMEs find their voices, helping customers make better business decisions — we’re actually benefiting business as well. Engaged customers make for better relationships, as we all know. So how exactly can we bring our experts’ voices to the markets in such a way that it helps us reach our business goals and also benefits our constituency? How can great personalized content cure conversion? Check out this story…
Opportunity Lost
Let me give you some great examples of conversion opportunity lost — and many others to be found. I was sent a very interesting piece of content from a well-known brand that manages money. It answered the question, “When do you know if it is better to invest in real estate vs. stocks”. Now, living in a vacation locale, my husband and I often ponder this very same question. I read the whole article and was actually interested in talking to the person who wrote it, to ask him what might be right for us given our own circumstances. At the end of the piece I was met with the following directions:
Well, now, I see two major things wrong with this approach. One is, if I have a XXX financial adviser, how do I know he/she has the same knowledge and views as the SME who wrote the article? The same expertise? I think the ‘Brand’ missed a great opportunity to deepen the scope of my client relationship with the firm, by not putting me in touch with the SME, or a member of his team who wrote the piece. (Always feels great to get extra professional advice — especially for free!)
But what really surprised me was the phrase “or find one”. Well, what am I supposed to do with that? Google an international wealth management firm and hope whoever I get, knows what the author does, about my area of interest and the SME’s area of expertise? How about a click through to the author’s team? How about offering me an informational intro meeting? How about putting a real-life, living person where the voice is? Give me a someone I can believe In. Trust in. Feel confident about doing business with! That is the conversion call for the future of Content Marketing. All hail!
What Would You Rather?
Yes. I believe that by moving into a more authentic, transparent, helpful — and human — era of content marketing, we may just be conquering the conversion challenge like never before!
What does it take to achieve conversion, induce action? Wouldn’t an empathetic SME who wanted to educate and empower you have a better shot than a blind brand? Think about it…
· Would you rather begin a purchasing process with a chat-bot, or a subject matter expert team that just authored a piece about the future of your industry?
· Would you rather discuss your unique needs with experienced market influencers, or a sales person trying to get your business?
· Would you rather learn more about a product from a faceless corporation, or a dedicated team that has expertise in the field at hand — and has written about it extensively?
Authentic Conversion
I believe that moving toward content actually created by the professionals at work within industries will have monumentally positive affects on conversion rates. Just think of all the ways SMEs, real people, could offer to follow-up on the stories they are sharing with the market… The possibilities are endless.
The Future is Content
So if you’re still unclear regarding what you may need to do about your content, look around. 89% of B2B marketers and 86% of B2C marketers say they are using content marketing to drive lead growth. Forbes reported that Apple’s committed to spending $1 billion on original content in 2018 and PepsiCo opened a brand new content creation studio in downtown NYC. And I love this quote from Digital Marketing’s, Gary Henderson for Forbes, “Stop talking about your brand, and start creating content people want to read, watch or listen to. (sic) If you aren’t looking to create useful, interesting content in 2018, your efforts are going to fall flat.” Full stop.
And don’t think that just because you allot more money to marketing, you’re necessarily going to get those results you’re looking for. Many industry pundits are warning they are seeing increased funds being thrown at old solutions, like gas onto the fire. Today’s marketing professionals are going to have to seize the day, break old models, link arms with their SMEs — and show what killer content can really do. The calls are clear. Stop screaming — Start listening. Stop buying — Start creating. Stop paying — Start sharing. What a beautiful world it could be.
