How to Let Your Content do the Selling for You

Long gone are the days when the pushy salesman was the best way to sell a product or service.

These outdated forms of traditional sales and marketing are quickly being pushed aside and are being replaced by the new form of modern sales: inbound marketing and content marketing.

We’ve all heard this statement before – ‘content is king’. That may be true in many ways, but how can we leverage this content so that it does the selling for us? It might not be as hard as you think…

It all starts with this: your content is your key to building trust and loyalty with your prospects.

What does this mean exactly? The content you are producing should have one main goal in mind, and that is to form trust and a relationship with your prospects.

You can do this by creating content that is relevant, valuable and shareable. Ask yourself, how can I help my potential customers? How can I solve their main issue? The main answer that will keep coming up should be: “By providing them with helpful, relevant content that answers their questions about our products, services, or industry.”

4 Reasons Why You Should Let Your Content do the Talking

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1) Your content educates your prospect about your end product

Relating to your consumers on a personal level by providing them with free educational and helpful content is absolutely key in the inbound marketing sales cycle.

methodology-highlighted-1-2-3-4 — Your content is the first step in building an ongoing relationship with a prospect in the inbound marketing cycle.

This primes the consumer or prospect on your end goal or product. It introduces them to your brand and product in an organic way that builds trust and mutual respect.

2) Content establishes trust

Trust is vital to any successful relationship, particularly when it comes to selling products or services. A consumer is not going to buy from you if they do not trust you. It’s really that simple.

Research shows that 80% of sales are made between the 5th and 12th contact with the prospect.

Build these relationships by providing them first and foremost with ongoing relevant content that truly helps them resolve an issue, question or concern.

What better way to nurture those relationships than via content such as blog posts, white papers, videos, and other helpful resources?

3) Content solves their issues without them needing to ask

To any consumer, the best content out there is that which solves an issue for them, without them even asking. If you can foresee the issues your prospects have – and solve them then and there through your content – it’s powerful stuff. The law of reciprocity comes into play, which is where people feel obligated to help you (i.e. buy from you) because you’ve already helped them (via your content).

In other words, people you’ve never even met are thankful to you and feel obligated to you simply for sharing your knowledge on a particular subject!

4) It adds relevancy and a human touch to your brand

Here is a simple but powerful fact: consumers buy based on their emotions. They buy based on the way a product or service makes them feel and how it can solve their issue for them.

Content marketing talks directly to the consumer based on their relevant needs or desires, and great content marketing approaches the consumer from a real human aspect.

Content marketing truly gives your brand that human touch that consumers desire when making a purchase. At the end of the business day, it’s all about relationships.

3 ways to leverage your content in your sales process

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1) Use your content as a foundation of value

We’ve touched on the word value a few times here, and that’s because it’s super important. Your content is a wonderful source and an opportunity to add value for your consumer, so use it wisely.

For example, you could actively send published, relevant articles to your prospects prior to your sales calls. Always go above and beyond your consumers’ needs so that they can place you as a ‘go-to’ source to solve ‘x’ problem.

2) What does the consumer need? Solve this for them

When it comes to relationship based marketing, the consumer’s needs and wants are at the helm of everything you do. So how can you solve their needs for them? Start by researching your market well – run surveys and really dive deep into your buyer personas.

Or, alternatively, just ask them! Once you have your questions and concerns gathered together, create your inbound funnel and start solving those issues for your market.

3) Establish real human connections

We’ve discussed the importance of creating a real connection and adding a human touch to your marketing, but how do you actually do this?

Start by thinking of your content as a place of relationship building. Use your content to talk directly to the consumer and answer their needs on a real human level. Let them know you understand their concern and you are there to help solve it.

Creating and sharing highly specific, targeted content gives your consumer the choice to create a deeper connection with you. When you start to build this connection you can begin discussing further opportunities, eventually leading to sales.

When it comes down to it, the consumer is looking for knowledge and valuable content that will help them solve an issue. If you can lead them through a process that builds trust, a connection and educates them – eventually, it will lead them to making an informed choice about buying your service or product.

So get started now – by providing the right content you’re bound to find sales success.