Sales Literature and Sell Sheets
Marketing
Communications:
Focus on the Fundamentals First
Jim Schakenbach
Managing Partner, SCT Group Inc.
www.sctgrp.com
The digital
age has ushered in a host of new and exciting tools for marketers, including
interactive Web sites, streaming audio and video, blogging, Webcasting
and wireless content distribution. It is no wonder why companies often
lose track of how to effectively organize their marketing outreach programs.
Often, companies will react to less than satisfactory sales or some other
performance benchmark by paying for a glitzy Web site redesign or other
expensive graphical overhaul when, in fact, far more effective results
can be achieved through less visible but equally important means. I’m
talking about focusing on the fundamentals.
I like to think of an effective marketing communications program as no
different than athletic training. Before you can think about reaching
the big leagues or the Olympics, you need to start with the basics.
In marketing communications that means spending some time and effort mastering
the less glamorous aspects of outreach that often receive little attention
and less respect, such as free industry directory listings, trade show
guide listings, trade or professional association registrations and industry
Web links. All the things that cost more in time than in money, but can
get your name and contact information distributed far and wide.
This can yield big dividends with potential customers who are looking
for products or services. They turn to the industry directory on their
desk or computer, or the show guide they grabbed at a recent trade show
to come up with a list of vendors they’ll want to check out on the
Web. Most of these listings are free; they just take a little time and
effort.
The most critical, and perhaps most overlooked, fundamental is the general
category of content. More than ever, content is king. With the pervasive
use of the Internet as a primary research tool for finding products and
services, a lack of content translates into a lack of visibility. If you
don’t have pertinent, valuable, current and searchable content on
your site, you won’t get considered or even found. All the cutting
edge graphics and interactive features in the world will not rescue a
site that lacks content.
Go back to that last sentence and the string of adjectives used to describe
good content. Pay particular attention to the word “current.”
Many companies make the mistake of posting lots of content in the form
of press releases, white papers and product specifications. Then they
shut the lights off, close the door and call it a day. But unless you
think of posting content as an organic process, you are unintentionally
handicapping your site’s searchability and diminishing its value.
Search engines love currency, and if your content isn’t updated regularly,
it will be punished in the search rankings.
But, don’t make the mistake of thinking that content is just a Web
thing. Good content should be leveraged across all media. If you generate
a white paper, case study or tutorial for your site, remember to “repurpose”
it as a potential trade publication article, trade show handout or sales
call leave-behind. Good content has a perceived value that far transcends
tired trinkets such as pens, mugs and jar openers. Customers are looking
for knowledge, not more junk for their desk drawers. A case study that
demonstrates a solution to a common problem in their industry is worth
much more than a calendar with your company name on it.
Once you begin building a stockpile of good content, make sure you develop
the channels to distribute it. Spend some time and money compiling a list
of appropriate editors in trade, professional and business publications
so that you can make them aware of pertinent content that will be valuable
to their readers. Notice I said “pertinent.” You can make your
editors’ list even more effective by subdividing it by industry,
application or product, so you can send the right information to the right
publication. For example, if you manufacture a line of devices that includes
products for different vertical markets, make sure you don’t send
the medical device news to the avionics publications.
Also, let your sales representatives and distributors know you have valuable
content to help them make sales. Print a few for hard copy distribution
and send PDF files that sales people can e-mail to current customers and
prospects. A solid application story or tutorial will build credibility
and set you apart as an industry expert, not just another company trying
to sell a product or service. Better yet, when a publication prints your
content in the form of an article or news piece, get reprints and distribute
those. Nothing boosts your credibility like getting a tacit endorsement
from a respected publication in the form of a printed piece in their pages.
Of course, all of this takes time, effort and some amount of money, and
it may not yield immediate results. It doesn’t have the sex appeal
of a flashy new Web site or eye-popping advertising campaign, or the cost.
But, returning to the training comparison I made at the beginning of this
article, the results and return on investment can be remarkable if you’re
willing to focus on the fundamentals.
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©2007 SCT Group, Inc.
sctgrp.com
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