Measuring ROI as a B2B marketer

As a marketer in the B2B industry, it can be hard to measure the value you bring through the content you generate.

Sure, your website analytics can help you assess how much traffic you are generating, and you can measure the conversions from visitors to sign-ups and subscribers… But those are just qualified leads you to hand over to the sales team. What about during the sales process itself?

 

The content that you’ve created is used extensively by the sales team during the sales cycle to manage customer concerns and providing a convincing argument for your product. How do you clearly assess how much impact your content had during the process? And what content is most effective in enabling the sales team to close the deal?

 

Having managed B2B marketing teams in the past, we realized that there needed to be a better way. A way that allows us to better define what our contribution to the sales cycle was. A way that we could fairly understand where our content was effective. A way that would tell us what content works (and what doesn’t). 

 

Enter Paperflite. 

 

Paperflite is our solution to all your worries. Paperflite is a content management and sales enablement platform that allows you to, finally, see what sells. Our modern intuitive interface brings the marketing team, sales team, and the prospect together in a single platform. Now you can see exactly how effective your content is in the sales process, and use that insight to fine-tune your content strategy for new prospects.

 

The result?

 

A better informed, more effective marketing team, that puts out content that generates measurable impact!

 

 

Here’re some of our exciting features designed to help you, the B2B marketer:

 

1.    Content tracking

 

Traditionally, when you share content with the sales team, it’s the equivalent of dropping a message in a bottle on the open seas; you hope it gets to somebody and gets read, but you have no way of knowing for sure. All you had was hope and faith. You couldn’t be sure if the sales team used the document for their conversation if they shared it with the prospect, or how the prospect engaged with it. 

 

 

Like that message in the bottle, you’d just watch it float off into the distance.

 

But not anymore. 

 

With Paperflite, you can track exactly how engaging your content is, and where you are making an impact. Our innovative system gives you instant feedback on how your content is performing. We can tell you exactly how many times the file has been shared with the prospect, and how many times the prospect has engaged with the content. What’s more, with page-level metrics, you now know not only what content appealed to the prospect, but also what pages were of most interest. We can also tell you if it has been re-shared by the prospect, which will help to highlight its value. Read more about it here.

 

Now you know exactly what kind of content you need to create to ensure that the prospect is engaged through the entire sales cycle, and can help influence the strategy more effectively.

2.    Usage information

 

Do you know how it’s really great that you can track exactly how your visitors move through the website? With those metrics, you’re able to accurately judge how your content is performing online, and where the problem areas are, in order to better the user experience.

 

Well, now you can do that with your sales content as well. 

 

Not only does Paperflite provide you with valuable insights on how the prospect engages with the content on your website, but it also provides you with insights on how the sales team uses it as well. By allowing for the sales team to rate effectiveness, you can get instant information on whether or not they find it useful enough to share with the prospect. What’s more, you can also track how many times they’ve viewed or downloaded the content to help you better assess your content (and their feedback). 

 

For the first time, you will be able to see exactly how the content is being used through the entire sales cycle, clearly understanding where the problem areas are, and what hurdles need to be overcome. Cool, right?

 

3.    Quality control

 

Look, we get it. As a marketer, content is a big part of your life. You carefully build it and develop it until it becomes a thing of beauty, designed to spark engagement, and truly capture the prospect’s attention. It’s almost parent-like, the affection you have for the content you generate. 

 

Which is why, when you see it being edited haphazardly by members of the sales team who aren’t qualified for the job, it’s heart-breaking. You don’t want to see your content mangled in that way! You want to ensure that all outbound content maintains the standard of quality you pride yourself on, and that truly represents the company. 

 

Here at Paperflite, we understand that. That’s why we give the administrator the ability to define user privileges. Now you can be sure that only authorized members of the team are able to edit content that is broadcast within the organization, thereby ensuring that your standard is maintained, and all content is of the highest quality.

 

4.    Instant update

 

As marketers ourselves, we know how frustrating it can be when you’re asked by your sales team to send the same document over and over again. We understand that our content gets buried under the mountain of emails they receive every day, but it still feels unfair that we are punished for it. It gets especially confusing when there are updates to the documents – we are forced to explain that they need to stop using Version 16 and start using Version 17, and then we spend the next few weeks dealing with the ensuing fallout. 

 

Surely there was a better way, right?

 

Well, we checked. The answer? Nope. 

 

As long as the system depended on emails to share and update content internally, we were fighting a losing battle. There was just nothing that we found that answered our needs in an intuitive, easy-to-implement way. 

 

That is until we built Paperflite.

 

Now with Paperflite’s sleek Streams-based content hub, files can be instantly shared across your internal network, and teams can access them on-the-go. Sales reps are also able to subscribe to only those streams that are relevant to their sectors and clients, making sure that they control the flow, and don’t get notified of meaningless updates. What’s more, files are managed at the source, allowing for updates to happen instantly. As a result, not only do your teams have access to the latest version but so do your prospects! Now you’ll never have to send an email asking recipients to disregard the previous document because of a silly typo – just update the file on our system, and they’ll never know the difference! 

 

5.    Customized branded experience

 

When sending out a regular boring email, you tend to fade into the crowd. You’re forced to follow the same standard format, the client downloads your attachment, and even if he goes through the whole file, he may not remember who you are, or what your company stands for. 

 

That’s such a waste. 

 

As marketers, you know the importance of branding. You know how crucial it is to stand out from the crowd and make a clear connection between your value proposition and your company, especially in the mind of the prospect. But your hands are tied. Not only does email not allow for a customized experience, but it also limits the size or the number of attachments you can attach. So frustrating!

 

 

Well, I’ve got good news for you. You no longer have to depend on your traditional boring emails to convey your message. With Paperflite’s custom interface, you can share content through custom emails, optimized to boost click-throughs without the deadweight of attachments. What’s more, the prospect can engage with your content on his very own personal microsite (FliteView) that has been customized to connect his company with your brand in a seamless manner. By crafting this personalized experience, you instantly stand out from the crowd, and show your commitment to providing a superior buying experience for your prospect!

 

These 5 highlights have been designed to not only improve the way you work, but also allow you to track exactly how effective your content is, and what kind of ROI your efforts generate. With Paperflite behind you, you can be sure that you are putting out the content of the highest quality that is also relevant to your business.

 

Let us know if you’d like to know more about how we can help you influence strategy, and have a direct impact on the bottom line.

 

Oh, by the way, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial of Paperflite. Watch your content come alive. Go on, sign up for free now.