Content hubs are typically developed as a microsite or a section of an existing website that consolidates content for a specific purpose. Content hubs are often used by brands to curate content about their products or services based on a targeted strategy for their intended audience. Brands are usually the most frequent developers of content hubs, which are designed to further their own reach and content, however, there are more effective uses, especially within business-to-business (B2B) sales.
How are content hubs used in B2B sales?
What Are Content Hubs For B2B Sales?
Personal sales rep content hubs differ from brand content hubs in that there is a one-to-many, micro-site for individuals on your sales team, rather than from the brand only. So, you can think of B2B sales content hubs as a microsite of content that a salesperson curates specifically for their customers and prospects.
B2B Sales content hubs are made up of articles, graphics, data, and video content designed to aid their prospective customers on their buyer journey. It also includes information that helps buyers define their challenges, data, and statistics surrounding those challenges. Also, it has the discovery of solutions that are available. These content hubs function as an effective personal blog and content site that is public-facing, so anyone can come and read the content shared by that specific team member.
Why Content Hubs For Sales?
Modern buyers do 70% of their research before ever speaking to a sales representative. So, the old way of doing things that primarily involve asking for demos, sending cold connection requests on social media, and sending cold spam emails has lost effectiveness. If brands with salespeople are going to be effective in the current environment where the buyer journey is more disguised than ever, they will have to approach sales differently.
Buyers don’t want demos, they want insights, information, and answers to their problems. They want it during their buying journey from people they see as trusted and knowledgeable.
Recent study data shows that buyers purchase from the FIRST person or organization that helps them research and solve their problem. ContentHubs help sales reps present data and content that help their prospects do their research. They also help salespeople build relationships early on, by aligning with the modern-day buyer journey, rather than cold prospecting.
Key Points Surrounding Content Hubs
- The buyer journey is about research. Content hubs provide a platform for every sales pro to share the type of content buyers want on a personal branded page/microsite.
- Buyers prefer trusted advisors vs sales representatives. What’s the difference? Trusted advisors demonstrate knowledge and insights to help customers WHICH attracts buyers in need. Sales reps ask for demos first and then seek to pass knowledge and insights. BIG difference from a buyer perspective.
- VCP – sales reps need to be visible, competent (share competencies) and demonstrate profitability. Content hubs provide a platform for every person on the team to have a page/site to demonstrate with content regularly.
- Companies need to be media companies. There’s a competitive advantage for teams whose members consistently create and publish content because of their personal networks and personal brand-building activities. The more people on a team who do this, the more the brand dominates the newsfeed.
- Data – unlike LinkedIn where you can see who Liked, commented and your total views, with content hubs, sales reps can share links with
- Sales Enablement Support – publish articles to Hubs for sales professionals and provide promotional copy so it is quick and easy for sales to share with their prospective customers.
- Long-form articles are evergreen. You can use the content for customers over and over. Plus, with our Hubs, you get notified when known visitors click on an article
- First-party buyer intent features give content hub owners insights into what visitors are researching prior to live conversations.
Content Hub Use Case Example:
As a salesperson connects and engages with prospects across their social channels, they can share curated content that leads their contacts to their ContentHub all of the articles, data, videos, and information that they are curating and sharing around their customer’s interests, challenges and needs. Being seen as a valuable resource and thought leader around the subject matter important to your prospects, conversations increase, and relationships are formed.
The Benefits Of Content Hubs For Sales
When sales teams are able to add more social connections and have more conversations with prospects, the benefits are obvious. More opportunities with more prospects and more deals won in an accelerated sales cycle are the result. But, it is important to understand that what leads up to the end result is what makes the end result possible.
Here are some of the benefits of sales content hubs:
Accelerated Sales Cycle
Creates Value For Buyers Early
Brand Content Amplification
Relationship Development
Become A Trusted Advisor
First Party Buyer Intent Data
Actionable Analytics
Taking Sales Content Hubs Deeper With Buyer Hubs
Another, deeper layer of content hubs, is something we call a “BuyerHub”. Buyer Hubs are similar to personal content hubs, but they are designed for a prospect, individual, or brand customer. This enables a salesperson to establish a content hub that addresses the needs, interests, and content of a single person or group within a company during the buyer journey. Think of Buyer hubs as a one-to-one content hub from a specific salesperson to a specific prospect or group within a specific target company.
Key differences of Buyer Hubs:
– BuyerHubs have a unique private URL, making it a private one-to-one page only for the person you’re sharing it with.
– Buyer Hubs contain tracking links that attribute to a specific prospect engagement, allowing reps to know exactly who is clicking and reading articles and content from a specific BuyerHub.
– BuyerHubs perform an algorithmic evaluation of intent categories for each article viewed and produces a buyer intent score, then coaches reps on who to engage with urgency.
– Buyer Hubs automatically alert sales reps when their prospect is engaging their Hub.
Traditional Brand Content Hubs vs Individual Content Hubs
We have never thought of our company as an all-or-nothing solution. We fit within current brand operational, tactical, and solution offerings to transform businesses and sales teams into effective units that work together. So clearly brand hubs and content hubs are components with value on their own, but better when working together.
Brand marketing departments are integral to the success of a company, just as much as the sales team is. When both work together to help each other get what they need and is in the company’s best interest, the results can be super powerful.
Sales Content Hubs are a crucial tool for salespeople to create more prospect connections, have more conversations, build more relationships and ultimately close more deals. Technology and platforms that help facilitate this tactic are the special sauce to realizing the benefits.
Thanks for reading. I typically write about modern selling, virtual selling, prospecting, sales reps reputation and how content helps all of these with modern buyers. My primary audience includes CEOs, CROs, CMOs, and other executives responsible for increasing bottom line. Post your questions in the comments section below and let’s discuss this!
