Many marketers may find themselves trying to find tactics to shrink the sales cycle, going from awareness right to purchase.

I would strongly argue that successful marketers however, realize the intricacies of B2B marketing in today’s content marketing era and will do their due diligence in moving each prospect through the entire sales cycle – in many cases using webinars to do just that.

In my last blog I discussed the importance of providing content via your webinars that would help to solve your prospects’ challenges, specific to the market in which they operate. Once you’ve established a strong hold in terms of awareness and being top of mind when it comes to the need to address these challenges, problems or inquiries you’re able to move them through to the next step, evaluation where you’re focused on building preference.

A recent study from Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and NetLine Corporation revealed that two out 62% of B2B buyers seek out content to learn about new market developments and industry practices, while nearly 60% seek out content to discover new solutions that could address specific needs.

Although the webinar is not going to be the deciding factor when someone is conducting an evaluation it will work to deliver key content that will be used to separate you from the competition when your prospect is at that stage of the game. There is some pitching involved but nothing as aggressive as a full sales effort with a call to action.

When working on content with our clients here at Streaming Network I recommend speaking specifically to your solution in relation to the key challenge, the return on investment that can be realized and the overall advantages associated.

The Big Picture

How does the prospect’s challenge affect the larger goal for the organization as a whole? How can solving this affect the operations of the company as a whole or other segments of the company? Helping them understand that they can contribute to solving something much larger than their immediate problem, can provide a new outlook on your product or service.

ROI

The first question for any spend.

Content that speaks to how you can help alleviate problems in a specific area will inevitably lead to new opportunities for the department or business at large will always win. Think about structuring your content to speak to opportunities for new revenue, growing revenue, savings or reducing factors associated to risk.

Both Sides of the Coin

You can actually help shape consideration without selling by talking through the positives and the negatives associated with addressing and solving their particular challenge or problem. Depending on both, there are also going to be both short term and long term affects which can be discussed through your content as well.

Prove It

What better way to show your value then by actually sharing real life situations and applications?

Case studies are a great way to take a prospect through a real business situation, where they can identify with colleagues in the same predicament, understand how they were able to adapt your solution and then see the outcome of being able to do so.

Touch on both the tangible (ROI related factors) and intangible aspects to give them a complete picture of the benefits of addressing and solving their organizational issue.

As you move them through this segment of the cycle, you’re essentially fortifying your position in the selection process, all without actually saying ‘choose me’. The final level of the cycle will speak to that specifically as we head down the funnel to persuading selection.