Reading some of the takeaways from Seismic’s 2016 study on trends and challenges in Content Marketing was a little like looking in a mirror for me! Looking at the challenges enumerated in their findings, I could see the sticking points that have come up for me time and again in trying to bridge the gap between Sales and Marketing in order to create an effective content strategy:

• 56 percent of marketers experience issues with custom requests for updated collateral
• 52 percent say sales people don’t use the content because they can’t find it, and
• 38 percent say they can’t tell if their content is working or not.

It’s like they bugged my cubicle or something…

Having worked on both the Business Development and Marketing sides of this equation, I can say that the disconnect probably shouldn’t land at the feet of the sales department. Salespeople — as they will often volunteer  — are not marketers. They typically don’t speak our language; they tend to be more concerned about using techniques and tools that they know will work for them, and they tend to be a lot more focused on short-term impact over long-term strategic shifts. None of those are bad things, they’re just not always in alignment with how a Content Marketing strategy is designed to function.

Hal Conick wrote an article for the American Marketing Association, and this excerpt stood out to me in his interview with Seismic Vice President of Marketing, Daniel Rodriguez:

Fixing these issues can mean adopting the right technology, but that’s only part of the solution, Rodriguez says. Marketers need to examine the world outside of the top of their funnel, he says, and start thinking cross-departmentally.

“It’s not only about making sure that someone who visits the website receives the right content, but also about making sure that each sales rep has the right content, or HR rep, or customer success team member,” he says. “In today’s content-driven world, marketing cannot be a silo; it has to be the hub, helping power all departments with relevant, updated materials and information.”

For all the advancements we’re making in Content Marketing, we’ll never really reach our potential until we’re aligned with Business Development. That doesn’t happen until we leverage that concept in which marketers are supposed to excel: Empathy. Understanding how BD reps does their job — and making sure they know how you do your job — are absolute essentials in creating and maintaining a coherent and consistent content strategy.

Here are a few suggestions on addressing that issue:

Hold in-person meetings

Tacking on a marketing update at the end of a business development team call is the best way to ensure that attendees will be multitasking and disengaged from the message. You need to be able to demonstrate how your solution works, where they need to go to find their materials, and how they can make sure they have the latest version. Otherwise, you’ll be getting lots of responses like “I had no idea that we had (insert solution)” two months after you unveiled it to the team. At the very least, do video conferences with screen-sharing capability.

Shadow sales calls

This one can be tricky depending on the culture of your organization, and it requires building trust between Marketing and Business Development (not to mention additional budget). But if BD reps aren’t marketers, then it’s also true that marketers aren’t BD reps. We often assume we know what they need, but spending a few days watching them work and interact with clients will open up a world of new ideas. And the more time you spend with the team, the more you’ll be able to help them leverage what’s already in place as well as come up with new approaches. (Just remember: you’re a guest. Keep a very strict “Speak when spoken to” policy!)

Pick a content location and stick with it

If your sales team has to go to multiple locations to find marketing materials, they may not go to either one. Instead, you’ll get emails saying: “Can you send me that sales sheet you mentioned the other day?” When creating a content library, it’s important to select your platform in conjunction with BD; understand what they use (and what they won’t use). Once you’ve picked that location, make it as simple as possible to find materials. Include direct links in any update emails or newsletters you send out. Make sure your labeling convention is consistent and makes it easy to identify updated versions.

Make customized materials generic

Everyone believes that their challenge is unique, but the reality is that for every sales person who requests a customization, there are at least a handful of others on the team that would love to use that same piece and just hadn’t thought to ask for it. As much as we sometimes hate creating one-off materials, we can also see them as a chance to add value and proactively present BD with a generic version that will built credibility across the entire organization, and not just with a single team member. Make sure to communicate what the piece was designed to accomplish, how it was received by the client, and how they can use it themselves. Ideally, create templates that can quickly be re-purposed based on client needs (i.e. fields for co-branding, highlighted features and benefits, call-to-action).