Thursday, October 17, 2024

'The Big 5': Best Business Blog Topics to Drive Traffic and Sales (+ examples)

Whether you call it content marketing, inbound marketing, digital marketing, or business blogging, a common question I get asked is, “Marcus, what the heck should our business be writing about?”

The right content can help your business grow, no matter your industry, but there are a lot of low-value articles being published these days under the mantle of “content marketing.”

This "fluffy" content may give you quick boosts in traffic but, ultimately, it does nothing to increase your bottom line or help your sales team reach their revenue goals.

In reality, it just creates more noise.

Now, every healthy content marketing strategy covers a mix of topics, and have pieces for readers at different stages of the buyer's journey, but if you're just getting started or failing to see results, you need to zero in.They ask You answer - highres

If you’ve read my first book They Ask, You Answer, you know that I recommend publishing articles answering every question your customers ask — even if makes you uncomfortable.

(Actually, ESPECIALLY if it makes you uncomfortable.)

When you do that with regularity and consistency, you’ll quickly establish yourself as the No. 1 most trusted resource in your space. And today, that is the key to winning over your more modern, sophisticated, internet-enabled buyers.

It really is that simple, but it's important to remember, the scope of questions your customers will potentially ask you is limitless.

That's why, after some time of following these principles for my own business, River Pools and Spas — as well as with hundreds of other clients — I decided to review the data to see if there were any patterns or trends I could identify.

Specifically, I wondered whether the content being published directly correlated to traffic, leads, and sales — the three most critical metrics for any business with a digital sales and marketing strategy.

Lo and behold, I found five specific blog categories — which we now call The Big 5 — consistently outperformed every other blog topic out there, regardless of what industry happened to be publishing them.

In this article, we will:

  • Dive into each of The Big 5 topics
  • Share great examples of each topic to inspire you

The Big 5: Blog topics that work for any industry

According to Google, most shoppers say they always do research before they make a purchase to ensure they are making the best possible choice.

The Big 5 blog topics are catered exactly to this. You may be surprised at how deceptively simple these topics seem. They are:

  1. Cost and pricing — including what factors make those numbers go up or down.
  2. "Problems" content that explains the problems, shortcomings, and drawbacks of what you sell. 
  3. Comparisons that put several products or services next to each other so the buyer can understand the differences.
  4. "Best of" lists that cover best in class, best practices, and more.
  5. Reviews from experts and past customers.

Below, I'll show you actual examples of each of these topics, whether from IMPACT's own blog or from other businesses (some of which are clients). This way, you can see real-world content that's answering buyer questions and building trust — even when the subject matter is complex.

1. Cost and price

When was the last time you went online to research a product or service before you made a purchase? At a minimum, within the last six months, right?

Maybe you bought a new boat for the family, hired some kind of contractor, or were looking for a new IT service provider for your company. At any point in your research, did you ask how much that thing costs?

If you’re like most modern buyers out there, yeah, of course you did. But, I’ll bet at some point, you were on a company’s website looking for information about costs, but couldn’t find clear answers.

And when you couldn’t find those answers, how did you feel about that company? Frustrated? It sure didn’t help your confidence in them, did it?

Too many companies don’t want to talk about costs on their website — and it’s typically for all the wrong reasons. These might even be the reasons your company hasn’t written about costs yet.

Do any of these excuses sound familiar?

  • "But our product/services are custom-designed for individual situations."
  • "But then our competitors would know what we’re charging."
  • "But we might scare prospects away before we can explain the costs to them."

I see where you’re coming from. I was once there too. But let’s take a look at these reasons one by one.

Why people object to writing about cost and price

1: "But our product/services are custom-designed to individual situations"

I get it, each project you do is different. Many factors influence the final costs. Prices can vary. The best short answer you’ve got to how much you charge is: “Well, it depends.”

Your buyers get that. They don't expect an exact number. Write about the factors that influence costs and at least give a range of possible rates. It’s that simple.

2: "But then our competitors would know what we’re charging"

Let me ask you this: Do you know what your competitors charge? You probably have some idea, just like they already have some idea of what you charge.

Go look at their website. Are they discussing costs? If so, you better catch up. If not, it’s your chance to get ahead of them.

3: "But it might scare away prospects"

If you are up-front about your pricing and what drives your cost up or down and someone walks away because they can't afford you, all you've lost is a lead that was never going to close.

Being clear about your cost helps people qualify or disqualify themselves early on.

Even if they can afford you, this honesty also fosters trust. You weren't trying to hide things and surprise them with a price tag. You let them know exactly what to expect. People want to do business with companies they can trust.

Examples of cost articles

Our article, "How To Write an Effective Cost Article for Your Business" dives deeper into the steps of writing this kind of content, but in the meantime, check out these examples of it done right:

Berry Insurance

2. 'Problems' content

Another thing you should be honest about in your content is any possible shortcomings or "problems" that may come with your offering.

Once again, this helps you get in front of issues — and even offer ways to avoid them.

Be candid about possible problems with your product, service, or industry, but don't forget to present solutions.

Let’s say you sell roofs. Out there are folks who start their journey searching “Why is my roof leaking?” They soon discover that their old shingle roof needs to be replaced. It’s shot. No chance of repairs. Done.

Part of their research will dive into different types of roofing systems: asphalt shingle, metal panels, clay tiles.

While vetting their options, they’ll look up phrases like, “problems with clay tiles.”

As an expert, you know that a clay tile roof won’t always be the best solution for every buyer. Maybe they live in a northern climate with lots of snowfall, and a metal roof would be better. So, be honest with them.

Besides, it’s a good way to weed out non-fits for you.

Many of the problems they may have heard about clay roofs might in fact have easy solutions.

The same can be said for whatever you sell. Not all prospects are a good fit. 

By addressing problems, you have the opportunity to set the record straight and reduce the number of non-fit prospects reaching out to you for help.

Examples of problems articles

Check out these examples of great "problems" content then read our article "3 Simple Steps for Creating Great “Problems” Content (+ Examples)" for tips on writing your own.

Problems example

Expanding how we think about 'problems'

Whatever product or service you sell, you're selling the solution to a problem your prospects are experiencing.

But in many cases, these potential buyers only know the symptoms of their problems and may not have any clue whatsoever that you have the solution.

You can create content aimed at the symptoms of their problems and inform them of their options.

If you’re a roofing contractor, you can answer questions like, “Why is my roof leaking?”

You can write articles about how to check for leaks, how to assess water damage, and reasons they may want to talk to a roofing contractor.

They have a problem: a leaky roof.

You have solutions: a roof assessment.

If you’re a managed IT services provider, your audience may be searching online for solutions to problems like:

  • “Do I need continuous monitoring of my network and phone systems?”
  • “How can I save money by reducing the size of my IT department?”

Again, your audience is looking for ways to optimize their IT department while cutting costs. You can write articles demonstrating how outsourcing managed IT services can solve these common problems.

You can also consider writing content about the problems customers commonly make that may come with your competitors. After all, if people are asking about them, you need to answer.

3. Comparisons

Right around the same time folks are researching problems, they’re going to want to see direct comparisons of whatever they're looking at.

How can they decide between two different options?

Here you have an opportunity to discuss each options, the pros and cons, how they compare in different categories, and which ones are better under different circumstances.

Just make sure to be as honest as possible in your assessment. And let readers know outright which of those products/services you sell. They should know if you have a particular bias.

If you do have a bias and they find out later, you’ll lose that trust.

Examples of comparison articles

Here's a deep dive into writing comparison articles for your business: How To Write an Effective Comparisons Article.

Here are some examples:

comparisons-example

4. 'Best of' lists

During that time you were researching your latest big purchase, did you use words like best or top as part of your search terms? Most likely. It’s also one of the most common ways people search.

We want to put all of our options on a spectrum from worst to best until we find what’s best for us.

'Best of' topics you should cover:

Best competitors

Let’s say your business helps other businesses solve their freight and logistics shipping needs and you provide managed transportation services for your clients.

These folks may already realize they need help to manage their freight solutions and are interested in a list of the best vendors.

How do you think they will search for businesses of your kind?

They’ll probably search something like: “Best managed transportation companies.”

You may worry that writing an article listing all of your top competitors will steer prospects away from your business.

But let’s be honest: they’re going to find out about your competition anyway. If you write a competitors-focused article introducing them to all the vendors, they’re at least reading the information on your site, and you have the first chance to convert them into a lead.

Best in class

If you’re a retailer or SaaS company of any kind, writing “best of” lists will become your bread and butter.

Let’s say you sell camping equipment. Whether as a local business or an ecommerce site, it doesn’t matter; you could write “best of” articles until you’re old and gray. For every line of product you sell, you can write “best of” lists.

And, you can get as broad or granular as you want.

  • Best tents
  • Best tents under $100
  • Best tents for families
  • Best tents for winter camping
  • Best tents for winter camping at high elevations

And don’t get too caught up in using the word best. There are lots of other superlative adjectives people would use to search:

  • Warmest tents
  • Most durable tents
  • Easiest tent to clean
  • Most luxurious tent
  • Quickest tent to set up
  • Highest rated tents

Best practices

Do you have teachable moments related to the products or services you sell? How can people get the results they want from using your product?

Let’s continue to pretend we sell camping equipment. Our prospects would likely want to know things like:

  • Best practices for planning a camping trip
  • Best techniques for starting a fire
  • Best strategies for catching trout
  • Best ways for cleaning a trout

And in each of those article topics, you’ve got a whole bunch of products you can introduce.

Planning a camping trip? You’ll need a tent.

Starting a fire? You’ll need a fire starter kit.

Fishing? You’ll need some tackle, poles, waders, fillet knives, etc.

Examples of 'best of' articles

Best-of-example

5. Reviews

As buyers are considering making a purchase, they often want to hear from past customers.  

They want to know how others feel about the purchases they made. If real people are raving about the purchase, they’re more likely to buy. If others are complaining, they may avoid it.

That's where reviews come in. If you can write honest reviews of the products you sell (and even don’t sell), you’ll connect with more prospects looking for help making purchases. In fact, 95% of buyers report reading reviews before making a purchase.

Examples of review articles 

Reviews-example

Where should you start with The Big 5?

There are two main options to getting started with The Big 5:

Option 1: Whatever your ideal buyers are asking the most

In this scenario, you’d run a content brainstorm with your sales team, asking them which of the questions they’re getting asked the most often.

(Learn more about how we do this at IMPACT using the revenue team model.)

Typically, when you start with this strategy, you’ll be writing at the bottom of the funnel first; answering questions that are geared toward educating more sales-ready buyers, rather than more top-of-the-funnel topics.

Option 2: Start by writing about cost

You should get ‘cost’ content out there as fast as possible because cost is one question that’s on everyone’s mind.

The key to keep in mind is that, even though your instinct may be to create content to drive traffic first, instead you should initially be creating blog content that enables sales.

Think about it this way — growing traffic is important, but it’s also a long-term game.

However, if you think with a sales-first mindset, a piece you publish today could be used immediately to close a deal tomorrow.

Need additional help?

Getting down to business with The Big 5 can be a daunting task. The following resources should be able to help:

Finally, if you’re looking for more than those self-service, self-guided training resources, we also offer content coaching and training for growth-focused businesses that are ready to embrace a proven digital sales and marketing strategy, with The Big 5 right at the center.



Author: msheridan@impactbnd.com (Marcus Sheridan)

* This article was originally published here

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Monday, October 14, 2024

Fear to Fierce - The New Coaches Confidence Catalyst Masterclass

Become a Fear to Fierce: Become a Visible & Confident Online Coach & Use Proven Content Strategies that Converts into High Paying Clients, Even If You’re Scared of Social Media & Don’t Have a Strategy!

* This article was originally published here

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Thursday, October 10, 2024

What Is a Revenue Team?

When many of us hear the term salesperson, we cringe. We immediately think of all the times we've been talked into something or upsold, ending up as unhappy customers with buyer's remorse. 

But this is an outdated and stereotypical view that doesn't bear much resemblance to the best salespeople in the game today. 

Modern sales professionals — at least the most effective — are more focused on educating and guiding than selling. They are about helping customers to make the best decisions for them, not bamboozling them into buying something they don't need.

This modern approach to sales is much more closely aligned with marketing than it was in the past.

And so it should be. 

The sales and marketing overlap

Sales can learn from marketing — and marketing can learn from sales. Indeed, they should work together. 

This means a more consistent customer experience, better marketing materials, and sales process built on education and trust.  

When you look at the numbers, the case for fostering sales and marketing alignment in a company speaks for itself.

Outfunnel's Revenue Marketing Report found that small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) "that struggle with disjointed marketing and sales teams are twice as likely to miss revenue goals, while those with great alignment more commonly exceed them."

Even more striking, the same report found 58% of sales and marketing professionals don’t feel well aligned, a significant increase from 46% just last year.

Working with hundreds of organizations across the world, we've found that one of the best ways to align marketing and sales is to establish what we call a revenue team.

Modern sales and marketing teams are working toward the same goal

It’s estimated that 70% of the buying decision happens in the research phase, before a prospect even dreams of reaching out to someone in sales. In fact, 88% of all buyers are doing online research before they make a purchase of any kind, whether through a search engine or an AI tool.

In other words, marketing lays the foundation for sales to build upon.

Sales needs to inform marketing of what customers are looking for.  Marketing then needs to create the right content and experience around this information. Then, sales needs to close the leads marketing delivers based on this.

revenue-team1

This interdependence is why the two departments need to work together. 

Considering the numbers above, giving revenue growth responsibility to the sales team alone doesn’t make sense. By the time prospects have gotten in touch with sales, the majority of their decision has already been made.

Similarly, marketing can't hold the full responsibility as if they don't know what works from the sales team, the content and experiences they create will just be educated guesses. 

With the way modern buyers make purchases, operating in silos is no longer an option for sales and marketing.

But how do you actually align sales and marketing?

The power of the 'Revenue Team'

Tactically speaking, a revenue team is a group of key players from your sales and marketing teams that collaborate around the shared goal of increasing revenue through traffic, leads, and sales.

Yes, some people on the team will be more focused on marketing efforts (e.g. creating content) or sales efforts (e.g. closing deals). But the team acts as one, identifying and working towards their common goal.

revenue-team2

For instance, say you’re responsible for the development, implementation, and oversight of content strategy (both written and video), as well as the management of your content team.

That won’t change when you join the revenue team. Instead, your role within the revenue team and the conversations that come out of it (more on that shortly), will strongly influence how you do your job.

The revenue team primarily focuses on getting sales and marketing on the same page. This means:

  • Sales keeps marketing up to date on the questions they are being asked by buyers.
  • Marketing keeps sales up to date on the content that's being produced. 
  • The revenue team determines what sales enablement content needs to come next.

Outside of the meeting:

  • Sales reps make themselves available to aid in content creation.
  • Sales uses content created in the sales process (or in what we call assignment selling).
  • Marketing monitors content performance so they can refine the strategy.

Overall, instead of two competing teams with independent priorities, the members of this singular unit work together to achieve their mutual goal of revenue growth through true collaboration, information-sharing, brainstorming, and problem-solving.

The benefits of a revenue team

The success of a revenue team leads to a number of benefits. Let's break them down and what they look like at an organization: 

More effective marketing content

  • The sales team heavily influences the editorial calendar and content prioritization.
  • Better content means better leads, more educated customers, and smoother sales.
  • You can finally tie revenue to marketing efforts.

Optimized sales cycle

  • The length of the sales cycle decreases, as leads become prospects and prospects become customers faster than before.
  • Customers feel more trusting toward a company that educates instead of pitches.
  • Many of the questions once answered face-to-face (or at least by a human in sales) can now be answered by content on your website that is easily self-discovered by visitors. 

Better alignment

  • Sales and marketing teams are fully aligned, trust each other, and have mutual respect. Once per week meetings mean they have an open line of communication.
  • The sales team understands and sees the value of its role in creating content that drives revenue.
  • Salespeople are more fulfilled and happier in their roles.
  • Marketers see more value in their work, taking pride in the direct connection between what they produce and the revenue generated for their company.

How to run a successful revenue team meeting

The revenue team meeting is the foundation of your group's collaboration and, honestly, it's where the magic happens.

A successful revenue team meeting depends on six things:

  1. Understand the purpose
  2. Ensure the right cross-section of people are involved in the revenue team
  3. Decide how often the revenue team will meet
  4. Set the revenue team meeting agenda
  5. Have a revenue team meeting facilitator
  6. Ensure there is a way to communicate outside of the revenue team meeting 

If you can check those six boxes, you'll have the right people in the right place working on the right things. 

Ready to get started?

The revenue team is an essential antidote to the age-old scourge of modern business:  Siloed teams with competing agendas that never see eye to eye.

But we know that this article only scratches the surface. You'll need to know more to put everything into place.

You can dive into all the details as well as sample agendas in this full article "How to Run a Revenue Meeting."



Author: jbecker@impactbnd.com (John Becker)

* This article was originally published here

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'The Big 5': Best Business Blog Topics to Drive Traffic and Sales (+ examples)

Whether you call it content marketing , inbound marketing , digital marketing, or business blogging, a common question I get asked is, “Marc...