Five Content Questions That Drive Conversions

The Simple Yet Powerful Five

According to Marcus, revolutionizing your content marketing strategy can be as simple as focusing your energy on addressing five key areas:

1. Cost: Why is your product priced at this level?
2. Problems and negatives: What are the drawbacks of this particular thing/method/brand/etc.?
3. Comparisons: What is the difference between you and your competitor?
4. Reviews: What are some reviews of your product?
5. Best-of: Who/What is the best-of in your industry?

Covering these bases in your content will push potential customers further along the sales funnel than just about anything else you produce on your website. Avoiding them drives you into a fluff-content spiral that won’t catch the interest of prospects and cripple your sales team with useless material.
If you’re afraid of content shock because you exist in a crowded market, Marcus says that should never slow you down because the process of producing content alone helps articulate your message. Furthermore, there is no better advocate for your product than your own voice. Even if you know every single question on your blog has been addressed somewhere else, you still have people that are coming to your website for that information.
For Marcus, platforms are temporary, but the principles of content marketing are timeless.

In This Episode

• How in-person questions lead to massive content curation
• Why competitive content means addressing the flaws of your product
• How to use five subjects to immediately move the needle in your industry
• Why content shock doesn’t mean you should stop or slow down content production
• How a play on words leads to thinking of the world from a digital content perspective

Quotes From This Episode

“I just need to listen incredibly well to the questions my prospects and customers are asking, and then be willing to address them on my website through text and video.” —@TheSalesLion
“Our philosophy became ‘they ask, you answer.'” —@TheSalesLion
“I never really set out to write 800 or whatever pieces of content. What I set out to do was to become the best teacher in the world when it came to fiberglass pools.” —@TheSalesLion
“Before I just blabbed out an answer to the individual, I would say to myself, ‘Have I addressed that yet on the website?’” —@TheSalesLion
“Five subjects move our entire economy. They’re the subjects that buyers want to talk about, but businesses do not. They’re Cost, Problems, Comparison, Reviews, and Best Of.” —@TheSalesLion
“How can I have immediate victory? You produce content that your salespeople can use tomorrow.” —@TheSalesLion
“The idea that you shouldn’t say something because other people have also said it is a tragedy because it doesn’t allow you to figure out your message, and your company philosophy.” —@TheSalesLion
“The question is, when they come to your site are they fed?” —@TheSalesLion
“The essence of content marketing is great teaching and communication so as to engender trust from the buyer or the prospect.” —@TheSalesLion
“You’ve got to have a utilitarian-based mindset first, and the artist, the creativity can follow second.” —@TheSalesLion
“The platforms come and go. Principles do not die.” —@TheSalesLion
“The moment we decide to spend our money is the moment we take the time to do what is right.” —@TheSalesLion
“We have a dearth of value when it comes to the way salespeople, leadership teams, and other subject matter experts view content marketing.” —@TheSalesLion
“You can be a prophet to the world, but nobody listens to you in your own town.” —@TheSalesLion
“You can’t start a culture of content unless you bring everybody on the team together.” —@TheSalesLion

Resources

• Marcus Sheridan on Twitter: @TheSalesLion
• The Sales Lion on Facebook and YouTube
• River Pools and Spas
• They Ask, You Answer
• Mad Marketing
• Youtility

Content Pros Lightning Round

What’s your show on Netflix these days? “Gold Rush” or “The Flash.”
Do I want to swim in a chlorine pool or a saltwater pool? If you’re looking for the lowest maintenance experience and if you’re looking never to have algae in your pool, and not have to mess with it every day, you should certainly go with a salt/chlorine generator.
What has been your ideal length of a video post? Answer the question very well, and stop when you’re done. So if that means you have a 10-minute video, that’s what it means. If it means you have an hour video, that’s what it means. If it means you have 30 seconds, that’s what it means.
Which of those groups do you think has more area to improve in the short-term: the marketer and their use of content, or the salesperson? Salespeople because they still overvalue their impact on the actual sale.
Other than buying a pool from you, what is a good way to get your attention directly? Twitter or email (marcus@thesaleslion.com).