Content vs. Conversation (in Marketing)
I read a post today that said, "Content is so important in marketing because it fills the GAP between buyer and seller".
But...is it REALLY filling the gap?
When it comes to a personal purchase, I would argue NOT.
It might GO in the gap. But it doesn't FILL the gap. Not all the way.
Let's look at the typical stages of a relationship with a new person (whether that's a client or otherwise) and see what content actually CAN do for B2B businesses, and where we may still be leaving gaps.
Stage One: Awareness
A lot of marketers like to talk about visibility and awareness. I like to look at it as "consciousness" as in, it's floating somewhere in our existence.
Just because it's floating around in there, doesn't mean it actually MEANS anything to me.
According to Google's latest estimates, 328.77 million terabytes of data are created each day, and that the human brain - the WHOLE human brain - can consume 10-100 terabytes IN OUR LIFETIME. Yes, more data is created in ONE day than our single brain can process in our lifetime.
So, by simply CREATING content, we don't necessarily create awareness. So, we still have a gap...and a pretty big one at that.
If the goal is to attract clients with this...its NOT working.
Stage Two: Consideration
This stage, according to Amazon Ads, is where we start to "inform" people of our product, to increase the likelihood that consumers will consider us. And what types of content do we normally see here?
According to the article, this looks like:
Positive Customer Reviews
Social Media / Tradeshow Brochures
Customer Testimonials
Case Studies
Sales Presentations
Webinars
Video & Display Ads
All ONE-WAY communication tools.
So, let's just look at a Case Study as an example. You make one (which took a BUNCH of hours of work to complete). You design it (which took more hours or even some outsourcing). You pay for some digital ads that people MIGHT see (more money). And we check the box on the Consideration Stage.
Umm...what?
It might seem odd, but this is what MOST companies are doing at this stage of the funnel. Throwing things out into atmosphere and HOPING that people will consider them when they see the ads.
I mean...you've seen LOTS of digital ads, right? How many of them made you CONSIDER purchasing the thing?
Some of them do. But just because they EXIST, doesn't mean they're doing it. Again, huge gap.
And if the goal is to increase the likelihood to buy, how are they measuring up?
Stage Three: Conversion
Now we're getting to it. The stage where people actually BUY something. How is our content filling the gap here?
Many companies just pass conversion off to sales, and don't think about creating content for this group. But it CAN fill a much needed gap here.
This is where things like relevant case studies or proposals (yes, those are content, too) are highly valuable. But if they're not curated for this stage of the lifecycle - if they were created for Consideration - they won't be doing the Conversion job.
But equally, JUST using content to convert for a B2B business is folly. People are likely investing a good amount of money in your solution (unless you WANT to compete in the race to the bottom), and content alone doesn't provide the CONNECTION that's required for a sale.
See, people connect with PEOPLE. Not with content. No matter how great the content is, there will always be a gap.
Stage Four: Loyalty
Is your client loyalty program a monthly newsletter you send out? And how well is that doing in building relationships and securing upsells?
Oh, it's NOT doing those things.
Of course not. Because a relationship, once built, doesn't GROW based on content either.
Now, content CAN nurture an upsell strategy. It can also give clients great information on how to use your products. But best case scenario it makes people's lives easier WITHOUT a person.
Which means, it gives them NO reason to put effort into building a relationship with your business.
For highly transactional businesses, maybe this can work. But if you're hoping to keep your clients long term, a content-only strategy still leaves a gap.
So, what can actually fill these gaps?
Conversations.
Yup. It's as simple as that. Let's see how (from a buyers perspective):
If you have an engaging conversation with someone who tells you about their company and it sounds cool / different, you're much more likely to remember that experience / company.
If you have an engaging conversation with someone, and they've made you feel comfortable enough that you reveal some of your business problems and they happen to be able to fix them, it gives you a reason to have another call.
If you have an engaging conversation with someone, and they demonstrate to you how they've solved a problem in the past OR they introduce you to someone else who shares their experience with being helped by them, it builds the trust it takes to close a sale.
If you have an engaging conversation with your account manager, and they are brainstorming unique ways to help your business thrive, it's easy to give them more of your money next time.
Notice an important distinguishing factor here; we're talking about ENGAGING conversations, not just a call that checks a box.
And engaging conversations happen with people who feel engaged at work.
So often in Marketing (and Sales), we try to make things sound "simpler" by saying, "just create content! It will fill all your gaps."
But that just isn't true.
And we can see it in the results.
If you're not having conversations on a brand level, you're not giving people (your ideal clients included) reasons to:
Look at your content
Read your content
Remember your content
Interact with your content
Buy your stuff
And that's the whole point, isn't it? To get the right people to buy your stuff?
If it's not, then I'm not sure WHY you're doing it.
A human experience is more memorable than a piece of content ANY DAY.
So, if you're going to invest in content, make sure you're making a similar investment in the conversations your marketing team is generating, otherwise be prepared to...
MIND THE GAP
If you're interested in learning how YOUR organization can avoid these types of gap in your marketing, let's chat :)
