Content is the cornerstone of demand generation today.  Why?  Because we know the digital buyer is on social media and looking for insight, looking for forward-looking opinions, they are looking for a point of view (PoV) and looking for something that is engaging.  How do we know this?  The data says so.

Check out the thinker360 research here and the Telstra research here. 

And the Edelman Trust report here.

Clearly we need to be data driven today, so if the data supports this, what are you doing about it?

There are tools that you can buy that will create content, but we and you as modern buyers can smell this a mile away and will dismiss it.  We even now have ChatGPT, which is going to have a massive impact.  But let's get back to basics for a second here.

What do you and I need to make a sale?  What we sell needs a conversation, yes? 

If you come to me and say "I need to coach and train my team of SDRs to social selling", I'm going to say "let's jump on a call".  What we sell requires a conversation, because conversations drive sales.

And that's what we need our content to do, create conversations.

None of us are interested in brochures, brochureware and white papers, they are all predictable and we all know they will say how great you are, that you are the market leader and we can cure all the customers ills.  Which is why we laugh and ignore such documents. Buyers have stopped listening.

Good content has to, and here is the drum roll ...... create conversations. 

If your content is not creating conversations, I'm not saying you are wasting your time, but it's must be close to it.  And if we are approaching a recession we need to squeeze every last dollar out of our sales and marketing spend.

And if you are not digitally diligent, consistent and persistent, you will be drown out of the market today.  And the only way you can do this is to empower your employees to create the content.  Marketing departments no longer can afford or should they want to create content.  After all, our buyers are looking for authentic content and your employees are going to be the creators of this.

This is table stakes today. 

In the book,“Fusion” by Denise Lee Yohn, says..

“Customers are more savvy today. They see advertising rhetoric for what it is, and they no longer accept brands at face value. They are skeptical about the claims companies make. 

They want authenticity-brands that live up to their promises and stated ideals. But most companies simply slap "authenticity" on their list of brand attributes and try to engage customers superficially via social media to appear more humane or relatable. 

These efforts to create a more authentic brand image rarely convince customers. People don't want brands to appear authentic, they want brands to demonstrate that they actually are authentic in the way they operate and the customer experiences they deliver. 

Want to know more about social selling, check out my new book

"social selling techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition".

In this brand new edition, I have updated all the text, I have also got 15 practitioners, so people who are doing this already to explain how they are get (practical) business benefit. From the CEO that has been running a digital business for over 18 months to sales leaders who use social selling every day.  

Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, Crux Consulting, DLA Ignite and more.

It's available on Amazon worldwide.  Link to Amazon.com here and Amazon.co.uk here.

The book was written by me and not ChatGPT.