What Are My Competitors Doing That I Am Not?

What Are My Competitors Doing That I Am Not?:

from Sales Force Effectiveness Blog by George de los Reyes


“What are my competitors doing that I am not?”  That’s a question I often hear from marketing leaders.  The one thing the best marketers are doing is Contextual Content Marketing.
Everybody is producing content these days.  There’s no shortage of it on any topic under the sun.  Unfortunately, simply producing content is no longer a source of competitive advantage.
Ask yourself these questions:

• Why would someone engage with my content when there’s so much of the same elsewhere?
• How does my company’s message stand out in a crowded field?

Answer: Context.

CONTEXTUAL CONTENT MARKETING

Producing awesome content is a given.  No one is going to be attracted to content that is just okay.  But great content isn’t enough.  Your content must be connected to individuals’ needs, wants and interests.
Enter Contextual Content Marketing.
Context allows a reader to get to the five Silent Yeses:

1. Yes, I think this source can help me.
2. Yes, I think I can find what I am looking for.
3. Yes, I have enough information to move ahead.
4. Yes, I trust these people enough.
5. Yes, I want this badly enough to go through the pain of getting it.

Contextual content is personalized and relevant.  It allows a reader to attain the five Silent Yeses.  If it doesn’t, it’s just noise.
Most marketing departments are replete with content. So how does a marketing leader take their content and turn it into contextual content?

BUYING PROCESS MAPS

The Buying Process Map (BPM) has three components:

1. Buying Stages - Stages a buyer goes through when making a purchase decision.  The first stage is typically “Not in the market for your product or services”.   The BPM ends with ‘Implementing your solution”.  There are multiple stages in between.
2. Key Buyer Actions - A Key Buyer Action is an activity a buyer goes through inside a buying stage. For example, narrowing down a short list of vendors is a key buyer action.
3. Micro Decision – These are by far the most important.  They are the decisions a buyer must make before buying your product.  They are often expressed as questions.  For example, “How do I get my team behind the initiative?” is a micro question. Understanding what your prospects are asking themselves, and when, is critical work.

The best marketing leaders are building Buyer Process Maps for their key Buyer Personas.  The output is unprecedented knowledge of buyer behaviors.  Leveraging this knowledge, marketers can produce contextual content.

THE BENEFITS

The benefits to using BPMs to produce Contextual Content are twofold:

1. Demand Generation – Relevant content attracts visitors to your site.  You stand out in a crowded field.  It not only drives traffic, but improves conversion rates.  Your prospects are willing to “declare themselves” to get your offered content.  The net result of this increased activity is leads for the field.
2. Lead Nurturing – Contextual content enables lead nurturing.  Armed with deep buyer knowledge, marketers offer up content that answers the micro-questions.  They pull buyers through their BPM until they’re ready to meet with a rep.

CALL TO ACTION: Are you being outpaced by your competitors?  Are you having trouble standing out in a crowded field?  The best marketers are producing more leads by generating Contextual Content.  They are successfully doing it using Buying Process Maps.  Have you mapped the buying process of your key Buyer Personas?  If not, you’re falling way behind.
Download the Contextual Content Grader to drive more leads by connecting to individuals’ needs, wants and interests.
Author: George de los Reyes

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