Are you struggling to generate new leads for your business? What about converting them into paying customers?
Either way, content marketing can help.
Content marketing is about regularly publishing relevant, valuable content to generate traffic and leads for your business.
But the best part?
The leads that you acquire by using content marketing will be qualified leads. These prospects are already genuinely interested in the problems your business solves. This will make converting them into paying customers much easier!
Here’s how you can take advantage of content marketing to drive more qualified leads to your business!
Lead Generation Through Content Marketing
1. Lead Generation Tracking and Analysis
If you are using content marketing to its full potential, you will be able to generate higher and higher quality leads through lead generation tracking and analysis.
Since the effects of every piece of content you create can be measured, you will be able to see exactly what’s working and what’s not. You can also create a baseline to measure your marketing strategies against, and tailor your marketing campaigns accordingly.
Did you write a blog post that received a 20% increase in lead generation? Fantastic – write another! Did nobody show up to your Instagram live? Perhaps you should consider other content marketing channels instead!
Knowing exactly where each of your leads came from will help you tailor your marketing strategy to your target audience and stop wasting dollars on advertising campaigns that simply don’t work.
2. Sales And Marketing Integration
Gone are the days when your sales team was solely responsible for cold-calling prospects and drumming up new business. Your marketing team’s job no longer begins and ends with generating buzz and spreading brand awareness.
With content marketing, both teams can (and should) work together to achieve amazing results for your business.
If your marketing team has an in-depth understanding of what content draws potential customers, and your sales team knows what content is available online, you will have a much easier time closing deals.
Your sales team will have a better understanding of the potential customer’s perspective (e.g. what their real pain points are) and therefore will be able to have much more effective sales conversations.
And, since those conversations will take less time, they will be able to devote more time to upselling existing customers – a win-win!
3. More Traffic? More Leads!
Regularly publishing valuable, relevant content on your website is one of the best SEO practices out there.
Google favors websites that regularly publish high-quality content and pays close attention to user experience metrics like bounce rate. If your visitors leave your website after viewing just one page (e.g. after misclicking an ad), your bounce rate will go up and your search engine rankings will go down.
On the other hand, interesting, valuable content will probably make your visitors stick around a bit longer. Moreover, it will help you establish yourself as a trusted source of information in the industry, which will make turning those leads into customers a breeze!
4. Get Higher Quality Leads With Gated Content
If you ask your customer for something before letting them access your content (usually their email address), you are using what’s known as “gated content”. It’s a great way to gauge the prospect’s interest in what you are selling.
Customers that type in their email address to download your eBook or whitepaper, are considered a quality lead.
Not only are they intrigued by your content – they took the time to type in their email address and wait for a download! In the age of decreasing attention spans, that is a big deal.
You can take the power of content marketing even further by asking the lead a few questions, for example, how many people work at their company. It will help you spend more time on leads that are a great fit for your business and have better, more informed sales conversations.
5. Nurture Your Prospects
Content marketing does not end when your prospect signs up for your email list.
Nurturing your prospects with content marketing can be incredibly helpful for B2B companies whose sales pipelines are very long.
And, while the road to a B2C sale might be relatively short, nurturing prospects and customers with more content increases the likelihood of them buying from you again.
Take advantage of the power of marketing automation. Send more free content their way to keep your company at the forefront of your lead’s mind!
6. Measure The Right Metrics (And Your ROI)
It is nearly impossible to accurately measure the successes and failures of traditional marketing campaigns.
You can get a general idea of the size of the audience who is going to see your ad in a trade magazine, but you do not have access to data that would let you accurately measure your ROI.
On the other hand, content marketing lets you choose the metrics that matter to your business, see what worked and what didn’t, and adjust your strategies to maximize ROI.
How Handmade SEO can help
Here at Handmade SEO, we don’t just grow traffic.
We use our content marketing chops to drive qualified leads to your business and help you establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
Interested?
