Picture this: James is at his desk, preparing for his next meeting with the marketing department. These days, his department consists more of digital marketers than those following traditional marketing methods. But that’s alright, everyone focuses more on digital marketing these days anyway.
Wait, why are we talking about digital marketing, again? Oh yes, James is preparing for his next meeting, and collecting data for it. His new content marketing strategy should be doing great,but his data doesn’t agree.
His data indicates that he simply doesn’t have enough leads from his marketing efforts. But, that shouldn’t be possible, he’s invested so much in his content marketing strategy. Except….it’s very much possible and it happens all the time. But, it’s natural for James to wonder why this should be happening in the first place.
Today, even the biggest companies in the world have to up their marketing game. If they don’t follow the latest trends, they’re likely to fall behind their many competitors when it comes to lead generation. Content marketing is one of the most popular digital advertising trends these days.
This marketing technique involves giving your viewers useful information to promote your products. Sure, this information can be promotional. But, the main idea here is that viewers should find solutions to their problems with your content.
For this, you would need to have a well-thought-out content marketing strategy. But, it’s not easy to craft this strategy if you haven’t done it before. So, here are some of our best tips for leads generation through a content marketing strategy.
What Makes a Good Content Marketing Strategy?
Before we get started with our tips, let’s first talk about what makes a good content marketing strategy. A good content marketing strategy starts with understanding your audience. Different brands cater to different target audiences. For instance, Nike products don’t appeal to those over the age of 40.
‘Does that mean people over 40 won’t be buying Nike products?’, James wonders aloud at the meeting. ‘No’, replies Sheryl. an SEO expert, ‘it just means that Nike doesn’t consider people over 40 its target audience. Its marketing campaigns are aimed towards a younger, more athletic audience.’
Sheryl is right, of course. Nike ads are both engaging and inspiring. If you don’t have the resources for it, it can be challenging to create such content. You can find a content marketing consultancy to make useful content for your audience.
A dedicated marketing consultant can create an effective marketing strategy for your brand. You need to publish regular and engaging marketing content for your brand to stay on top of the marketing trends. Hence, hiring a content marketing consultancy can be the best investment for your company.
These marketing consultants improve your ROI by helping you reach your audience. They are aware of the nuances of the niche and have experience in creating engaging content to design marketing strategies.
Also, it’s helpful to note that the costs of this kind of marketing are less than outbound marketing. Besides, lead generation is better with content marketing than with outbound marketing.
For those wondering, outbound marketing is the conventional marketing method. This marketing method involves using promotional techniques to reach your customers. This is often time-consuming and ineffective in the face of changing trends.
Instead, content marketing will allow you to keep up with these changing trends.
Content Marketing Tips for Leads Generation
Now let’s talk about some content marketing tips that will help you to boost your lead generation.
1. Use Personalized Content as Much as You Can
Engage your audience better by using personalized content. The first step in this direction is to understand the needs of your target audience. This is the key to creating meaningful content for them.
James knows how to make content interesting, but doesn’t know how to make it meaningful. ‘The things I find entertaining aren’t always very meaningful. How can I make content that’s interesting and meaningful for our marketing campaign?’, James asks no one in particular.
Roshan, a display advertising expert, perks up. ‘Understanding how to make meaningful content isn’t easy, but it starts with listening to our audience’, he says.
‘This doesn’t mean that we need to speak to each customer individually. It simply means that we would need to bear their needs in mind for our advertising campaign.’
‘But how are we to do this?’, asks Sheryl. Roshan replies, ‘One way to do this is through user surveys in which you ask them questions related to our campaign. This will help us to understand what they want to see in our ads. We can use Google Analytics to understand what your customers want.’
Roshan really seems to know what he’s talking about! Knowing your customer demographics can help you improve your content. Think about it, content that would appeal to teenagers wouldn’t appeal to an older audience. Likewise, content that appeals to a male audience wouldn’t appeal equally to a female audience.
A fantastic example of a personalized marketing campaign is Cadbury’s campaign in Australia. The brand matched chocolate flavors to elements from Facebook user profiles. Once users connected with the brand, Cadbury used their photos and information to create content.
2. Pick the Right Channels to Promote Your Content
You would need to pick the right channels to promote your content online if you want to generate leads. After all, it doesn’t matter how good your content is if it’s not reaching your target audience. The right channels help you connect with your audience like never before.
This can lead to increased lead generation in the long run. You would first need to research about channel preferences of various audiences. Research would tell you that Instagram is a popular choice for younger audiences. But, Facebook is popular among those aged 25 and above.
‘What?!’, James exclaims. ‘I don’t even use Facebook anymore…I only see my parents and their friends on it these days’. ‘Shhhh. That’s not what the data indicates. Pay close attention to this next bit’, whispers Sheryl.
You need to consider which channels help you connect with the right demographic. Once you pick your channel, think about the format for your content.
Some channels like YouTube run ads in video format only. Other channels like Instagram use video ads and static ads. Music streaming ads run audio ads that are reminiscent of radio ads. A mismatch between your product and ad channel can make your ads ineffective.
For instance, if you’re selling machinery, your first choice for an ad channel shouldn’t be Instagram. You’d be better off using sites or blogs to feature articles on your machinery. You can create a blog for yourself and promote the links online.
Use relevant sites (such as construction-related sites) for link promotion. This will give you a good chance of improving your online lead generation.
3. Find Ways to Optimize Your Conversion Rate
Remember that the aim behind content marketing is to increase conversions. Conversions take place when a user takes the desired action upon viewing your ads. In most cases, these desired actions are clicking your ads and buying your products. But, there are other ways to measure conversions as well.
For instance, YouTube uses Engaged View Conversions (EVC) to measure conversion rate. This rate measures how many viewers viewed your ads for at least 10 seconds. So, it allows YouTube to show you how many users were interested even though they didn’t click on your ads.
‘But why do we care about users that say our ads but didn’t click on them? Wouldn’t it be a waste of time to view such stats?’, James asks Roshan. Roshan has some experience in PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising, so he answers, ‘This is a useful measurement method because viewers don’t always take action immediately.
A user might want to check out our website after they finish watching the YouTube video they’re interested in. So, it makes sense for us to measure how many viewers are likely to buy our products.For this to happen, our content should inspire actions in users.’
Let’s tell James A few ways in which he can inspire action in viewers:
- End your content with a CTA (Call-To-Action). These are usually small lines of sentences that encourage your viewers to convert. An example of a CTA would be ‘Click Here to Find out More!’
- Use attractive thumbnails for your video ads. A thumbnail is an image on display before a viewer clicks on your video.
- Allow your viewers the option to learn more about your products after they’re done viewing your ads. For instance, add a ‘See More’ link on Linkedin posts. Viewers interested in your post will click on it to know more about your company.
These methods should help you optimize the results of your content marketing strategy. This is because they help you inspire curiosity in your audiences.
4. Consider Keyword Research
The best content in the world is of little use to companies that can’t reach their audience. And, to reach your audience, you should know exactly what they’re looking for. This is only possible if you take part in some keyword research.
Keyword research deals with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), an important digital marketing technique. It is crucial to use SEO techniques for all kinds of advertising content. Know which keywords will get you a high amount of traffic online.
You can measure your traffic using tools like Google Analytics. This tool can help you understand how your SEO techniques are affecting your traffic. Then, think about how you can optimize your use of keywords.
An SEO expert can help you with your keyword research. And, a PPC specialist can help you use these keywords in the right places to boost traffic. So, you can have these experts design your display ads for you.
Keyword tools online can give you results on which keywords are popular. They also let you know which key phrases are gaining attention online.
Remember to check keyword difficulty (KD) when viewing keywords. This statistic will let you know how difficult it is to rank for a keyword. The higher the KD, the harder it’ll be to bid for it on a Google Ads campaign. Also, you should know that more popular keywords are priced higher than others.
Pay attention to these stats before you design your content around a keyword.
Conclusion
Designing a content marketing strategy should be easy if you follow the right steps. If you use each of our tips, you’ll be able to generate leads in no time. This in turn will help you boost your online conversions.
Remember to mix things up every once in a while. Marketing trends change quickly and your content should be able to keep up with that. Your target audience may display more interest in your competitors’ ads if yours miss the mark.
The last thing you should want is for your marketing efforts to fizzle out with insufficient leads!
