Marekting collateral supports the salesforce at each stage of the purchase cycle.
Marketing collateral is an umbrella term that describes different types of content used to support the sales process. Collateral includes product and company information, white papers, presentations, sales proposals and sales training material. Marketing departments should develop collateral that aligns with each stage of the sales cycle to ensure a successful transition from sales lead to customer.
Align
Collateral needs to work at each of the key stages in the sales process: lead generation; lead nurturing; sales proposal; evaluation; and sale. That means marketing teams must work with sales to determine their needs, then provide tools that meet them, according to online strategy magazine "BtoBOnline.com."
Preferences
Eccolo Media, a content strategy services company, surveyed purchasing executives in the technology sector to identify their information needs. White papers topped the list for effectiveness with 86 percent of respondents citing them as moderate to strong influences on their purchasing decisions. Although product information was the most widely used content, respondents claimed that it had the least influence on their decisions.
Research
Marketing collateral plays an important role before the sales process begins. According to the Eccolo Media study, 54 percent of respondents viewed some form of marketing collateral before they had any contact with a sales representative. This reflects the growing use of Internet research and reviews in social media by consumers and business buyers.
Stages
At the lead generation stage, companies can offer white papers or other high value publications as a response mechanism to acquire leads. Newsletters help to maintain frequency of contact during the lead nurturing stage. At the sales proposal stage, sales representatives can provide product and company information as well as using presentations to make their pitch. During evaluation, companies can provide detailed product proposals as well as reference material such as case studies or testimonials to build credibility.
Customize
Digital media is now the preferred format for marketing collateral. Many of the respondents to the Eccolo Media survey reported that they viewed collateral online rather than printing it. The digital format makes it easier for marketing departments to customize collateral for the differing information needs of technical, business and financial decision makers on the purchasing team.
Training
Marketing teams need to ensure that sales representatives are fully aware of the availability and purpose of the material. Publish guides for the collateral and brief the salesforce on making effective use of the content.
Tags: Eccolo Media, sales process, stage sales, company information, each stage, information needs, lead generation