A nightmare scenario for a seller goes something like this: they are engaged with a buyer who has a specific set of pain points and needs, the buyer then requests more information that will prove that the seller’s organizations is uniquely capable of solving their needs, however, when the seller goes to look for content that meets the buyers need they get lost in an endless maze of content that doesn’t accurately reflect the situation at hand. The only way to wake up from this nightmare? Content automation.
But, getting from a current state of generic content stored in disparate locations to a state of content automation that happens in little time, is sort of like going from crawling to running a marathon.
To get to a stage where your organization is leveraging the full power of content automation requires building a solid foundation.
Here are some of the steps that are necessary for building a solid content strategy that can leverage content automation:
Perform a content audit
To get started, you need to have an idea of the current state of your content. Getting a handle on where content currently lives, how much content there is, and the types of content will give you a clear view of your current state and the next steps that are necessary.
Understand your buyers
Whether you have a fully developed and robust set of buyer personas or you’ve never undertaken a formal project to map out personas, this is a crucial step. Content automation is all about leveraging personalization to speak directly to buyers, and if you don’t know who they are then the content will never resonate.
Open the lines of communication between sales & marketing
Marketing can content literally all day long, but it’s not going to make a difference if they don’t know what sellers need. Similarly, sellers can be frustrated that the content being created isn’t effective, but they need to communicate with marketing about their needs. When Sales and Marketing can effectively communicate with each other, the end result is better content.
All of those steps are incredibly important to complete before your organization is ready for content automation. Once you unlock the true power of content automation you will be thankful for having prepared so thoroughly.
