Sales enablement content is incredibly vital for businesses today. It provides a smarter approach to dealing with potential buyers. In addition, this content plays an essential role in bridging the gap between sales and marketing.
So, how do you create a successful sales enablement content strategy? Read on to learn more:
Source: Cloud Tutorial
Understanding sales enablement content strategy
A sales enablement content strategy is an approach whose goal is to ensure that your sales team is ready for success. This approach lays out the following;
- The reason for creating content (audience and goals)
- The process of creating content (Schedules, tactics, formats)
- The measurement of content’s impact or success (Metrics-based benchmarks).
Ultimately, the sales enablement content strategy aims to guide sellers through conversions, boost the sales reps’ confidence, and pique the buyers’ interest. In addition, it ensures an effective method of documenting a content strategy!!
Another essential thing that you should note is that your sales enablement content strategy will need you to create the best content. This sales enablement content is often ‘value-driven and customer-centric.’
Its objective is to empower sales reps to have personalized and productive conversations in all stages of a buyer’s journey. One essential thing that you should note is that the sales enablement content may focus on different content types, including the following:
- Sales pitch
- Case studies
- White papers
- One pager
- Blog posts
- Battle cards
- Video demos
- Interactive content
- Competitive analysis
Why is a sales enablement content strategy essential?
A sales enablement content strategy is significant for business growth. Research shows that Sales enablement has had a 343 percent adoption growth rate in the last five years. In addition, further research shows that 62 percent of companies have a sales enablement program. These adoption statistics indicate that ‘sales enablement’ provides businesses with significant benefits.
Source: Fit Small Business
These benefits include the following:
- Empowers sales teams: A sales enablement content strategy ensures sales teams have the right tools and information. These right tools and information ensure they are empowered to handle any sales objection or conversations.
- Improves go-to-market alignment: A sales enablement content strategy guarantees that each sales representative works with similar information. This working with the same information facilitates market alignment. Research shows that companies with a strong alignment can have a 24 percent revenue growth rate and a 38 percent sales win rate.
- Increases efficiency: As stated above, a sales enablement content strategy provides all its sales reps access to relevant information. This access to information facilitates increased efficiency, as the sales reps will focus more on selling than researching.
- Enhances customer experience: A sales enablement content strategy is essential in improving customer experiences. It ensures that customers have all the relevant resources and information to make an informed buying decision.
- Enables content creation: Selling can be challenging without engaging and relevant content. Thus, the sales enablement content strategy ensures your sales reps can access the right content. These reps can use this content to have “relevant and well-informed conversations” with prospects.
- Enhances the sales process: Research shows that customers journey through more than half of their purchasing process, “57 percent of their buying journey’’ before interacting with a seller. Thus, the sales enablement content must be at the center of the sales cycle. This will ensure that sales reps have a reduced risk of losing potential buyers in the sales funnel.
What features make up great sales enablement content?
Sales enablement content needs to have a targeted approach, which is;
- Tailored to fit the buyer’s journey or persona: Content that is tailored for a specific stage or buyer persona is highly likely to generate sales. According to Outgrow, 78 percent of consumers establish that content that is relevant to them increases their purchase intent!
- Includes engaging stories: Engaging stories play an essential role in drawing in prospective customers. Note that these fascinating stories can ensure customers envision themselves using a certain service or product.
- Has data-based evidence: Your sales enablement content should have studies and statistics from reputable sources. Note that the data-based evidence can help your target audience to build validation.
- Employs repetitive and consistent messaging: Repetitive and consistent messaging makes it easier for readers to remember your key message. Also, it sticks more to one’s memory.
Source: Outgrow
How to create a successful sales enablement content strategy
Here are a few steps that you can use to create a sales enablement content strategy.
1) Define your buyer’s persona
A deep understanding of your target audience is incredibly vital. It will help you define the buyer’s persona. Thus, make sure to consider the following aspects of your customer profiles;
- Work environments
- Interests
- Lifestyle
- Challenges concerning your product
- Preferences in content consumption (frequency, medium, length, and format)
Note that you should always update and revisit your buyer’s persona. Also, ensure that you use real data from market research, customer feedback (inc. product reviews), and customer interactions.
2) Review the existing content
Reviewing your existing content will help you understand which works for your buyer’s persona and sales team. Also, it will ensure that you note which content is not working and why. Thus, a review of your existing content will help you find your content gaps.
Make sure to assess your contents’;
- Relevancy
- Effectiveness
- Alignment with the buyers’ personas
- Alignment with the sales process
- Reviews
3) Get insights from your sales representatives
Sales representatives (reps) are an invaluable resource that you can leverage. They can provide key insights into the type of enablement content your team requires. Also, they can offer insights into the resources that they need to;
- Understand your product
- Close deals
- Answer questions
- Address customer concern
Note that you should have regular feedback sessions with your sales reps. These sessions will give you an insight into what’s not working, what’s working, and what needs to be improved! This engagement between manager and employee is crucial for continuous enhancement in performance and productivity.
4) Engage with your customers
Your customers may use their experience to offer insights on optimizing your content strategy. This customer engagement will ensure you know why the customers choose your products over others. Note that the authentic feedback will allow you to develop more compelling content based on what’s already working!
5) Map the customer’s journey
The content that you create should align with your customer’s journey. Note that aligning your content with the customer’s journey ensures your sales team has the ‘’right content’’ to facilitate sales. Thus, when creating your content, you can use the above matrix to ensure you meet your customers’ buyer persona and pain points.
Source: Hubspot Academy
Also, remember that the content you create will help your sales reps build a relationship with your customers throughout their journey, “from the inquiry stage to the deal closing stage.”
6) Create relevant content
Creating relevant content can lead to incredible results. Research shows that content marketing can generate $107 billion in revenue by 2026. Thus, when you create relevant sales enablement content, you will reap positive results!!
Note that when creating sales enablement content, you should choose the content that resonates with your audience. Also, make sure to cover each aspect of your customers’ journey! Thus, it would be best if your relevant content focused on the;
- Top of the funnel
- Middle of the funnel
- Bottom of the funnel
This focus will ensure that your sales reps are well-equipped to have sales conversations at all stages of the customer’s journey. Note that the sales enablement content aim is to assist sales reps in converting prospects and closing deals. Thus, involve sales and marketing teams in the content creation stage.
7) Manage your sales enablement content
Unmanaged content can easily get lost. Thus, you must ensure that your reps do not rely on drives or personal folders to store the content. Make sure to invest in infrastructures, like the sales content management tool. These infrastructures will help you;
- Manage the sales enablement content
- Ensure a single source of content
- Track content engagement
8) Train and provide the necessary technology stack to your sales rep
Training will ensure that your sales reps are well-equipped to use your sales enablement content strategy. Also, the technology stack will ensure that your sales reps can track their progress and streamline their sales enablement effort. Also, this technology stack will help to;
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Track customer interactions
- Make it easy for sales reps to access and share content
- Some of the tools that you can consider include the;
- Knowledge base software
- Prospecting platform
- Sales automation platforms
- Customer relationship management software
9) Analyze the success of your sales enablement content
The analysis of the success of your sales enablement content should be the last stage in your strategy. Note that this analysis will ensure that all marketing and sales reps understand which content is more effective at a certain stage of the customer journey!!
Ensure that you check your sales enablement platform. This check will enable you to see how customers interact with your content on different platforms. Make sure to look at;
- Viewing time per page
- Viewing time per content
- Total viewing time
- Total downloads
Also, check the impact of your sales enablement content strategy on your revenue.
Bottom line
A sales enablement content strategy can enhance the sales team’s performance. It is because it ensures that the sales teams have the right training and knowledge to provide meaningful and relevant conversations with customers at each stage of their buyer’s journey! These relevant conversations increase the chances of sales and more revenue for your company.
