B2B companies leveraging high-quality written, visual, or digital content can significantly boost lead generation and conversion rates. But how exactly can content marketing be used effectively? We’ve written a comprehensive guide to harnessing the power of content to attract and convert leads.
Table of Contents
Understanding Content Marketing
Effectively, the term ‘content marketing’ refers to any use of valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage with a target audience. Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing focuses on providing information that solves problems or addresses the needs of your audience.
Attracting Leads with Content
The first step in effective content marketing is understanding who your ideal leads are. It’s always suggested that detailed buyer personas be created. These will aid with outlining your target audience’s demographics, pain points, and preferences. Using this information will then guide content creation that resonates with potential leads.
The cornerstone of attracting leads is producing content that offers genuine value. The forms of content that can be used as marketing support are varied. Here are some examples of the most popular formats:
Written Content – Case Studies, Blog Content, and other deep dives into industry-related happenings are fantastic ways of informing and educating potential leads. Additionally, fine-tuning a well-written blog can reap positive SEO benefits for your website.
Visual Content – Perfect for social media, this is a varied means of bringing eyes to your brand. Sites like Pinterest and TikTok heavily support content in portrait, mobile-friendly format. Sites like Instagram or your own website can allow for more creative, landscape or square-based creations.
Video Content – Short form videos – think ‘reels’ – are currently incredibly popular. Producing multimedia content that matches the requirements of the most popular platforms is the most surefire way to catch the attention of potential leads. Additionally, long-form video content such as ‘behind the scenes’ footage works at communicating your brand to an interested audience.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is crucial for reaching as broad an audience as possible. Conduct keyword research to identify which terms and phrases your potential leads are searching for. Integrate these keywords naturally into your content to improve your search engine ranking. It’s particularly worthwhile to feature these keywords in elements such as titles, headings, and meta descriptions.
- Utilise Social Media
Social media platforms are powerful tools for content distribution. Produce content for relevant social channels to increase its visibility and improve website traffic. Tailor your content to each platform’s audience and format; for instance, LinkedIn is ideal for sharing in-depth articles and industry insights, while Twitter can be used for quick updates and links to blog posts.
Consider the role of your audience before setting on a social media platform, though! B2B brands are more likely to benefit from LinkedIn than a casual customer end-user brand, where platforms such as TikTok and Twitter are more relevant.
- Tease Upgraded Content
To convert visitors into leads, offer content upgrades—high quality, ‘bonus’ materials that are available in exchange for contact information. Think about the most relevant services that appeal to your clients.
Producing high-quality content, specifically to be stored behind a gated page that requires user information, simultaneously increases your content with an increase in prestige and provides your brand with valuable information pertaining to a potential lead.
Converting Leads with Content
Attracting leads is only half of the process – now you need to convert them. Spending time attracting people to your brand is worthless if you neglect to try to win them over as customers. Although this is infamously a problematic aspect of running a business, we’ve compiled some essential steps that aid with the process…
Once you’ve taken hold of your interested leads, you want to evolve their interest in your brand.
A valuable, common technique to do so is to create a series of targeted email campaigns. Delivering valuable content to your leads at various stages of their journey maintains brand interest whilst delivering small pieces of new information. It’s essential to strike a balance when drip-feeding content over email. Too much information can overwhelm your audience, whereas withholding too much new information can lead them to believe you’ve nothing new and exciting to show.
A great example of this campaign would be following up with an active web user. Should they download some content from your website – perhaps a report or e-book – there is potential to follow up with a series of emails offering related content, case studies, and insights that address their specific needs.
- Personalise Your Content
Personalisation is a crucial step taken towards converting your leads. Highlighting a level of personable content shows that your brand has taken time to share an affinity with a potential customer.
Use data and insights to tailor content to individual leads based on their behaviour and preferences. Personalised email content – such as emails with specific recommendations or blog posts addressing particular pain points – can significantly increase engagement and conversion rates. Implementing email workflows to be sent to active and inactive users allows for an increased level of personalisation, as users are contacted based on their perceived interest (and lack of) in elements of your brand.
Every piece of content should include a clear and compelling call to action. CTAs guide leads on the next steps and encourage them to take action, whether scheduling a consultation, downloading a resource, or signing up for a webinar. Ensure that your CTAs are relevant to the content and benefit the lead clearly. The most apparent CTA for converting a lead would be the ‘get in touch’ approach, which provides an overview of their needs and personal information.
Initially, CTAs that drive users to your website effectively provide leads with suitable information on your brand, but once they’re attracted, these CTAs need to be more tailored. Think about hosting a variety of landing pages, each with a CTA directing users to a different service or product on your site. This will allow you to funnel users into their specifically desired focus, as well as allow you to assess where your website is popular.
- Leverage Case Studies and Testimonials
Case studies and testimonials are powerful tools for converting leads. They provide social proof and demonstrate how your products or services have successfully solved problems for other clients. Include these in your content strategy to build credibility and trust with potential leads.
Encompass as many industries and sectors as possible to highlight your diverse range of work. Limiting your case studies to several clients or partners within the exact remit of a sector can provide more issues than benefits, as it can portray a narrow client base for potentially interested customers. Additionally, consider the variety of services you offer and try to portray as many of these as possible in case studies.
In a circular nature, case studies and testimonials are also incredibly useful to support content marketing platforms such as email marketing and social media.
- Analyse and Optimise
Regularly review the performance of your content marketing efforts. Use analytics tools to track metrics such as engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Assess which types of content are most effective and refine your strategy accordingly. Continuous optimisation ensures your content remains relevant and effective in generating and converting leads.
A wide range of parts come together for a marketing strategy, and it only takes one to be out of step for the entire performance to be limited. Assessing and optimising your mechanics is often as important as developing the strategy.
Conclusion
Content marketing can be a game-changer for attracting and converting leads when executed effectively. You can build a robust lead generation system by understanding your audience, creating valuable content, optimising for SEO, and employing personalisation and lead nurturing strategies. Remember, the goal is not just to attract visitors but to engage them and guide them through a journey that leads to conversion. With a well-crafted content marketing strategy, you can turn prospects into loyal customers and achieve sustained business growth.
Contact us today to discuss your content strategy in more detail! We may be able to help give it a boost.
