How good is your always-on digital sales rep?

You’ll probably answer that question with: “We don’t have a digital sales rep” or “Do you mean our website Chatbot?”

Well…

1) I don’t mean your website Chatbot, and

2) You certainly can (and should) have an always-on digital sales rep, and a very good one at that!

What are you talking about Lucy?!

I’m talking about your content marketing.

If you’re like the many B2B SaaS and service businesses I’ve worked with in the past, your list of marketing priorities is long. And you're fighting reactive ‘fires’ on a daily basis.

So it's easy to see why content often gets pushed down your list of priorities.

But what if I asked you to change your mindset on how you view your content?

What if you saw your content as an extension of your sales team?

Build up your content library so that it is focused acutely on your ICP (Ideal Customer Persona) and mapped to your buyers’ journey, and your content will serve as your always-on sales rep:

• Working 24/7 to engage prospects researching solutions, providing answers even when your team isn’t available.

• Answering key questions, solving problems, and building confidence in your brand.

• Infinitely scaling to reach dozens (or even hundreds) of potential buyers at the same time through a range of different channels like search engines, social media, and email.

This is exactly what strategic content can do for your business.

Yet, so many B2B SaaS and service companies leave this opportunity untapped, treating content as a “nice-to-have” instead of a "must-have".

Okay, so why is this so important?

I’ll let the statistics answer this one.

• 92% of tech buyers are more likely to engage with a tech company who has helped educate them on a particular subject

• 91% of tech buyers are more likely to buy from a brand that provides them with relevant content

(Source: TechTarget 2022-23 Media Consumption Survey).

And before they will even consider engaging with a sales rep, tech buyers are meticulously self-researching their problem and looking for potential solutions.

This means the average tech buyer will spend as much as 6 hours per week conducting online research. And, further into their buyer's journey, they will spend up to 3 hours consuming company-specific content such as webinars and whitepapers.

And they do this all before they are willing to engage with an actual sales rep.

So, if you want to be on your target buyers’ shortlist of potential solution providers, you need to ensure you satisfy their initial self-serve research journey.

This means serving them with a range of content types across a variety of different platforms.

So how do you go about achieving that?

Here’s a roadmap to help you change your perspective and start prioritising content as a revenue driver within your business:

1. Prioritise strategy:

Create a content plan tied to your business goals, your buyers’ needs and the problems that they’re looking to solve. Focus on quality, consistency, and thorough distribution (writing a blog and publishing it on your website is just the start of the lifecycle for that piece of content. This in itself is not distribution!)

2. Commit to consistency:

Trust is built over time. Regularly publishing high-value content keeps your brand top of mind.

3. Invest in expertise:

If a lack of time or expertise in-house is holding you back, partner with professionals to help you craft a killer content strategy and deliver quality content consistently. Content can, and absolutely should be, generating revenue for your business. Investing in expertise will pay off.

Achieving ROI from treating content as your always-on sales rep

By rethinking content as a strategic, always-on sales tool, you can unlock significant benefits:

1. Well-researched content drives brand awareness

We’ve already discussed that your prospects are searching for answers online, way before they’re ready to talk to a salesperson. You must provide content that speaks to their challenges and positions your brand as an authority in that space. You need to ensure you're meeting them in their search for information at the top of the funnel.

2. Content educates and builds trust

It’s a well-known fact that only 5% of B2B buyers are in the market to buy at any given time. Your content therefore plays a crucial role in building brand awareness and positioning your company to out-of-market buyers. By delivering high-value content at the top of the funnel, you’re positioning your business as a trusted authority in your industry. When your buyers do move into the market to buy, they already know that your company understands their needs and has the solutions they’re looking for.

3. Content nurtures leads through the sales funnel

Buyers will ask different questions depending on which stage of the buyers’ journey they are in.

If they’re at the top of the funnel, they will ask questions like: “What type of solutions are there for [my problem]?”.

If they’re closer to the bottom of the funnel, they will have already done a good amount of research into understanding their problem and finding a solution. Their questions are therefore likely to be more specific about solution providers: “What is the cost of [software name] compared to [competitor software name]?” or “How do the features differ between [software name] and [competitor software name]?”.

Strategic content should guide prospects through each stage of their buyer’s journey helping them to progress more quickly. Your content should provide answers to the most common questions they will have.

4. Content increases sales efficiency

By addressing common questions and buyer pain points upfront, your content will reduce repetitive sales conversations. This will help to shorten the overall buying cycle.

Ultimately, your sales team can spend more of their time focused on closing deals rather than educating leads earlier on in their buyers' journey.

When was the last time your business prioritised content within its marketing strategy?

If you’re guilty of treating your content as an afterthought, make 2025 the year that you rethink your approach.

Now is the time to get your always-on digital sales rep up and running.

Do it right and your sales team will soon be thanking you for their new honorary team member!

Are you interested in understanding how you can close more B2B clients faster in 2025 with the help of content marketing?

I offer a free initial consultation for businesses looking to understand how I can help them consistently deliver well-planned and thoroughly distributed B2B content that drives revenue.

Or, you can find out more about the range of B2B content marketing services I offer here.