Two of the biggest barriers to creating compelling content are time and ideas. Your customers are a way to overcome both.
Take blogs. HubSpot’s recent “State of Inbound Marketing” survey shows that the more frequently a blog is updated, the more effective it is for attracting customers.
Of course, finding time to write posts on a regular basis isn’t easy, especially if they have an executive’s byline to help attract eyeballs.
Hiring ghostwriters is one option, but not all companies can justify that expense. Even when they can, the executive still has to find time to share each post’s key messages and then review the drafts before they go live.
A better option is to ask customers to guest blog. That content is nearly free except for the time that someone in marcom or PR spends soliciting posts and then editing what comes in. More importantly, the blog now has existing customers talking to potential customers, some of whom prefer hearing from their peers.
Some potential customers might scoff that guest posts are cherry picked. Fair enough. One way to overcome that skepticism is by allowing customers to discuss ways that your products could be improved. That feedback also is useful for R&D, and when it results in a new feature or product, your press release now can cite those blog posts as examples of how your company responds to its customers.
When customers agree to blog, ask them to include examples of how your product or service has directly benefitted their bottom line, competitive position or both. “Our ARPU increased 10 percent,” “No one else can offer this” or “The payback period was less than a year” will carry more weight with potential customers than platitudes.
Granted, it’s often tough to get customers to publicly discuss the benefits of using a product or service – or that they’re using it all – for fear of tipping off the competition. I’ve seen some companies go so far as putting a clause in the sales contract requiring the customer to be available for a press release or other collateral. I’ve also seen customers ignore those clauses even after agreeing to them. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Your sales team is an obvious way to identify customers with success stories worth telling in your blog, newsletter or other collateral. But don’t overlook your customers’ blogs, too, or those of respected industry veterans. These examples (one and two) are two proof-points of the kind of hands-on, impartial feedback that influences customers. Notice the technical depth, which often speaks directly to the people specifying purchases. Notice the lack of boilerplate, which no one finds convincing – ever. Find those kinds of influencers in your industry, and you’re a step closer to providing consistent, compelling content.