PHOTO:
Sonja Guina | unsplash
When B2B companies conceptualize or create content, they often write only about themselves or their products or services. While this type of content has a place, many B2B marketers use product-centric messaging on websites, lead generation pages, social media and buyer-facing materials. Forrester even found that 88% of B2B marketers admit that their homepage mainly discusses their company, products and services.
What B2B companies miss is writing for the buyer. This simple concept reframes B2B content marketing and creates value for the buyer. This approach is often preached but rarely practiced, which is likely why the Forrester report found that 59% of global tech buyers say that most content from vendors is useless.
When combining sales and marketing, the kickoff agenda must evolve to encompass both audiences.
For example, sessions could include customer stories; examples of how marketing content can be used for sales; new tools that marketing is deploying to help fill the funnel with strong leads; and time for open discussion on what sales needs from marketing to be more successful in their efforts. Our sales and marketers also enjoy hearing from our CEO about our growth from the previous year and investments we made, as well as new product updates and roadmaps from our CTO and product leads. We also found that both sellers and marketers want to know what the marketing plan highlights are for the year. What air cover will be provided? What about lead generation?