Agency Speak: How to Sell Content Marketing to Clients

Marketing agencies and content creators often have a hard time submitting proposals to clients. And yet, there are times that, as the experts in the field, agencies must share with their clients and prospects strategies that would be best for them to achieve their business goals. One such strategy could be content marketing. Like the famous quote from Spiderman reiterates: ‘With great knowledge comes great responsibility,’ and so we must find the best way to educate our clients and gently nudge them towards a better way. 

Here are a few ways to get your clients on board the content marketing bandwagon:

1. Educate your clients about the relevance of content marketing

The importance of content marketing has never been greater than in the age of the internet. Content encompasses everything you see online: from a 280 character tweet to a Clubhouse session and from a video to a blog post or an eBook. A social media advertisement can potentially generate millions of views for a business looking to promote a product. Blogs can result in a 434% increase in indexed pages and a 97% increase in indexed links. Yet not every business knows the full potential of content marketing. It goes much beyond creating valuable content and is deeply tied to a result-oriented approach that impacts the bottom line. 

While your clients might see the merit in populating content on their social media, as the agency, it is your job to help them see the big picture need for an overarching content marketing plan and content strategy that goes beyond platforms and formats. The content game is no longer about selling your products; it is about catering to a highly informed and active customer who wants to consume a lot more content before making a purchase decision. If that isn’t incentive enough to invest in content marketing, what is?

2. Provide an industry-based, overarching context

When educating your clients about the benefits of content marketing, you must pitch a content marketing strategy based on solid research and facts. More and more businesses are going online. India has witnessed a steady growth in eCommerce startups and online advertising over the past few years. The acquisition of Indian eCommerce firm Flipkart by American giant Walmart in 2018 is a clear indication of the importance of digital and how content is a key pillar in the marketing success of these digital giants.

When selling the idea of content marketing, offer the latest statistics and inspiring insights that speak about the client’s industry. Give a holistic view of the past, present, and future of content and its power using examples from the client’s world. In fact, gather data from their existing customer base of target customers to validate your thesis.

3. Give them value for their money

Content marketing is extremely cost-effective, costing 61% less than traditional marketing, more companies invest in the latest content marketing tools to penetrate the market. Make the client aware of the long-term benefits of investing in content by sharing realistic projections on a set budget. Compare the same with a traditional advertising model which is bound to cause a dent in their pocket. Set a small budget aside to explore the market with your client. In that process, you are creating value for the client who gains first-hand exposure to the process of content marketing. 

Eventually, as you analyze the results, your content marketing strategy becomes more refined, and your client gains faith in your workflow. 

4. Map the client’s goals to the content marketing process

Before setting out to create a strategy, certain goals have to be set. Understanding your client’s requirements is pivotal before suggesting what approach they must follow. Usually, these goals can be put in the following buckets: brand awareness, lead generation, engagement, retention, sales. Each of these goals can be mapped to the content marketing process using the marketing funnel. Depending on what your client’s focus is in this quarter, you can invest more of your content creation and distribution efforts there. For instance, if the objective is to create awareness, there should be a heavy focus on creating Top of the Funnel content to generate a massive pipeline. If the goal is to convert, focus can be on creating more sales enablement content like customer testimonials.

5. Be result-oriented

The final decision is always based on numbers. Thus, it is very important to showcase to your client that content can be measured and have real impact on sales. Some content metrics that can easily be measure include:

• Website Traffic
• Page Views
• Time Spent on website
• Social media ROI
• Page Ranking
• Bounce Rate
• Leads generated and more.

You can also share the kinds of tools that exist today to track results and set realistic timelines to monitor the impact of every piece of content that goes live. A result-oriented strategy will help you predict new trends and foster a winning strategy for your client. Set the expectations right with your clients and your co-workers.

When your clients, writers, and designers are all aware of what’s expected, they will deliver the best collateral on every project. Maintaining efficiency and morale is a huge factor that influences content marketing. Especially when your agency works with many writers and designers, result-oriented discussions and briefs can preserve the authentic approach that your client deserves. 

Drive the nail with a hammer!

For any business, communication with your clients determines the value you bring to the table. Make sure you add a lot of infographics, ebooks, webinars, and other forms of content to your content marketing strategy just to find out what suits the project best. Always strive for the best results and ensure that everybody on the team is chasing the same goal. As your relationship with your client grows, you must present fresher and more inventive ways to promote their brand value online. After all, a client approaches you because you are a wizard with words.