This post is based off a podcast with Bill Kent and Troy O’Brien. If you’d like to listen to the full episode, you can check it out here and below!
Content. We all know it’s important, yet many have struggled with it.
In fact, the top content challenge marketers have is producing something that is not only engaging but then trying to measure just how effective it was.
During a recent #FlipMyFunnel event, Bill Kent and Troy O’Brien talked about how building and utilizing a simple assessment can help marketers boost their ABM strategy by uncovering their customers’ pain points while providing them personalized solutions.
Hallmarks of Great Content
Have you ever found yourself reading an email and genuinely being drawn to it? You might have even thought, “Wow, this is exactly what I am experiencing.” This feeling is one of the hallmarks of great content. Tugging at the heartstrings; whether entertaining, challenging or thought-provoking, an emotional response is revoked. On top of that, it’s relevant and personalized to make you feel special.
This works great if you’re talking to one person.
How though do you personalize content at scale?
You start with your customer’s pain point. The solution lies when you uncover what their problems are and then map exactly how you can solve it.
Creating an Assessment
This is where creating an assessment comes into play.
How do you know what ignites your buyers to change? And where can you look?
Some places that you can dive into to find that information are:
- Data, specifically wins and losses
- Case studies
- Conversations with customers and staff
Once you’ve uncovered what moves and motivates your customer, then the question becomes how do you scale it?
Scale Scale Scale
ABM content differs from demand gen content. Demand gen says I want to get lots of downloads. ABM says I want to get that one meeting from an account. So ABM asks after producing the same content…how do we get the stakeholder meeting?
Utilizing the information that your team has uncovered, you’ll be left with a good amount of raw data. This is where Troy and Bill developed a simple assessment for their teams to employ. In its basic form it contained:
- Calling out the Problem – this is market insights/trends/data
- Rating by Segment or Category – how do they measure up?
- Case Studies
- Engagement – asking key questions to drive interaction. I.e. “Do you foresee product “x” evolving over the next year?”
After this assessment template is created, Bill and Troy recommended reaching out to a small number of accounts and having your teams fill in those assessments utilizing the template that was created.
“By producing a template, anyone can fill it,” mentioned Troy.
There are a few different approaches that you could utilize. Whether your team calls or emails, they’ll be asking customers if they’d like to see where their business fit in with others in their industry. Chances are very good that they will say yes.
As Bill said, “Many times they would book the appointment right after the assessment was filled out.”
Troy chimed in exclaiming, “One customer came back to sales and asked, do I have to pay for this?”
The scale comes in because once the template is created, data can be plugged in quickly and the customer’s individual assessment is then provided in under 30 min.
That’s where the personalization starts.
The key takeaway is that these assessments have a high-value perception. Customers realize that you did this just for them and you know just how to solve their problem. By willingly sharing information with them from those assessments, you not only build trust but quickly become the expert in the area that they need the most help in.
Wrapping Up
Bill and Troy had some final thoughts on content and how to utilize it to drive your business.
- Less, but better
- Market problems – focus on an “outside” force approach
- Emotional drivers – make them feel special
- Personalize after responses
- Iterate, measure, optimize
On average, we all receive 121 emails a day.
Think about what you are putting out there.
Make it good.
