The evolution of sales playbooks

Sales playbooks have been integral to sales success for decades. But, as buyer journeys have shifted, sales playbooks have also evolved. Let’s take a brief look at how far they’ve come in recent years. 

Why are sales playbooks important?

We’ve already mentioned how helpful sales playbooks are when it comes to navigating rapidly changing sales processes and evolving buyer preferences. Sales playbooks also positively impact your entire GTM team and promote ongoing company growth. In fact, one study found that companies with well-defined sales playbooks and processes are 33% more likely to be high performers. The win rates also exceed 50% for two-thirds of companies that have these in place. If that isn’t encouraging enough, here are some of our other favourite benefits.

Decrease ramp time

New reps have access to a step-by-step guide that they can follow to engage with customers and learn important information.

Improve productivity

Because reps know where to find important information, they spend less time looking for what they need and more time interacting with buyers.

Drive consistency

Playbooks create and clear, concise and easy to follow processes for every function of the GTM organisation.

Increase effectiveness

By equipping sellers to navigate various scenarios, they can quickly and efficiently interact with buyers and close deals faster.

The Sales Playbook Blueprint

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Buyers also want the content they receive to be personalised and informative. Content that is irrelevant to a buyer will simply be ignored. So, in order to get the content experience right, organisations need to create content that helps them to build relationships with buyers and, ultimately, generate more revenue.

What is sales collateral?

Sales collateral includes any document or materials that sales reps use throughout a deal cycle. While there are many different types of sales collateral, the primary purpose of collateral is to educate, inform and engage prospects so they’ll move closer to making a purchase decision. Effective B2B sales collateral gives buyers more information about your company, its products and services and how they help customers solve their unique business challenges.

What’s the difference between sales collateral and sales enablement collateral?

Before we dive into examples of common collateral, it’s important to understand the difference between sales collateral and sales enablement collateral.

Sales collateral includes the sales and marketing materials that are designed to support the sales process. Sellers use sales and marketing collateral with buyers and customers to educate them on your products and services. These are intended to be external-facing and used during sales presentations, meetings and other communication with buyers.

Sales enablement collateral is broader in scope. It includes materials, tools and resources that empower and enable sellers to perform at their best. Sales enablement assets equip and support sellers with the knowledge, skills and resources they need to succeed in their roles. Sales enablement documents include both customer-facing materials (sales collateral) and internal resources like training content, sales playbooks, messaging desks and competitor analysis materials.

Sales and enablement collateral are equally important because they both help sellers do their jobs quickly and effectively. In this post, we’ll dive into specific examples of sales collateral and how they impact your company’s bottom line.

Effective sales collateral examples

Regardless of the type of collateral you send buyers, it should clearly convey useful information that addresses their questions and needs. Some of the most common collateral materials include:

• Blog posts: Blog posts are one of the best formats for building awareness with new buyers. They demonstrate thought leadership, helpful knowledge and expertise on a variety of topics. Blog posts have high shareability and are great for sellers to share on social media and in emails.
• eBooks: Similar to blog posts, eBooks effectively promote and raise awareness of your organisation. They also provide helpful education on common challenges.
• Case Studies: Testimonials are powerful sales materials. They provide tangible and social proof that your company has helped others navigate and solve similar challenges and pain points.
• Research reports: Research reports, also called white papers, often include third-party research that positions your company as a market leader. Organisations may also conduct their own research on a specific trend or topic and share the findings. These are best for presenting research findings, facts and figures, and other specific data. 
• Product demos: Personalised demos are a direct way to show buyers the ins and outs of your product while demonstrating how it helps them solve their specific challenges.
• Knowledge bases: A knowledge base or FAQ site provides a solid collection of articles and reports created by your organisation. These bolster a buyer’s confidence in your capabilities and availability to answer their questions once they become a customer. 
• Newsletters: Newsletters can help keep your brand top-of-mind, share important company news and foster deeper relationships. 

Why is sales collateral so important?

Sales collateral is an important tool in the sales cycle. In fact, 95% of purchasing decisions are directly influenced by content. Sales collateral helps sellers: 

Mapping sales materials to the buying process

Today’s buying process is more complex than ever. The best sales collateral aligns with the buyer’s journey and supports buyers as they move from stage to stage. Let’s take a closer look at these stages and what types of sales collateral is most effective for each.

The first stage is awareness. Buyers have identified a challenge they want to solve and are actively researching information to better understand the problem and possible solution. Awareness-level content brings buyers to your site, introduces your company and products, and provides helpful information. This type of collateral often includes eBooks, blog posts and webinars.

Once a buyer discovers your business, you need to deliver relevant collateral that keeps you at the top of their consideration. This is when sellers start conversations, build relationships and learn more about the buyer. Because they’re likely considering multiple vendors or options, sales collateral needs to show how your product can fit into their business and help them reach their goals. This is when case studies and personalised demos are useful.

Over time, buyers will narrow down their options and make a final decision. So, it’s important to provide materials that facilitate conversations, foster authentic relationships and reinforce the benefits of partnering with your organisation. Pricing guides, case studies and competitor comparisons are essential during this stage of the deal cycle. 

The buyer’s journey doesn’t stop once a prospect becomes a customer. Now, it’s time to drive satisfaction to encourage retention and growth. By providing FAQs, newsletters and customer-only events, your organisation will build stronger relationships and encourage customers to become advocates.

Sales collateral best practices

Now that we’ve covered the meaning of sales collateral and the value it brings, let’s look at some best practices to help your organization leverage collateral as much as possible.

Assess your sales materials

First, take inventory of your current sales collateral library. Gather all your content, then take a step back to review each piece. Consider if it supports your organisation’s goals and objectives. This will help you identify what type of collateral is missing. And remember, if one part of your collateral becomes outdated, it doesn’t mean the entire piece is useless. Search for ways to keep the parts of content that works while discarding anything that’s no longer relevant or up to date.

Tailor collateral to the buyer’s journey

It’s important to understand the process your buyers take to make a purchase decision so you can customise your collateral accordingly. Remember, personalised sales content is far more engaging than generic marketing materials. Give your sellers the ability to quickly and easily customise content for each buyer.

Talk to your sellers

The people who have the best ideas and feedback about your content are the ones who use it each day. Ask your sellers what content they find most useful or used most often. At the same time, find out what they rarely use or would like to see created to better address their needs.

Track and measure collateral effectiveness

Monitor content analytics such as open rates for email attachments, engagement with digital collateral and conversion rates at different stages of the sales process. This will help you refine and improve your collateral over time.

Leverage a sales enablement tool

Let technology be your partner! A dedicated sales content management system organises, stores and manages sales collateral. Let’s learn a bit more about the value of an enablement tool and how it helps organisations manage collateral.

The value of enablement tools for sales collateral

A recent survey of more than 1,200 full-time sales, enablement and customer service professionals found that enablement tools help organisations effectively manage and use their sales collateral. In The 2023 Value of Enablement Report, 9 in 10 respondents report using enablement tools in their job, and 99% of them agree that it makes their jobs easier. Let’s take a look at why organisations need enablement technology.

Time saved

Sellers in organisations without an enablement tool spend an average of 10 hours per week searching for and updating sales and marketing materials. However, respondents at organisations that use an enablement tool save 13 hours each week.

Confident sellers

It’s also worth noting that quick access to sales collateral enables sellers to not second-guess themselves. 97% of sellers say that quick access helps them speak to buyers from a more informed standpoint. Comparatively, 51% of respondents at organisations without an enablement tool say that they have misspoken during a sales or customer call.

Increased productivity

88% of respondents say that an enablement tool allows them to be more productive in their roles. When sellers can quickly locate the right content at the right time, they can shift their focus to other high-priority and revenue-generating activities. However, productivity significantly decreases at organisations without enablement technology. 91% of respondents agree that not having access to the content they need makes them feel less productive.

How to organise sales collateral

Sales collateral only works if it’s easy to find, personalise and share with buyers. Effectively storing and organising sales collateral is crucial for ensuring that your sales team can access, use and distribute materials effectively. Here are some tips organisations can follow to streamline sales collateral management and organisation.

1. Create a clear folder structure: Create a logical and consistent folder structure within your sales CMS. Organise materials by type, product/service, industry, buyer persona or any other relevant criteria. Consider using a taxonomy that makes it easy for salespeople to navigate and find what they need.
2. Implement metadata and tagging: Use metadata and tagging systems to add descriptive information to each piece of collateral. This metadata should include keywords, descriptions and other relevant details. This helps in quick searching and categorisation.
3. Establish version and access controls: Clearly label and archive older versions while ensuring that the most current versions are readily accessible. This prevents confusion and ensures that outdated content isn’t used. Be sure to also implement access controls and permissions to restrict who can view, edit or download specific pieces of content.
4. Audit and clean content: Conduct periodic audits of your sales collateral library. Remove outdated or irrelevant materials. This keeps the library clean and reduces clutter.
5. Build a content approval workflow: Establish a content approval process to ensure that all collateral meets quality and branding standards before it’s added to the library. This can include review by marketing, legal or other relevant teams.

Say goodbye to sales content chaos

Sales collateral is a valuable tool for every go-to-market team. But, in order for sales content to be effective, it has to be easily accessible, engaging and personalised. Sales and marketing teams use Seismic’s sales content management tool to power content accessibility and personalisation at scale. With Seismic, sellers can find useful collateral, customise it for each prospect and share it in a matter of seconds. The result is faster deal cycles and more engaged buyers. Want to learn more? See Seismic’s content management platform in action.

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What is a sales content management strategy?

Because sales content is so important, organisations need to have a well-designed sales content management strategy in place. Sales content management is the process of creating, organising, storing and sharing content in one central location. This ensures that sellers can easily find, personalise and share relevant content with buyers at the right time.

Why sales content management is important

Sellers are working in a more competitive and ever-evolving sales landscape. Because of the transition to remote and hybrid workforces, along with changing buyer preferences, go-to-market teams have to embrace virtual selling to find new ways to connect with buyers and create meaningful relationships.

Buyers are also researching products and services, comparing competitors and looking at customer reviews before they talk to a sales rep. So, when they finally engage with your sales team, they expect to receive useful information that answers their specific questions. The ability for sellers to address a buyer’s needs and deliver relevant sales and marketing content at the right time is one of the best ways to keep them informed and moving through the sales cycle.

Benefits of content management

Creating a single source of truth for your sales enablement resources is extremely valuable. Not only will it help sellers become more successful in their roles, but it can also:

Improve productivity

Sellers currently spend nearly 70% of their time on non-selling activities and that includes searching for content. But, when sellers know where to find sales collateral, they spend less time looking and more time focusing on their top priority: selling.

Promote accurate messaging and content usage

On average, 65% of content that’s created by marketing goes unused by sellers. Instead, reps spend time crafting their own content which increases the risk of delivering inaccurate information or inconsistent brand messaging. Sales content management increases the likelihood that marketing-produced and approved content will be seen and used by sellers.

Streamline and accelerate the sales process

By giving sellers access to relevant content that can also be personalised, they can better provide prospects with content that’s engaging, relevant and useful. This can accelerate deal cycles and move prospects through the buying process much more quickly.

What is a sales content management system?

In order to create an effective content management process, more organisations are turning to sales content management systems (CMS). A content management system is a type of software that stores sales and marketing content all in one place. This provides go-to-market teams with the ability to search and find the best collateral right within the sales enablement app. The best content management software also does more than store content; it also automates processes, provides reps with customisation flexibility and recommends additional pieces of useful content. This functionality helps sellers quickly provide the most relevant information to buyers and move deals forward.

How to use sales content management tools

Sales content management systems are a great way to streamline the sales process and create a simplified workflow for your sales team. Here are just a few other ways that go-to-market organisations can use this type of sales enablement tool.

Engage with buyers before and after meetings

In the world of virtual selling, every moment sellers have with a buyer matters. Sellers can easily access and share relevant content before and after meetings so they can spend that time asking and answering questions, and building meaningful relationships. Buyers can revisit and share that content with other stakeholders as much as they like.

Maintain compliance

Content management systems also ensure that the content sellers use is up-to-date, on-brand and compliant with industry or company regulations. CMSs give sellers as much or as little flexibility for content customisation as sales leaders want them to have. Teams can also use this sales enablement software for content approvals before it’s shared with both internal and external audiences.

Define user permissions

A sales content management platform also gives administrators and leaders the ability to create user groups and set various permissions across each group. First, this ensures that users only have access to the content they should. For example, a sales team that is responsible for selling a specific product would only see the sales collateral that’s been assigned to their user group instead of seeing content for each and every product your company offers. This also makes it easier to organise content so that sellers have quick access to the most relevant content. Additionally, administrators can determine how sellers can save assets and share content with prospects.

Update content assets automatically

Because a sales content management system creates one golden source for sales enablement materials, teams can easily update content in one place instead of tracking down each location where it may be stored. The updated content is then pushed out to those who have access to it as a way to ensure that everyone has the latest and greatest version.

Track content usage and engagement

Marketing teams spend a lot of time and resources creating high-value sales collateral but, oftentimes, they don’t know if or how that content is being used. Content management systems are a great resource for tracking the content sellers search for and share. It also provides sellers with data on how buyers engage with the data. These insights are a great resource for organisations as they plan their sales enablement content strategy over time.

Features and functionality to look for

If your organisation is ready to implement or update your sales content management system, there are a number of things to consider before making a purchase. The best sales enablement software for your team needs to solve the challenges that your sellers face while also optimising the sales process. Here are just a few features we recommend reviewing:

• File support: Your sales and marketing content likely lives as PDFs, slide decks, documents, videos, and more. Make sure that whatever sales content management system you move forward with supports all of the file types that your organisation uses.

• User settings and controls: Some content management systems also let leaders and administrators set specific permissions for content customisation. If your organisation is part of a highly-regulated industry or wants to ensure content remains on-brand, look for a tool where you can update settings that give as much flexibility for editing as you need.

• Accessibility: The shift to virtual selling also means that the mobile workforce and use of mobile devices have increased. Look for a management tool that gives sellers easy access from both computers and mobile devices.

• Integrations: Your CMS is likely only one part of a much larger sales enablement strategy. Be sure the tool you select integrates with the other tools in your sales tech stack to ensure a seamless workflow for your go-to-market teams. Or, look for a unified platform that includes all of the tools that your team needs to use on a daily basis.

• Analytics and reporting: It’s essential to review how your content impacts sales deals and revenue. Be sure your content management system provides robust data and reporting capabilities so you can track the content sellers use, what type of content engages buyers most and how content is performing throughout the sales process.

Manage sales content with Seismic

Is your organisation ready to improve its sales content management process? Seismic’s leading sales enablement software features the CMS you need to easily create, store, update and share content. This provides sellers with the right content that they need for every interaction which improves the time spent selling and overall win rates. Read how one customer improved the likelihood of a deal closing by 35% by delivering content with Seismic. Or, get a demo to learn more about Seismic’s sales enablement and content management tools.

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Content analytics is the data and insights that offer a comprehensive view of how and when content is shared, who consumes it and how it influences revenue. Content analytics provide organizations actionable insights to optimise content and workflows, enhance storytelling and improve business outcomes.

Why is it important to track content performance?

Content performance data will help you identify areas that need improvement and show you where to shift your focus. After all, if a specific piece of content consistently outperforms another, using the more successful content can increase ROI. Here are just a few reasons why it’s beneficial to track content performance.

Identify most and least used content

Good content is one of the most powerful tools a company can have. When used correctly, it quickly builds trust between you and your consumers. By viewing your content, they should be able to glean all of the basic information about you that they need.

• Who are you (as a business)?
• What do you do?
• What are your company values?
• What do you have to offer potential consumers?
• What makes you unique, and why should the audience be interested?

Determine how content is being used at each point of the deal cycle

If you have yet to perfect the art of the sales funnel, content analytics will help. It shows you how effective each type of content is relative to when you implement it. This will allow you to track patterns and pinpoint the optimal time to use different content pieces. You need this because even the best content can be ineffective if you time it wrong.

Understand how content influences deal progression

The main reason to use content analytics is to track what content is working ideally and how it impacts your business’s sales. If you are making content without tracking its performance, you may be putting time, money and effort into something that is giving you minimal return. By keeping track of your content’s effects on deal progression, you can make sure that you only use content that benefits your business’s bottom line.

Uncover what type of content is missing from your organisation

Content analytics does more than tell you which content is effective, which needs to be gotten rid of and when to use it. It also helps indicate content opportunities that your business can use to improve sales and audience engagement.

Content metrics to track

Content analytics can be used by every team within the organisation. Marketers use content analytics to understand what content sellers use and how well it resonates with prospects. Sales reps can use content analytics to see how long buyers engage with content and use these insights to personalise their outreach. Sales and enablement leadership use content analytics to identify winning workflows and scale them across the organisation.

So, how do they capture these insights? There are several key metrics that help go-to-market (GTM) teams capture a comprehensive picture of their activities. We’ll review each of them across the GTM lifecycle.

Content management metrics

Content management is the practice of collecting, maintaining and publishing your organisation’s content. Content analytics is a crucial component of content management, especially when tracking content freshness and what content reps are looking for.

• Content freshness: Content freshness is a term used to refer to how new, up-to-date and relevant your content is. Stale content will not catch your target audience’s attention and, if it’s bad enough, can even discourage leads from doing business with you.
• Content searches: The right content management software can help you determine what content reps are looking for and whether they run searches that produce zero results. Tracking content searches will tell your marketing team which content is still relevant, must be updated or can be done away with.

Content management is a big task and isn’t something that your employees can do manually or by hand. Implementing content management software is an investment that all businesses should make.

Content usage metrics

Before content is shared with prospects, it is first shared with sales reps. In order to create valuable content, marketers need to understand what’s popular with sellers. The following metrics will help you understand content usage:

• Downloads: How many times have sales reps downloaded content.
• Shares: How many times has an asset been shared by sales reps.
• Edits: Are sales reps modifying or updating content to personalise it for buyers?
• Uploads: Track how many new assets are created and added in a given period of time.

These metrics tell the story of how marketing and sales create and consume content. By understanding how and when sellers interact with content, marketers can work more efficiently and produce more of the content that sellers need.

Content engagement analytics

Buyers engage with content that helps them resolve their business challenges. The amount of time a prospect spends viewing content, as well as the links they click tells an important story. These insights allow for more meaningful conversations and help revenue teams determine how content influences opportunities. There are a handful of metrics that allow your GTM organisation to measure engagement, but here are four types of analytics to start with:

• Average page views: How many pages do readers view after engaging with a specific piece of content
• Median view time: How engaging is the content you share with prospects? Measure content effectiveness by determining how much time is spent engaging with content.
• Engagement by sender: Identify the sellers that receive the highest engagement on the content they share with buyers.
• Engagement by content: Identify the content that yields the most engagement and drives more opportunities and deals.

By combining these metrics, your GTM team can begin to create a comprehensive picture of buyer engagement. When your team understands which content drives more views, the longest view times and who generates the highest engagement, you can understand what resonates with your buyers and begin to scale best practices. You can also use these metrics to set benchmarks that your team can use to measure performance over time.

Content value and ROI

At the end of the day, content is only as valuable as its ability to create opportunities. In order to understand how valuable your content is, you need to understand how buyers engage with it throughout their journey.

Content by sales stage: Monitor the content that buyers engage with at different stages of their purchasing journey.

Content influenced opportunities: At the end of a closed deal cycle, identify which content the buyer engaged with and whether it led to a closed-won or closed-lost opportunity.

Identifying where buyers engage with content during their purchasing journey helps determine when content is most effective and how it helps progress conversations. By understanding which content helped win or lose new business, your sales reps can use these insights to tailor their content experiences for future buyers.

The perks of using content tracking tools

Content analytics is a must-have for all businesses. Still, it can be daunting for smaller companies or those that are new to the concept. But what if it didn’t have to be? Content tracking software makes the process significantly easier and more efficient. Here are just a few things that content tracking software can help you accomplish.

Pull data and reports for actionable insights

Content tracking tools offer many new and improved ways to gather, store and organise data and content reports. These can then be used to fine-tune content usage strategies, pinpoint weak spots in your process or identify any content you may be missing.

Share key data across the team

While having this information is a big step in the right direction, miscommunication, misplaced documents and a lack of cohesion across teams can lead to significant setbacks for your company. Fortunately, content tracking software offers optimised ways to share data across teams and team members without it getting lost or misunderstood. It also gives them the ability to access it from any location at any time, in case they need access outside the office.

Dive into content data with Seismic

Now that you know why you need sales content analytics and content tracking software, where do you get it? Well, that’s simple. You can find all the content-related software you need through Seismic.

Seismic’s Sales Content Analytics gives you a complete picture of prospect engagement, actionable insights and a customisable dashboard to get your information delivered the way you want it. When you work with Seismic, you’ll be able to form a connection with consumers like never before.

The post An Introduction to Sales Content Analytics appeared first on Seismic.

Even more surprising? Many marketing teams have yet to crack the code to improve their processes and technology to keep up with new demands. After all, in today’s predominantly digital sales environment, B2B marketing teams face an unprecedented number of requests to create and activate personalised content that enables sellers to interact with prospects and move them through the buying journey. However, it’s not feasible for marketers to field continuous requests and create unique content for every buyer.

What is marketing enablement?

Marketing enablement empowers marketing teams with the right tools, resources and information to effectively create content that sellers can use to educate and engage buyers. It also provides marketers the necessary data, best practices and technology that enables them to align with sales teams and make strategic business decisions. By turning to in-depth insights, marketers can measure the impact of their efforts and better align with sellers to orchestrate campaigns that drive revenue.

The ultimate goal of marketing enablement is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing activities. It helps marketers better understand their buyers, create compelling campaigns and equip sellers with the content they need to interact with prospects. Marketing enablement can drive even greater results when combined with a sales enablement strategy and solution. This creates a go-to-market enablement programme that streamlines content planning, organises sales collateral and accelerates the sales process.

Marketing enablement vs. sales enablement

It’s important to note that marketing enablement and sales enablement are two distinct yet related concepts. While the overall goal of marketing enablement is to streamline and improve marketing activities, sales enablement equips sellers with the knowledge, content and tools they need to engage with buyers and close deals.

While they support different areas of the business, they both improve the buyer experience and drive revenue. They also rely on the effective use of content, data and technology to support their respective team and activities. It’s important for both marketing and sales enablement to have a customer-centric mindset that prioritises the needs and pain points of their buyers to create personalised experiences. 

The marketing and sales divide

The need for marketing enablement has never been greater. This is rooted in the fact that marketing and sales teams are frequently misaligned. In fact, 90% of marketing and sales leaders identify disconnects in strategy, process, content and culture that hold back GTM efforts​. 

This lack of alignment creates gaps between marketing and sales. As a result, sellers don’t understand how marketing content is relevant to their sales cycles because it isn’t contextualised for specific opportunities. Marketers often lack this visibility and don’t have the insight needed to identify what content is actually used by sellers and if it drives revenue. This results in lost efficiency and performance across the entire GTM organisation. In Seismic’s 2023 Value of Enablement Report we found that

• 60% of the collateral that marketing creates goes unused by sellers.
• 63% of sellers say that the content they use isn’t personalisable enough for customers.
• 97% of reps don’t have access to the content they need.
• 40% of sellers say that content is irrelevant to their clients’ use cases and industries.

In order to bridge the divide, teams need a marketing enablement strategy that ensures they’re creating the right content to drive meaningful and personalised buyer experiences. More leaders recognise the need for enhanced collaboration and communication, too. Hubspot found that 44.8% of marketers said that sales and marketing alignment has become an important business initiative over the last year. 

How does marketing enablement work?

Marketing enablement helps to align the goals of the entire GTM organisation so everyone has a clear understanding of the organisation’s objectives, audiences and enablement strategy. Let’s take a look at three key areas where marketing enablement helps teams create an effective sales content marketing strategy. 

Project planning for sales enablement content

Marketers need the ability to create an all-encompassing plan that orchestrates marketing activities and content to relevant campaigns and buyers. But this takes intentional strategy and planning. A marketing enablement plan helps marketers create a roadmap for the content and assets they need to create a specific campaign, initiative or goal. Marketing enablement strategies are often complex because they have so many moving parts and stakeholders. Project planning helps marketing teams prioritise initiatives and allocate resources accordingly. 

Strategic content audits

Content audits are often difficult because of the amount of manual work they include. They often take place across separate tools and systems, and it’s challenging to identify what content is stale and needs to be refreshed. Effective marketing enablement relies on technology that makes it easy to identify old content, refresh it and store it so sellers have access to the freshest content. This ensures that sellers and others in the GTM organisation tell an up-to-date and consistent story.

In-depth insights 

All too often marketing teams hand content over to sellers and that’s it. After that, they don’t know if sellers actually use the content, if buyers find it useful or if it contributes to revenue. With marketing enablement, teams can track key content analytics and get a comprehensive view of how and when content is shared, who consumes it and how it influences revenue. These analytics provide marketing teams with actionable insights so they optimise their content strategy across the buyer journey and make smarter marketing decisions. 

What are the benefits of marketing enablement?

Marketing enablement can have a measurable impact on businesses. Companies that leverage marketing enablement to align their GTM teams often experience faster growth, higher profits and satisfied buyers. Forrester found that companies with highly aligned marketing and sales teams grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. More companies are realising the benefits of marketing enablement, too, with 87% of marketing leaders noting that collaboration is critical to business success. 

What to look for in a marketing enablement solution

Because enablement is so beneficial to GTM organisations, the marketing enablement tool you invest in is extremely important. Marketing enablement technology provides marketers with everything they need to effectively carry out their roles and align their activities with larger business objectives. Marketing enablement solutions cover a wide range of tools and capabilities that are geared for different aspects of your enablement plan. We recommend using a tool that includes: 

• Content management and activation: Support content production, distribution and governance so sellers have the content when they need it. 
• Strategy and planning: Prioritise initiatives, manage requests and collaborate cross-functionally in order to create a winning enablement plan.
• Orchestration: Execute campaign strategy, content creation and measurement across channels
• Analytics and insights: Leverage data and analytics to understand which content is effective with specific audiences and improve content experiences.

The 2023 Value of Enablement Report found that enablement technology is extremely popular, with 82% of respondents saying they use it in their role. And, a resounding 99% of those respondents agree that it makes their jobs easier.

Make your marketing efforts matter

Marketers need to be able to focus on content that drives deals and dollars, expedite production and empower sellers to access and personalise content fast. That’s where we come in. Seismic’s sales and marketing enablement platform enables marketing teams across the globe with full-funnel visibility and analytics so they can easily identify the most impactful content and deliver more of it – all at scale. Learn how one customer creates and surfaces more than 4,000 pieces of content for thousands of sellers. Or, get a demo to see Seismic in action. 

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