Brands can leverage customer service and sales teams to enhance content marketing strategies in three key ways: 1) Sales and customer service teams interact directly with customers and can provide valuable intelligence about customer complaints, objections, and questions that can be turned into educational blog posts, videos, and other content. 2) These front-line teams can also be interviewed to gather material for content that addresses common customer issues and concerns. 3) By sharing new product and service promotions through content, sales and customer service support cross-selling and up-selling efforts while helping retain existing customers.

1. How Brands can use Customer Service &
Sales Reps to enhance their Content
Marketing Strategy
Image via the Content Marketing Institute
Marketing is being disrupted by technology. The technology comes in the form
of new social channels such as the internet, mobile, social media, publishing
platforms, audio books and video on demand. All of these channels have the
effect of giving consumers instant access to information about products and
services.
Competition in every product and service category has never been higher. This
marks a significant shift from the days of Mad Men where brands controlled
information and the conversation. This marketing shift is known as

2. information marketing through content or simply content marketing. As a
result, Marketers and brands have to become the educators or teachers of
consumers. To become the educators of consumers, brands have to become
the industry resource to consumers; showing how their products can solve
problems and improve the lives of consumers.
Once brands convert prospects into customers, they still needto focus on and
support customers post sale. Here is where Content Marketing can help.
Brands can use Content Marketing for customer retention, cross-selling and
up-selling. To take advantage of this, brands needto involve both their Sales
and Customerservice team in their Content Marketing strategy.
Sales Teams
Sales teams can provide a lot of information about customers, product
concerns or issues and objections they face. They are front line soldiers that
have a direct line to customerintelligence.
Integrating the Sales Team to your content marketing strategy
Meet with the sales team and encourage them to compile a list of customer
complaints, objections and questions about products that they face. Ask the
team to create materials that address these concern that customers can access.
This could take form of blog posts, Power-points FAQ's, product
demonstrations and tutorials.
If the sales team feels uncomfortable creating content, they could be
interviewed by the marketing department. The marketing department could

3. take content /basic materials, emails from the sales team and polish it up into
visually appealing content that customers can access.
Customer Service
Similar to the sales team, your customer service teams are front line soldiers
to help customers with issues they face at call centers or through social media.
Ask them to write down complaints they get from customers with the answers.
These complaints of FAQ's could be put up on a web site via a PowerPoint
presentation, blog etc... If this is not possible for the team, interview them,
collect basic materials, emails, notes and create the content yourself.
Sales and Customerservice team are an important part to using a Content
Marketing Strategy for customerretention. The more products a customer
uses from a brand, the less likely they will switch to a competitor. Remember
it costs more to obtain new customers that it does to keep existing ones.
Cross-Selling & Up-Selling
Sales and Customerservice teams can also help with cross and up-selling by
sharing promotion and new offerings with customers. The Sales and customer
service functions of brands are essential to creating a great experience for
customers.
This is how brands can integrate sales and customer service teams into their
Content Marketing strategy. How are you using content from sales and
customer service teams to help your brand retain customers? What are the
goals of your brands content marketing efforts?

4. Feel free to comment and share.
About the Author
Dan is passionate about using Marketing to help businesses drive sales. He
has worked on various marketing assignments that include a Start Up,Political
Campaign & a Digital Marketing Conference.
Prior to Teaching, Dan served customers as an Outside Sales & Marketing
Representative in the Dental industry. In this role, he taught and trained
Dentists on the company's products and services using a consultative selling
approach. He also supported the company's marketing efforts at industry
trade shows & in the field through lead generation of Digital Technology along
with large Dental Equipment.
He writes and publishes a business blog on the topics of Sales, Marketing &
Social Media entitled Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today.
Dan is seeking a full time marketing role in New York City. He is interested in
roles in Direct, Digital, Content & Social Media Marketing. If your company is
hiring for roles in these areas, contact him directly via a free LinkedIn
Message or email him at Dan@DanGalante.com to set up interviews.