How to Pitch Content Marketing to Your Boss

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Charles Goodman
5 years ago
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1 How to Pitch Content Marketing to Your Boss

2 Table of Contents Frame the Discussion...4 Prepare for Objections...5 Conduct Research...8 Present the Pitch...10

3 As a marketing professional trying to generate new leads, you already understand that content marketing is an effective strategy to reach your goals. Your manager or boss, on the other hand, may need some convincing. It can be a challenge to get your boss on board with your idea. Sound familiar? We hear you. You re not alone. Many marketers struggle to pitch the power of content marketing because we speak a different language than executives. This guide will help you step back and form a plan to communicate the ROI of content marketing in a way your executive team will understand. Steps to Victory: 1 Frame the Discussion 2 Prepare for Objections 3 Conduct Research 4 Present the Pitch 3

4 1 Frame the DISCUSSION Any discussion with key stakeholders needs to focus on the bottom line. Rather than pitching a detailed explanation of content marketing and how it works, get their attention by working backwards. Start with discussing the impact on revenue, cost of customer acquisition, sales, leads, and website traffic. From there, you can address secondary benefits such as increased engagement, brand awareness, and thought leadership in your industry. Last but not least, reiterate the idea that content marketing is not a series of one-off tactics, and the decisions to implement content marketing campaigns are driven by data. Always start with major-impact points and then be prepared to dive into the deeper discussion once you have leadership s attention. With this in mind, it s critical that you have a solid understanding of both the methodology and the data behind content marketing. With this in mind, it s critical that you have a solid foundation in both methodology and the data behind content marketing. In addition to the bottom line results, you must communicate that content marketing is strategic. Many people outside of the field don t understand that developing buyer personas, generating topics, mapping content to the buying journey, distributing materials, and promoting content are all tied to goals for your business. 4

5 2 Prepare for OBJECTIONS Handling your audience s objections is often the most difficult part of convincing executives to invest in anything new, and this is no different with content marketing. After all, in business it almost always comes down to dollars and cents; in order to get budget allocated to content marketing, you ll need to be able to tackle objections head on. Depending on your industry, business, and boss, you might encounter any number of a wide variety of objections, but don t be intimidated. Here s an overview of some of the most common issues that come up in discussions on content marketing: Traditional methods of marketing have worked in the past. Why change now? TIP: Ask them to explain how they went about purchasing a big ticket item recently, such as a car or appliance. Chances are, they will describe how the purchasing process has changed. People are more apt to begin researching solutions online. The same goes for your product or service. Content marketing can increase your online visibility and demonstrate market leadership. They ve had bad experiences with one-off tactics associated with content marketing (such as marketing or SEO). TIP: Standalone tactics have their merits, but they often seem like failures because they aren t tied to a strategy aligned with specific business goals. Provide data-based examples of how tactics can be linked together to produce fully-formed, successful campaigns. 5

6 How to Pitch Content Marketing to Your Boss They believe content marketing is a fad, and will pass without long-term ROI. TIP: Show your boss how investing in content marketing can lower the cost of customer acquisition over time because it continuously works behind the scenes. Budgets are already too tight to start a new project. TIP: Suggest reallocating a small portion of the marketing budget to content marketing as a start. Emphasize that content can be distributed using resources that you already own or are free to use such as your website, your e-newsletter, or organic social media channels. They don t see a connection between content and lead generation. TIP: Run them through an existing content marketing campaign. Show them the process of an organic search leading to a blog post; a blog post leading to a premium content offer, such as a white paper or an ebook; and ultimately, supplying your contact information to become a lead. Using a competitor in your industry as an example can be very persuasive. They feel content marketing won t work for their industry. The we re too boring defense. TIP: Create a list of common questions your front line team answers for prospects and customers. Try to come up with at least 100 (here s how). Now imagine if these questions were answered on your website, blog, and in premium content offers. 6

7 Content marketing seems like too much work to implement and maintain. TIP: Provide an editorial calendar for your pilot campaign, and explain the resources needed to accomplish each task. Often, the resources actually required are far less extensive than executives initially estimate. They don t recognize the importance of closing the loop between marketing and sales. TIP: Describe how content marketing can enable sales by producing more qualified leads and shortening the sales cycle. They resist the notion that content marketing can be tracked to sales and revenue TIP: Modern CRM systems can be used to monitor how a lead entered your database. Investigate how to track a sale back to a particular piece of content. Using this list of potential objections as a starting point, work with your team to identify specific sticking points that may arise based on your first-hand knowledge of your business and experience with your executives. Once you ve identified specific concerns that may arise, prepare to diffuse them with thoughtful responses and supporting data. With a bit of preparation, you ll be able to turn their objections into opportunities to build a successful pitch. 7

8 3 Conduct RESEARCH You re in marketing, not sales, so prepare yourself to sell content marketing the best way you know how -- by conducting research. The better you prepare prior to delivering your report or engaging in a conversation, the more likely it is you ll secure buy-in from your boss. Try this framework to organize your thoughts and gather the most convincing information. Company Goals Avoid using a bandwagon philosophy for trying out content marketing. Identify why content marketing is the right approach for your company using an immediate pain point. 1. Is there a current business challenge that content marketing can address? 2. Develop a strategy that focuses on solving that challenge. 3. Give specific examples tied to that strategy. Basically, develop a low-cost pilot program that could be launched immediately with their approval. ROI Once you know your boss understands the concept and recognizes the value of content marketing, be prepared to explain why it makes sense for your business. Focus on metrics that are meaningful and measurable, such as increasing the number of sales-qualified leads, improving conversion rates, and lowering the cost of customer acquisition. Get clear about which metrics matter to your company. Explain how a content marketing strategy could drive growth for the KPIs that executives are using as the benchmark of success.. A good resource is HubSpot, a leader in content and inbound marketing. 8

9 Case Studies Industry-related case studies can be highly persuasive. As noted in the common objections section, some executives believe you need to be in an exciting or trendy industry for content marketing to be effective. Look for reputable case studies that help build confidence. HubSpot has made it easy to find such case studies by industry, company size, challenge, and more. Buyer Personas Content marketing relies on understanding your ideal customers. Show your team you ve done your research by developing a buyer persona in advance. What are their pain points or opportunities? Where do they seek information for solutions? What are their buying habits? Check out this Free Buyer Persona Template for more guidance. From there, you ll be able to demonstrate how to create and position content in front of your ideal customers to generate more leads and sales. 9

10 4 Present the PITCH With research in hand, you are ready to pitch a pilot campaign. You re armed with a strategy and have already taken the time to address any objections from the executive team. Now you re well on your way to convincing your boss to invest in content marketing. Prior to the meeting, identify and invite anyone that may have an impact on the decision to move forward with a new marketing strategy. to your company. Explain how a content marketing strategy could drive growth for the KPIs that executives are using as the benchmark of success. During your pitch, get to the point. It s easy to get buried in the details. Focus on quickly defining content marketing, identifying gaps in your company s current marketing, and providing solutions. Make it difficult for your executive team to say no. Stick to your guns and prove your point using supportive data connected to your company s bottom line. You can do this! 10