And while this may all sound a bit morose, I beg to differ. I believe the world is rigged in favor of those who embrace uncertainty.
We must go beyond ourselves to sustain, well, ourselves over the course of time. In other words, we can only only achieve success by stepping out and going beyond our selfish needs in order to serve others. Being a safe choice for your clients and elevating the lives of others is the purest form of enrichment.
We must pull rather than push, because being pushy will not work in this world. It is critical that we don’t push ourselves onto people out of our need to make a buck. Pushy adds to the noise in a person’s life, while pulling is gentler and more helpful.
Think of it like this: We “push” people into harm’s way and we “pull” people out of problems. So a heavy dose of self promotion or product-centric content only annoys and clouds our minds.
For decades, marketers used to trumpet the features and benefits of offerings. But B2B customers have learned to ignore features and benefits. In fact, your ideal clients may not even realize they could benefit from your product or service. Companies focus on the problems they have and go through a great deal of self-discovery to determine what help they may need.
Whereas traditional sales professionals have noticed increased challenges in getting in front of customers, custom content is welcomed into the room with open arms.
The most thoughtful marketers are putting themselves in a position to support those needs when they come to light. Put another way, your clients do not care about your solution until they realize the problem you can solve for them. And while they go through that process by themselves today, the messaging from marketers must shift to possible problems solved, rather than features.
The creation of thought-leading content and the commitment to the publishing process is a rainmaking one. As technology continues to expand and disrupt industries, companies and clients rely more and more on thoughtful content to educate, guide and advise. Whereas your clients can get information about your company’s products and services on your website, they cannot figure out how your solution might fit their needs.
The custom publishing process provides a valuable resource to discuss industry trends, share best-practices, and delve into detailed discussions about the issues affecting an industry. Whereas traditional sales professionals have noticed increased challenges in getting in front of customers, custom content is welcomed into the room with open arms.
Top companies will continue to use custom content to go beyond themselves. They will discover what matters most to their community and, subsequently, put themselves in a position to open doors and entice interest. Forward-thinking companies that sincerely commit to custom publishing will plant seeds for their sales teams that will endure even in this most unsettled of worlds.
