In content marketing, we talk a lot about creating valuable content to get found and how that content needs to be educational and not product focused. However, there will come a time and place where you do need to create content that talks about your products as prospects will look for and need that information before they make a purchase.
But, the imporant thing to remember when developing this more product-focused content is that you still can't just talk about your product features but instead you must talk about how your product solves a specific problem for your industry. I call this piece of content a solution overview and I know from past experience that it can be a very powerful sales tools. Others may call it an application note or a product white paper. The name doesn't matter but the questions it answers does.
I was writing a solution overview this week and it reminded me of how the format for this collateral can be similar regardless of the product or service you are trying to sell. If you put yourself in the shoes of your buyer then it's easy to figure out the questions they are asking or thinking about when it comes to your product. Now there will be a more technical audience that may be more concerned with the features (that's a different piece of collateral) but you need to show the value of your solution before you get to that step.
Here's my standard outlined for a solution overview:
- The Problem:
Define the issues that your audience face in their terms. At a high level, this could be the need to generate revenue, save money, minimize risk, etc. Find out what is keeping your prospects awake at night and show that you understand in this section. - The Solution:
This is not where you list a bunch of features. Instead, explain how your product solves the problems you defined in the previous section. More importantly, explain how it solves these problems differently or better, and it must be significantly better, than other products. - How it Works:
Depending on your audience or product, you may need a more technical section. This is it. Sometimes it may make more sense as an appendix so this section doesn't break the flow of the document. Talk about how your product works using diagrams and other visuals. Walk the reader through the steps so they can see how your product will help them solve the problem at a more detailed level. - The Advantages:
While you should have covered why your solution is different and better throughout the paper, this is the section where you summarize why a company should work with you and use your product or service. Make sure you talk benefits and not features. You may also want to present some corporate background if that helps to build the case. In many cases, this section works as a great conclusion to the paper. - The Results:
Ideally, this section is a case study of how a similar company has implemented your solution and solved a similar problem. In the early stages of a start-up this may not be possible so see if you can do a "blind" case study where the results are from an actual company but it's not named. If that's not possible then illustrate the expected results, but the more real or proven your results are the better.
As you read this outline, do you think it will work for the solution overview for your product or service? It may not be exactly right but with the appropriate tweaks, I'm sure it forms a good foundation. The biggest difference between solution overviews is the detail that you go into and this is more a function of your audience rather than the content.
As I've said many times on this blog, you need to know your audience and develop content for them. In many cases, you can create 2 different solution overviews of different length and detail to address these different needs. Wouldn't this type of collateral help you market your product?
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