Integrators are aware that every corporation is filled with sales and marketing procedural documents, case studies, product sheets and similar materials. This content plays a major role in setting the corporate tone, communicating overall expectations, and establishing the engagement level of staff. But one of the drawbacks of these documents is that they are historical in nature. They were developed in the past, are updated infrequently and can quickly lose their relevance. But what if the enterprise could create ongoing content around specific issues, opportunities and trends and in turn inject this content into sales and marketing reference materials?
The enterprise landscape is always changing. There are new product and service offerings, new markets to explore, competitors changing tactics, and customer behaviors constantly evolving. The challenge is to curate the timeliest, business-critical intelligence and make it readily available to the target audience as soon as possible.
Too often we think of content in the context of external marketing, but there is an overlooked opportunity to create and aggregate content specifically for sales and marketing staff. One of the best ways to deliver this content is through a dedicated channel fed with an internal RSS feed that features key enterprise and industry developments and then contextualizes it with insights from staff via internal social media. In addition, the channel would consistently feature the most current use cases, product demos and datasheets. To be effective, companies should consider creating an editorial manager role that would be responsible for evaluating, creating, approving, and distributing these materials.
The enterprise needs to work toward providing a “live” sales and marketing content feed that is built around visual communications that are short, concise, and friendly for all screens. The results will be an important tool that captures exactly what is happening now and provide the workforce with intelligence they can put into practice immediately.
Vern Freedlander is vice president of production services for Montréal-based X2O Media, a Barco company. X2O Media is a leading software developer of real-time visual communications solutions that significantly improve communications throughout the enterprise. With more than 20 years of broadcast television experience as a producer, director and executive, Freedlander oversees all of X2O Media’s content initiatives. He can be reached at [email protected].
