Close Deals: How to Use Content at the

Bottom of the Funnel

Traditional Selling •  Role of marketing to drive awareness of

solution, e.g. trade show events and ads in trade publications

•  Buyer looked to vendor for information •  B2B selling focused on relationship and

solution selling

New Buyer's Journey •  57% of purchasing decision completed

before the buyer talks with sales •  Buyers are online researching and

consuming information that matters to them

Enter the Challenger Sale

The Challenger Sale •  "Teach customers something new and

valuable about how to compete in their market...This behavior wins customers for the long term."

•  "Challengers aren't so much world-class investigators as they are world-class teachers."

•  "Great questions aren't enough. You've got to have great insights."

The Content Sale •  People buy from people they trust •  Be an information concierge •  Not prospects, future advocates... •  ...of marketing automation, of Eloqua, of Jill

Rowley

How the EloQueen Closes Deals with Content

A few of examples

Marketers Play a Key Role •  Marketing provides the content that makes

sales into thought leaders •  Content marketing materials must be

distributed to sales to help them educate buyers at the bottom of the funnel

•  Conventional thinking o  Top of funnel: eBooks, Blogs, Articles o  Bottom of funnel: Case Studies, Testimonials

•  EloQueen thinking o  Top of funnel: Case Studies, Testimonials o  Bottom of funnel: Continue to educate with eBooks,

Articles, etc.

Content Sells at Top and Bottom of the Funnel

What is a “Modern Sales Professional?”

•  She's an Insights Professional: She teaches the buyer something he doesn't already know.

•  She's a Socially Connected Individual: She’s where her buyers are—on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Slideshare, Pinterest and more.

•  She has a Personal Brand: She's a Thought Leader, not a Product Pusher.

•  She's an Information Concierge: She provides the right information to the right person at the right time in the right channel.

What is a “Modern Sales Professional?” cont. •  She's a Content Connoisseur: She reads what her

buyers read and shares that content across her Social Networks

•  She's a Challenger: She makes her clients think differently

•  She brings Customer Advocate stories to the front of the buying process

•  She's a mini-marketer

Jill Rowley EloQueen & 2011 Eloqua Employee of the

Year

@jill_rowley Linekdin.com/in/jillrowley

Content Marketing Bootcamp February 21, 2013

San Francisco, California hosted by