{"id":7862,"date":"2011-03-03T14:13:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T14:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matthew-j-smith.com\/?p=7862"},"modified":"2023-09-05T02:05:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T02:05:22","slug":"content-fuels-demand-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matthew-j-smith.com\/?p=7862","title":{"rendered":"Content Fuels Demand Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Had a lengthy counseling session recently with a company struggling with their demand generation program.\u00a0 We know them well and worked closely with their CEO over the past year as he\u2019s managed the company through a sales transition.<\/p>\n

Progress Made.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In just one year they have reinvented themselves into a Sales 2.0 model.\u00a0 They refined their market segmentation, defined specific target sectors and researched named acquisition accounts.\u00a0 They completely rewrote their messaging to be about customer value, not themselves.\u00a0 Then they replaced their website with one built on a blogging platform for improved content management and better SEO \u2013 and made sure it had all the necessary social media plug-ins.\u00a0 The executive team updated their social media profiles and created new ones where they were missing.\u00a0 Finally, they implemented marketing automation technology, applied their segmentation model to their lead lists, launched newsletters and drip campaigns and began lead scoring.<\/p>\n

Now What?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After all this progress however, frustration is unfortunately setting in because they are not producing the qualified lead flow they expected. \u00a0\u00a0\u201dWhat\u2019s missing,\u201d they asked us.<\/p>\n

Mechanically speaking nothing is missing; they have the process, technology and marketing infrastructure engine finely tuned.\u00a0\u00a0 What is killing them is fuel.\u00a0 Content fuel! \u00a0And they have precious little of the right kind.<\/p>\n

It feels to them like they are doing the right things.\u00a0\u00a0 They publish a couple blog posts a month, hosted a webinar last fall and wrote a few white papers.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not being maintained on a steady, frequent, coordinated schedule.\u00a0\u00a0 And in some cases is not quite dialed in; it\u2019s either too salesy or not relevant enough.<\/p>\n

What they need is to consistently produce original content that contributes thought leadership to their industry, educates their prospects, and helps their leads move themselves along the buying process \u2013 on their own pace.\u00a0 They need this content both to feed their outbound marketing efforts and to scatter across the social networks to establish inbound paths to their site.<\/p>\n

Two Takeaways.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember, your prospects start looking for information, options and even help once those trigger events occur in their organizations. \u00a0\u00a0When they start searching, companies with lots of relevant, valuable and visible content are the ones they will find.<\/p>\n