20+ Sales Content Types for Every Stage of the Buying Cycle

They say content is king, as sales teams using sales enablement content in their process are 58% more likely to exceed their revenue targets and 79% consider it absolutely crucial for closing deals, according to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Sales Report. 

Yet, 28% of buyers cite info overload as the biggest challenge in their journey. This means you need to be strategic when it comes to creating and sharing sales enablement content with your prospects at different stages of the buying cycle. 

This guide will explore the sales content types for each one of the 4 stages of the buying cycle and how Flowla can make the process of sharing the right resources with your prospects easy and efficient.

Sales content types for your buying stages

Increasingly autonomous, buyers tend to make their buying decisions based on their own research as well as the materials shared by the seller. Hence, getting the right message across to the clients at the right time is key. 

Let’s take a look at different types of content for your sales enablement strategy that make the most sense at each stage of the buying cycle and how they will assist in achieving your sales goal.

Sales content types for the awareness stage 

The first stage of the buying cycle is where you build awareness about a problem or need of your potential buyers and introduce your brand in a non-intrusive manner. To do this, the following types of sales content will come in handy:

• Blog posts are the perfect way to reach a larger audience and educate them on the relevant topics. Since your prospects will most likely look for solutions to their existing problems on Google, you can provide detailed answers to their FAQs, address common pain points, and provide industry insights to introduce them to your product in a subtle manner.
• Social media is a powerful tool for creating visibility and engagement, used by 62.6% of the world’s population. Depending on the audience you’re targeting, you can choose different social media platforms and use various types of content that appeal to people's emotions as well as their direct needs. You can use a mix of text, images, videos, and polls to capture their attention and raise brand awareness.

• Infographics simplify complex information by providing visual representations, which can capture people's interest since visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. They are easily read, highly shareable, and help your content stand out during fast swipes. These types of content can include statistics, step-by-step guides, or comparisons.
• Videos are another visual type of content that offers a perfect way to share complex information. Especially with short videos, you can ensure the viewer watches and absorbs your message without distraction. These could be explainers, behind-the-scenes, how it works, or webinar/podcast pieces.
• Podcasts are audio discussions where you can catch people's attention anytime while commuting or multitasking. Most podcasts include industry leaders and give insights about your main theme. By hosting a podcast, you can reach people through podcast promotion while also reaching the followers of the guests you invited.
• Quizzes and assessments are interactive content that can be identified as part of social media but are not limited to that channel. They allow you to identify knowledge gaps and needs fun and engagingly while helping you create data for your marketing efforts.

Content types for the consideration stage

This is where you start to provide more detailed information about solutions to the buyer’s common problems and position yourself as a trusted advisor. Thus, the content you use should aim to help your prospects make decisions and channel them to your product.

• Whitepapers are in-depth reports based on data-driven insights and trend analysis. They will help you show your expertise and position your solution in the market. They are ideal for deep researchers who want to investigate the problem and solution you want to address.
• Ebooks are comprehensive guides with deep and detailed information about the topic or industry in general. They are similar to whitepapers but provide much longer issues with more detailed data and expert insights.

• Webinars are online events that often feature expert guests providing the prospects with an immediate opportunity to get answers to their questions. Moreover, such events can also offer an opportunity to do a product walk-through, announce new features or updates, or share actionable how-to tips.
• Case studies are the success stories that show how your product has helped your customers with a similar problem the prospects might be facing. They typically contain the before and after, the user's problem, the solution (how you have helped them), and measurable outcomes.

Content types for the decision stage

At the decision stage, prospects are ready to buy but may require that extra push to get them to choose your product. Your content should persuade them to do so and handle the final objections that they may still have.

• Product demonstrations are the key points to show that your product is easy to use and help them solve all your prospects’ problems. They are interactive demos that show the features and benefits of your product.
• Feature comparison charts highlight your advantages and show your product is better than your competitors. This type of content will show how your product stands out and could convert your competitors' current customers to you.
• Customer testimonials and reviews are authentic feedback from your champions. Having actual stories of happy customers and positive, personal, and tangible appreciation can be a persuasive tool to strengthen people’s choice to buy the product on offer by building trust.

• FAQs address common questions and concerns to tackle the objections. A well-organized FAQ section or inside a dedicated digital sales room should address the common objections that a prospect might have and deliver the last bits of information required by the prospect.

Content types for retention and advocacy stage

After the sale, you aim to ensure the customer is retained and, ideally, becomes your advocate. The content used at this stage should be more practical, driving adoption and helping you to cross-sell and create customer loyalty.

• User guides and tutorials provide an overview of the product and allow users to receive detailed and concise information about using it. These assist the customer in proactively deriving the optimum value from the service or product offered so they experience minimal need to contact support.
• How-to videos are educational content that shows how your product can be used in different scenarios. These videos guide your customers through their onboarding process, showing the most important features in action or providing tips and tricks to make the most out of your product.

• Email newsletters are different from email campaigns. This type of content focuses on product updates, tips, news, success stories, or exclusive offers for your loyal customers. The aim is to attach them to your brand, keep them informed and engaged.‍
• Community engagement can be done through online forums, social media groups, or WhatsApp. These spaces will be for connecting, sharing experiences, learning from each other with people with similar interests or problems, and increasing the product's value.‍
• Surveys and questionnaires are great ways to engage your customers, learn about their experiences and suggestions, and show them that you value their input. You can send the surveys via email or put them into your product.

How can Flowla help you?

Flowla helps you create interactive personalized spaces for sales/CS teams and buyers to interact throughout their journey. This unified hub allows you to share the sales content, based on the current stage, eliminating friction and allowing the buyers to consume the resources at their own speed.

Flowla integrates multiple platforms allowing you to easily embed various types of content based on your current stage:

• YouTube or Loom for your videos, 
• Google Slides or Pitch for your decks, 
• Notion or Google Docs for your documents,
• Supademo or Storylane for interactive demos.

Flowla also allows you to embed interactive elements like Calendly to arrange your meetings, DocuSign to create your proposals, Tally for creating surveys, and many more. This creates a customized client portal where they can easily interact with the sellers throughout their journey, increasing conversion and loyalty.

After the sale, at the later stages of the customer journey, Flowla remains a convenient platform for consolidating all onboarding materials and resources and housing your customer success plan. 

Moreover, Flowla makes it really easy to keep all of your sales content assets up to date and neatly organized so every team member can quickly find the right document to share with their prospect at the right time.

Create a winning sales content strategy

52% of salespeople actively use sales enablement content, and 79% consider it crucial for closing deals. But simply creating content isn’t enough. You should strategically align content with each stage of the buyer’s journey.

1. First, you should define your strategy. You need to know who your target customers are, what goals are realistic and what would be helpful to focus on at each stage.
2. Make sure to align your sales messaging across all your channels, whether your social media accounts or website. Clearly communicate your unique selling points so that you can align their perceptions with their requirements and preferences.
3. Generate tailored sales content for each buyer stage, emphasizing what is aimed to be achieved at each stage while using different types of content.
4. Keep an eye on how your content performs measuring engagement to understand the impact and efficiency. This will help you identify what’s working well and what needs to be tweaked to improve performance.
5. Streamline and optimize the process using Flowla to effectively communicate your message, sharing the right content at the right time. 

Be strategic in how you create and share the content, from the awareness to the advocacy stage, to ensure your prospect gets the right information at the right time to guide them through the funnel. 

Flowla is just the right tool to facilitate this process, as it can connect your content, tools, and communication channels in a single convenient platform, creating a consistent customer journey that, with every individual touchpoint, makes it easy to close deals and create brand ambassadors.