There’s a Faster Path to Pipeline: Why Content Experience Matters Now

January 7, 2021October 17, 2021 Stan

Marketing leaders are under tremendous pressure to perform. Aggressive pipeline targets, reduced budgets, anonymous buyers, multiple stakeholders, and shrinking timelines have got us, and our teams, on edge.

But what if I told you there was a faster path to pipeline that could help your team spend less money to acquire new customers and speed up the time to revenue?

Content experience could be the answer. Here’s why it deserves your attention now:

Because You’re Spending Needless Money

The bulk of your budget no doubt goes to your demand programs (and rightfully so!) In fact, 41% of marketing leaders say they spend half to three quarters of their entire budget generating demand.

But if you’re focusing on your channels and tactics (things like ads, direct mail, chatbots, email, and social) while ignoring where you’re actually sending people to, then you’re spending more money than you need.

Let me explain.

If you send a visitor to a single blog, video, whitepaper, or landing page, the most you can expect them to do is one thing—consume that single piece of content.

We know it takes buyers 11.4 pieces of content to feel educated enough to make a purchasing decision, so if all you’re focused on is sending them to that one piece of content, then you’re going to have to spend oodles more money capturing, and more importantly, recapturing their attention when they bounce.

It’s a lot of money to get them to that 11.4 number, which for most marketers represents the finish line.

But if you consider the destination and send your prospective buyers to a content experience that is relevant, engaging, and designed for further content consumption, where the end goal is content bingeing—then you can make the most of that visitor’s attention when you have it.

Because There’s a Faster Path to Pipeline (and Revenue)

How many days does it take your company to acquire a new customer? If you don’t know this I implore you to look. Go on, I’ll wait.

The truth is, it doesn’t matter what your current number is because when it comes to deal cycles they can always be shorter, and the path to pipeline can always be faster.

So consider this: If you can get potential buyers to consume multiple, let’s say three or four pieces of content in a single session (like the image depicts below), you can reduce the amount of money and time it takes to move them through their buyer journey.

In essence, you’re accelerating the journey and getting those buyers to sales- or purchase-ready faster.

Put simply: More content consumed at a faster rate = less time from lead to opportunity (and eventual customer). And that, my friend, is how you increase pipeline velocity—not to mention make your marketing team happy, your sales team grateful, and your C-suite jump for joy.

So how do you do that? Well instead of sending your ideal accounts and prospects to a single landing page or piece of content, you send them to an engaging, relevant content experience. Sending potential buyers to a destination that’s designed specifically for content consumption and personalized to where they are in the journey is the key to getting the most out of their hard-earned (and expensive) attention.

Because You Don’t Have Time to Waste

Even small reductions to your sales cycle can have a significant impact on target achievement. So the opportunity cost is high.

Keeping with the status quo and continuing to have your team invest (and obsess) over channels while ignoring the destination won’t give you the leg up. If your focus is on getting prospects to just one thing, time and time again, and your competitors do the same, you’re in an attention race typically decided by who has the biggest wallet.

The strategic move (in fact, the no-brainer) is to keep buyers engaged while you have their attention, by giving them everything they need to make the decision to buy easy.

Just be sure you don’t squander the opportunity, and instead provide the personalized experience prospects crave.

After all, B2B buyers are 40% more willing to buy from a supplier that personalized content to their specific needs than those who didn’t.

Content experience platforms like Uberflip make it ultra-easy to spin up relevant content destinations that your team can personalize to your buyer’s interests, needs, buying stage, and company.

The Time to Act is Now

While there’s nothing innately wrong with maintaining the status quo, doing so won’t get you the results your board, C-suite, or team is calling for.

Stop squandering opportunities (and sales) by not considering the destination for your campaigns. Start creating the kinds of content experiences that accelerate buyer journeys and generate pipeline.

Author: Christine Otsuka, Uberflip.
This article was originally posted by Uberflip. To view the original, Click Here.

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