Visual Contenting March 2016 | Page 44

CONTENT MARKETING This infographic shared by Salesforce discusses about why your sales team should invest more time on content marketing. • Understand what successful content marketing looks like. • Document its content marketing strategy. Organizational goals for B2B content marketing. • • • • • • Lead generation 85%. Sales 84%. Lead nurturing 78%. Brand awareness 77%. Engagement 76%. Customer retention/Loyalty 74%. • Customer evangelism/ Creating brand advocates 61%. • Upsell/Cross-sell 58%. Most B2B marketers say sales lead quality is the most important metric. Micro-site organizations (1-9 employees) are the exception. They’re more focused on: • On average, consumers engage with 11.4 pieces of content before making a purchase. • 85% of customers regularly seek trusted content to inform their decision-making process. • 70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles over ads. Content Marketing Is Everywhere To have effective content marketing, the company must: Visual Contenting • Communicate frequently with both marketing and sales. Percentage of B2B companies using content marketing is 88% yes and 12% no. A documented content marketing strategy impacts effectiveness: • 53% of the most effective companies have one. • 40% of the least effective companies don’t. Why Is Content Marketing Important to the Sales Funnel? • 32% sales. • 24% sales lead quality. Why Should Your Sales Team Share Your Content? Customers find your helpful content thanks to search engines. Your company is seen as a “linkable expert”. People stay on your site longer to read and enjoy your content. Your company builds trust and credibility. People who consume your content are much more likely to buy from you. How Should Sales Use Content Marketing?