What If: The Most Important Question for Your Content Marketing Strategy
Surround your marketplace with the answers
What if?
That is the one questing that ultimately leads to possible consideration of value. And that is the question that ought to lay the foundation for any content marketing or inbound marketing strategy.
What if?
What if you could complete that project in a fraction of the time with less resources and a higher level of quality?
What if you could use your advertising dollars in a way that improved the connection you
had with your target audience and cost 1/3rd of your traditional online advertising methods?
What if you were able to accelerate your days sales outstanding by simply automating your billing process?
What if you could connect all of your employees over a social network feed that allowed them to share information and insight on a shared sales prospect?
There is much packed into those statements but they have several things very much in common. They bring to the listener a perspective. A possible alternative way of thinking. A consideration that could potentially have significant impact. And in each instance the ‘what if’ more than likely leads to a conversation. Even if the conversation goes something like this, “What are you crazy that would not only never work, it is fraught with risk that I’m unwilling to accept.” At first glance maybe not the response we were looking for but so what? The dialog is open, you have a position to take, you learn more about your prospect, and you have value connected to the leading question that should make a difference.
Here is a what if for you? What if you could create a narrative that helped you surround your marketplace with the answers to the ‘what if’ that exploits their need? A need that you’ve worked tirelessly to uncover, define and solve?
This is the approach that must be taken when setting out to leverage digital and social media to connect with your marketplace. Every piece of content, every blog post, every positioning statement, every sales tool has to drive the question and offer the answer. Here are 5 tips to putting together a plan to make sure you are building your content marketing strategies and inbound marketing strategies to drive the ‘what if’ conversation.
Know the qualifiers: Your sales team needs to know what the tell tale signs of a specific what if conversation might be. The sales force must be armed with simple qualifying questions that will open the door to ask the one big really important question of ‘what if’.
Take a position: It is absolutely critical to take a stand on the value that you bring to the marketplace. Make your perspective clear and add in just a touch of hyperbole to underscore that the status quo will never be able to answer the question of ‘what if’ in a way that will help realize the value of the solution you have to offer.
Know the answers before you ask: You know how in just about any
court room drama you have ever seen there is always that one tense moment when one of the lawyers commits the cardinal sin of not knowing the answer to the question that they just asked. Same concept. You can’t ask the ‘what if’ if you have no idea what the answer is going to be. And it may range from the aforementioned “What are you crazy?” to the quizzical “You know what I’ve never really considered it that way.” You must know what the possible answers are going to be and be prepared to engage each so you can, staying with the legal theme, begin to lead the witness
Cover all bases: Taking a position requires that every last detail of the solution be well addressed. From the macro level concept of the issue at hand to the last minute operational detail. While rarely required to be addressed in a single inclusive conversation, demonstrable details that reinforce the ultimate solution position will be required at varying stages of the sales cycle.
Write the story: Ultimately it is a story about value that is the real answer to the question of ‘what if’. It is a story of what will happen when the if becomes a reality. A story that tells the benefits that are inherently accessible, the progress that will be made, the cost that will be saved, and the advancement of whatever objective is important to the listener. This is why this post is ultimately about your content marketing strategies or inbound marketing strategies. Content helps tell the story, it helps communicate the rewards by entertaining the ‘what if’ and then presents anecdotes when the ‘if’ became reality.
Some may find these steps a little daunting, and they absolutely can be if, for instance, the target buyer has not been adequately defined. If you find yourself at a loss for where to begin, why not ask yourself one important question to help you get your own conversation going. . . . what if?
photo credit: takomabibelot
