Our guest writer Nadia Buza explores how expert content marketing can enhance your company in more ways than you might think…
An organization is, in many ways, like a car.
Both are single entities made up of independently operating parts, with every component working together to achieve one goal: momentum.
In cars, as in organizations, most parts are specialized and have a specific function. You can’t replace an engine with a muffler, just as you can’t replace an engineer with a human resources manager. They play fundamentally different roles, and to replace one with the other would inevitably cause a breakdown, disrupting forward progress.
But then you have elements that transcend specificity and impact every other part of the whole. Like gasoline.
Keeping with this metaphor, imagine that you could get your hands on a better, more efficient form of gasoline – one that helps every component function more efficiently. One that helps you get to where you’re going with less effort, without having to replace or tune up any of your ‘parts.’
For cars, supercharged gasoline is in the realm of science fiction. But for organizations, it’s effectively on the shelves.
To use it, look no further than your content marketing strategy.
Here’s how quality content contributes to, and reduces the burden on, four specific roles in your organization:
1. Make a brand ambassador seem more familiar
Think about the last time an enthusiastic friend – someone you trust – referred you to a company they trusted. Now picture the last billboard you drove past. If you’re like most people, the gap between how you felt during those experiences – and how you responded to them afterward – is significant. In large part, that gap is driven by two things: context and trust.
Great content, like a great brand ambassador, helps you connect with your audience by bringing depth, story, and personality to your organization. In other words, it creates rich context for your products and services. Over time, your content helps prospective customers start the process of building a relationship with you. And relationships are what trust is made of.
The result? When your customers interact with you, they feel like they’re talking to a friend – not driving past a billboard.
2. Answer questions for the customer service agent
Customer service agents are there to answer questions and dispense timely information to your prospects. If they’re good, they learn to anticipate stumbling blocks and take the initiative in guiding them toward solutions that best fit their particular circumstances.
Content, when done right, does the same thing – except every question answered, every stumbling block overcome, and every solution offered can be available to every one of your prospects and customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When your content gives your customers what they need, their needs are met – so they don’t need to reach out.
3. Find data for the product manager
When you deliver strategic content to your community of prospects and customers, you get data in return. Engagement with quality content informs every aspect of the product development life cycle – from identifying potential products to specifying features and developing a marketing strategy – by telling you what your customers are interested in, what they respond to, and what they ignore.
Creating the right thing, at the right time, is much easier when you’ve got your finger on the pulse of your market.
4. Sell your company like a sales rep
Compelling content translates the one-dimensional features of your products and services to tantalizing benefits, clarifies your message while speaking your customers’ language, pulls the persuasive strings necessary to drive swift action, and weeds out those who aren’t a good fit for your solution. Just like a salesperson – on autopilot.
Like supercharged gasoline in a car, great content is a multiplier that has the power to improve the performance of each component of your organization – helping you get to where you’re going with less effort.
At MarketSmiths, we specialize in creating content that helps every part of your organization function more efficiently. Ready to lighten the load on your staff? Get in touch today.
