How can product marketing create more relevant content?

 

I have seen a lot of mediocre product marketing content at SaaS/enterprise software companies. Product marketing primarily creates content for a) enticing prospects to accelerate the consideration phase of the sales cycle, OR b) training sales organization to better articulate your value prop or understand your solutions OR c) helping account execs tell compelling stories through their sales pitches. It is no wonder that the most of the content hardly moves the needle in either of the objectives.

Having developed a lot of high impact sales enablement content as a product marketing consultant to several SaaS companies, here are five tips for creating compelling content:

• Tell it like a story.  Most content that is created by product marketing tends to be very focused on product features and capabilities and light on why it matters and how it helps customers. And when it does reference the why and how, the words are very abstract and full of marketing jargon.   Include enough stories in the content, told in their language, with vivid details about the benefits your solutions can bring, so a customer can see themselves using your solution to improve their effectiveness and efficiency.
• Ensure your content is persona based. Keep your audience in mind.  Are you targeting a developer/end user, a functional manager or an executive?  Understand their specific issues and concerns, what keeps them up at night or what can help them become more effective/efficient in their daily work.  Then describe your solution benefits and customer examples in that language.  
• Record your pitch.  If you are developing a PowerPoint, record yourself presenting it and then play it back.  Does it speak to the right audience?  Are there any gaps in the storyline? Is your pitch compelling enough that customer will be motivated to research your solution or move it to consideration phase?  If you are developing a brochure, read some parts loudly and then listen to the recording.  Does it clearly articulate the problem and solution without using marketing jargon?
• Include an interesting nugget for the audience.  It could be a market research statistic that is relevant to your audience, a problem that a customer solved in an innovative manner by using your solution or a trend that you can talk about with both the qualitative and quantitative support. If your customer learnt something new (that helps them get better in their job) by spending a few minutes on your content, they will remember that nugget, and in turn, your solution.  
• Talk to customers.  Product marketers in many companies rarely talk to customers.  As a result, their understanding of the customer’s problems and how your solution addresses customer's issues is very abstract.  And that shows in the content they develop. Talking to customers at least once a week will go a long way in helping you create more compelling content.

These five nuggets will go a long way in developing compelling content.