Today's world of marketing and sales does not exist without advertising, and no sales representative, not even the most qualified one, will succeed if their company is not present online in the appropriate manner.
Given this need to use sales enablement content in every sector, more and more managers and entrepreneurs are starting to create their own. However, to do this properly, you need to have sufficient knowledge and skills, which are not easy to acquire and master. But luckily for you, today, you will get a complete overview of how to create sales enablement content, which you can use in an almost ready-made form.
What is sales enablement content strategy?
To begin with, we should explain what is the sales enablement content strategy. When we talk about e-marketing, sales enablement content is content material published on a website or an app, that contributes to customer acquisition and increased sales. Sales enablement content is nothing more than text or graphic communication used to help, and develop relationships with the customer.
Salespeople need to deliver the appropriate content to buyers at the correct time for a successful sale, depending on their approach, needs and preferences. It is where the sales enablement content strategy comes in handy, as it can help you to increase your credibility and traffic to the site. Such content can be very different in nature and form — Instagram posts, images, infographics, videos and the article you are just reading.
Sales enablement content strategy addresses your approach to planning, creating and promoting your sales enablement content
The most important types of sales enablement content
Sales enablement content is a valuable tool in the hands of sales professionals to help engage your audience and establish yourself in their perception. What types of content are available to us? Here are some of the most effective and popular:
- Internal sales training materials,
- Content for social media, such as images, GIFs and videos,
- Informative blog posts,
- Infographics,
- Whitepapers,
- E-books,
- Podcasts,
- Presentations,
- Case studies,
- Customer testimonials,
- Product sheets,
- Competitor comparisons,
- Interactive content,
- Email campaigns,
- Offer templates,
- Sales scripts
You can find out more about them in our article here. We already have examples of types of sales enablement content, so it's time to move on to the substance, i.e. the essential aspects of creating an effective sales enablement content strategy.
Three stages of sales enablement content creation
Here are some tips and techniques to create effective sales support content.
First stage: plan, define, specify
No large-scale activity will succeed if the person involved does not have a goal and a plan in mind on how to achieve it. Therefore, you should not avoid this issue either when creating your sales enablement strategy.
So, be sure to plan not only your actions but also your targets and milestones and analyse the results. It is essential to consider what an effective sales support programme should contain in your company and with this knowledge determine how you will measure whether you are achieving these goals.
It may be useful to ask yourself the following questions:
- What is my goal for the next month, quarter and year?
- What key performance indicators will be measured?
- What are the signs of success for your sales enablement strategy?
- What is your budget?
- What knowledge and skills do you or your employees have?
- What is the situation of your company?
- What are the desires of the customer?
- What do I wish to gain through the implementation of a sales enablement strategy?
Rely on your employees' insights
When creating a sales enablement content strategy, besides your reflections, you should also base it on the knowledge and experience of your managers and sales representatives. They are the ones who have direct contact with the company's clientele and hold the dialogue with them, and it is their responsibility to get to know the customers to the fullest. They are also the fastest to see the results of implemented sales enablement strategies!
So you cannot afford not to take advantage of it! A successful company is one in which employees at all levels work towards a common goal – improving the business operation – so be sure to consult and analyse your sales content with them. And then ask for feedback!
Rely on your customers' insights
We have already mentioned coming up with own ideas and using staff, so now it's time to put your customers to work! Who will have a better idea of your customers' needs and preferences than them? Surely nobody! And it would be a shame not to make use of it!
So, when you are in the process of creating your next sales enablement content strategy, be sure to conduct a customer survey!
With a properly structured, simple survey, you can save a lot of time and money on failed advertising campaigns, outdated newsletters, or a presence on a long-forgotten social network. In such a poll, you can ask them anything, but remember to limit their answers to specific spheres and bet on fairly detailed questions. And once you have these answers, you can go on to develop sales enablement content.
Second stage: write, post, react
Equipped with your ideas, employee insights and a customer survey report, you can get down to the nitty-gritty of creating sales enablement content. To do this, you should first consider whether you have the right person on staff for this task, and if not, think about outsourcing copywriters, content creators or a marketing agency.
You can also give one of your current colleagues a chance. This is an equally good idea because then you gain not only content but knowledge of how to create it. Plus, nowadays budding content makers have plenty of tools and help, such as CrescendoApp, which will help you not only create a content marketing strategy but also materials to train other employees and collect them in one place.
OK, got that, what's next? Creating and publishing content on the right platform, of course. However, the work does not end there! Because the content will not work on its own, or at least not as much as we would like it to. To fully exploit the potential of sales enablement content, it has to be properly promoted. Preferably in a multifaceted and logical manner. For instance, what is the use of writing a great case study and making it available on the company blog, if nobody will visit it?
Therefore, each sales enablement material should be properly advertised, paid or free, e.g. with a post on the company's LinkedIn or buzz marketing.
Third stage: analyse, think, improve
Once you have created and shared your new content, it's high time to check in to see how it is performing online. You need to find out how people respond to your sales enablement content. It is at this stage, that we find out what works, what doesn't and how to change it. So this is the real key to success!
To do this, again, you need to take a comprehensive approach. Don't just rely on Google Analytics and other similar tools. They are, of course, significant and acute but not crucial.
However, you will gain valuable insights that will help guide your further actions not only from the app. A great source of such insights as in phase one is direct conversations with sales reps and customers. You can correct what doesn't work and enhance what does. That's why it's important to have a three-level analysis of your results — through Analytics, employees and customers — and then adjust your actions accordingly.
Following these stages will help you launch your sales enablement strategy and tailor the style, form and subject matter of your content to your target audience. So by taking all into account, you'll be able to squeeze out your sales enablement content like lemon and make the most of its potential.
We hope you found this article interesting, and now, armed with this knowledge, you will be able to get to the level of sales enablement you desire faster! Good luck!
