This is a case study on how to execute a content marketing strategy in the real world and discover how it can build a powerful alignment between sales and marketing.
View webinar replay:
[vimeo 21122494 w=600&h=400]
Content marketing for the real world
I met Michelle Mogelson Levy, Associate Vice President of Marketing Programs for ECI Telecom, when she served on my panel at MarketingSherpa’s Email Summit in January.
She had the floor for just 10 minutes to present her company’s content marketing strategy.
But what she had to say, even in that short time, was so rich with actionable takeaways that she definitely deserved more time to share her story.
That’s why I invited her to share. Michelle candidly revealed what it takes to drive results through content marketing in the real world.
Content marketing lessons
She explained why it’s critical to:
- Deeply understand your potential customers, what they want and when they want it, and gain alignment around that from your entire organization.
- Identify each piece of content you have and how it fits into each turn of the buying cycle. She explains why it took four interns 10 months, as well as the input of the entire sales and marketing organization, to complete that process at ECI.
- Provide information responding to business issues your prospects are facing and why it’s smart to leverage third-party resources they respect to do so.
- Repurpose content if you have limited resources and how to go about it.
Well, I could go on and on, but I recommend that you review the webinar video above, even if you’re not directly involved in content marketing. Here’s why: the process of executing a content marketing program is transforming ECI’s entire marketing and sales organization, making them more aligned and responsive to customers’ needs and each other.
Good content marketing drives sales and marketing alignment
In, literally, the last minute of the webinar, Michelle explained what she considers one of the greatest benefits of her content marketing strategy: sales alignment. Every week, she meets with sales teams worldwide to discuss what marketing is doing.
“It’s critical they understand our activity,” said Michelle, “The emails that were opened, what was sent…showing them the value marketing can provide and aligning our whole process with sales activities.
“This is one of the hardest alignment programs I’ve done, but one of the most beneficial…You can see from the beginning where you generated that lead, how you nurtured that lead, when you passed it to sales, how they accepted it. And now we’re seeing real opportunities that have come as a result of those marketing-sourced leads.”
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