Do you struggle to create meaningful, consistent communications? We see this regularly and for various reasons like limited resources, internal bottlenecks, time constraints, and a need for content strategy. It’s possible to stand up to these challenges with a solid marketing strategy delivered using a simple system. You’ll feel focused, and avoid wasted time and energy, which is a huge turn-off.
Time and time again, we see businesses struggling to get meaningful content out consistently. Why? It usually one or a combination of the below:
1. Lack of In-House Resources
Many businesses lack dedicated resources or personnel to handle communication activities. Limited resources may result in delays, inconsistencies, or lower-quality content creation, making it almost impossible to maintain a consistent communication strategy.
2. Internal Bottlenecks:
Internal processes, workflows, and conflicting demands can become bottlenecks that slow or snuff out consistent communications. For example, a lack of approval processes or excessive red tape within the organisation can slow the review and approval of communication materials. This jumble can lead to delays in publishing content, causing inconsistencies and missed opportunities to engage with the target audience.
3. Time Constraints
Busy schedules and competing priorities can make it challenging for organisational contributors to contribute to communication efforts consistently. Team members may need more availability or feel overwhelmed with their primary responsibilities, leaving little time for content creation, collaboration, or engagement with the communication strategy. As a result, communication efforts may suffer, leading to irregular or infrequent messaging.
4. Lack of Content Strategy
Businesses may struggle to maintain communication consistency without a well-defined content strategy. A lack of clarity on the target audience, key messages, and content themes can lead to ad hoc content creation or disjointed messaging. Inconsistent communications can confuse the audience and dilute the brand’s identity and positioning.
Start with a strategy for consistent communication.
A rock-solid marketing strategy can act as a guiding force, preventing wasteful marketing practices and reducing bottlenecks and burnout. A clear strategy will give you the following:
+ Clear Objectives
A marketing strategy outlines specific goals and objectives that align with your business objectives. By defining these goals, you can focus on activities that directly contribute to achieving those objectives. This clarity ensures that resources are allocated efficiently and there is no wasted energy on activities that don’t align with the strategic goals.
+ Target Audience Identification
A well-defined marketing strategy includes a detailed understanding of the target audience. By identifying and understanding the target audience’s needs, preferences, and behaviours, businesses can tailor their marketing efforts to resonate with them effectively. This targeted approach helps avoid scattering marketing messages to an irrelevant audience, saving time and money.
+ Channel Selection
With a clear strategy, you can determine the most effective channels to reach the target audience. It involves assessing various channels such as social media, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, paid advertising, and more. Once you know, you can focus your resources and efforts on channels that bring the best results by selecting the proper channels based on the target audience’s preferences. This prevents a scattergun approach where marketing messages are spread thin across multiple channels, leading to inefficient outcomes.
+ Content Planning
With a marketing strategy in place, businesses can plan their content creation efforts strategically. This involves developing a content calendar, identifying relevant topics, and aligning content with the buyer’s journey and the target audience’s pain points. By focusing on creating high-quality, valuable content that addresses specific needs, businesses can avoid churning out content for the sake of it and instead provide meaningful engagement to their audience.
+ Performance Measurement
A robust marketing strategy includes clear metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the effectiveness of marketing efforts. By regularly monitoring and analysing these metrics, you can identify what is working and what needs improvement. This data-driven approach helps optimise marketing activities, ensuring that resources are invested wisely and wasted efforts stamped out.
But what do you want? Set clear objectives.
Here are some typical marketing objectives and the associated content you may need to meet them.
+ Increase Brand Awareness and Visibility
A strong brand presence is crucial for attracting potential clients and investors. Therefore, the marketing objective would be to increase brand awareness and visibility within the relevant industry and investor networks. This can be achieved through targeted digital marketing campaigns, industry partnerships, thought leadership content, and participation in key industry events.
+ Build Credibility and Trust
The marketing objective would showcase the company’s expertise, track record, and successful projects. This can be achieved through case studies, testimonials, partnerships with reputable organisations, and transparent communication about the company’s financial performance and sustainability metrics.
+ Generate Qualified Leads
The marketing objective would be to generate a steady flow of qualified leads, specifically targeting individuals or organisations interested in investing in similar businesses. This can be achieved through targeted content marketing, lead nurturing campaigns, and leveraging industry networks and partnerships.
+ Communicate Competitive Advantages
The marketing objective would be to effectively communicate the company’s competitive advantages, such as innovative technologies, cost-effectiveness, scalability, or positive environmental impact. This can be achieved through strategic messaging, thought leadership content, and showcasing success stories or industry recognition.
+ Establish Investor Relations
The marketing objective would be to establish effective investor relations and nurture ongoing communication with interested parties. This can be achieved through dedicated investor communications, regular project milestones and financial performance updates, and hosting investor-focused events or webinars.
Consistent communication is crucial for demand generation
93% of B2B buying processes start with an online search. (Pinpoint Market Research and Anderson Jones PR). Given this stat, you’re royally screwed if you don’t ‘show up’ anywhere.
According to research by The B2B Institute and Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, only 5% of B2B buyers are actively in-market to make a purchase right now. Demand generation involves creating awareness about your product or service and generating interest among potential customers. Consistent communication helps keep your brand in mind and builds trust with your target audience.
Get the best out of your content by understanding B2B buyer behaviour and customer touchpoints
B2B buyers are more likely to purchase based on research and relationships, relying heavily on customer touchpoints to gather information and make informed decisions.
Consistency across multiple touchpoints (not just a few LinkedIn posts) is crucial to build trust and credibility with potential buyers. But be mindful that choosing the right ones that align with your target audience’s preferences is essential with so many communication channels available. Whether email, social media, or other channels, it’s crucial to have a clear strategy that guides your communication efforts. A scattergun approach wastes time, energy, money, and carbon. Therefore, focusing on channels that yield the best results and maximise your ROI is essential.
B2B customer touchpoints are the various interactions and points of contact between a business and its customers throughout its journey. Here are some common B2B customer touchpoints, along with examples of the type of content that could be delivered at each stage:
- Well-optimised website landing pages: Deliver informative and persuasive content such as product/service descriptions, case studies, whitepapers, and testimonials to engage and convert visitors.
- Email Marketing: Send personalised emails with content like industry insights, product updates, blog posts, or event invitations to nurture leads and maintain ongoing communication. TIP! Start with lost and lapsed clients for the quickest wins.
- Social Media: Share engaging content such as industry news, thought leadership articles, infographics, and videos on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube to build brand awareness and engage with the audience.
- Webinars and Events: Conduct online webinars or participate in industry events to deliver educational content, share expertise, and interact with potential customers directly.
- Blog Posts: Publish relevant blog articles that address industry challenges, provide solutions, offer insights, and establish thought leadership.
- Case Studies: Showcase real-life success stories of how your product/service helped clients overcome challenges, demonstrating the value and credibility of your offerings.
- Product Demos and Free Trials: Provide interactive demonstrations, walkthroughs, or free trial offers to give potential customers a hands-on experience with your product/service.
- Sales Presentations: Prepare compelling sales presentations with tailored content highlighting your offerings’ unique value propositions, benefits, and features.
- Customer Support: Offer helpful resources like FAQs, user guides, knowledge bases, and tutorials to assist customers in using and troubleshooting your products/services effectively.
- Customer Surveys and Feedback: Gather valuable insights from customers through surveys and feedback forms, showing that you value their opinions and are committed to improving their experience.
Remember, the type of content delivered at each touchpoint should align with the customer’s needs, preferences, and stage in the buying journey. By providing relevant and valuable content, you can establish strong relationships, build trust, and guide customers towards making informed purchasing decisions.
It sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? If you can invest time and energy in building a communication system upfront, delivering consistent communications will be much more painless. With a simple communication system in place, you can enjoy:
- Streamlined Workflow: A communication system helps establish a structured and organised workflow. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of team members involved in communication activities, ensuring clarity and accountability. By defining processes and workflows, businesses can streamline operations, minimise confusion or overlaps, and facilitate smoother collaboration among team members.
- Efficient Resource Allocation: Businesses can allocate their resources more efficiently with a communication system. Businesses can ensure they have the right resources at the right time by identifying the personnel, tools, and budget required for communication activities. This helps prevent resource shortages, enables better planning, and maximises utilising available resources.
- Consistent Messaging: One of the primary benefits of a communication system is the ability to maintain consistent messaging. It establishes guidelines and standards for communication, ensuring that all team members use a unified tone, voice, and brand messaging. Consistent messaging builds trust, reinforces brand identity, and eliminates confusion or mixed messages when no centralised system exists.
- Improved Collaboration: A communication system fosters improved collaboration among team members. It provides a centralised platform or tool for sharing ideas, feedback, and updates. This facilitates better communication, coordination, and collaboration across different departments or teams involved in communication efforts. Businesses can tap into their team’s collective expertise and creativity by promoting effective partnerships, resulting in more substantial and impactful communication outcomes.
- Time and Cost Savings: An established communication system saves time and reduces costs. It eliminates the need for ad hoc decision-making or last-minute communication efforts. Businesses can accelerate creation and dissemination of communication materials by having predefined processes, templates, and guidelines. This results in time and cost savings associated with avoiding rework or inefficient resource allocation.
Want a ready-made system to support your communications?
So much to say, so little time. CoFlow is the solution that transforms one hour of your time into a wealth of compelling content. With our team of business leaders, content strategists, creators, and SEO specialists, we eliminate the hassle of approvals and effortlessly extract your expertise. So say goodbye to marketing waste and embrace a strategic approach to thought leadership and content creation.
