The general perception is that content marketing is basically meant for brand building exercise. Perhaps, many companies approach this technique of digital marketing from this particular perspective. Though it can't be faulted, content marketing can also be used to generate leads for your business. And, that's the reality.
Explore the four great content marketing ideas for B2B lead generation.
Is business community the target audience for your business? Then, the best way to target them is by producing high-quality e-books. Business leaders and those at the helm of affairs generally play the role of a strategist, simultaneously overseeing the execution and implementation of various ideas. Having said that, they are generally on a look out for new insights and information pertaining to their business. And, the creation of e-books is one such content marketing ideas through which your business can attract potential leads from the business community.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, revenue earned through the sale of e-books would approximately be around $8.7B by the year 2018.
How to capture leads through e-book?
Incorporate a less complex form on the landing page to capture leads. Ensure that the form should not be stuffed up with unnecessary fields. Keep it simple. Do understand that your target audience won't be interested in spending more time in filling out the form.
If your intention is to generate maximum leads from the e-book, then create a landing page that is outstanding. Offer a short glimpse about the information contained in the e-book. And, this is where the real trick lies. Don't be overtly promotional. Design content in a manner that it urges the target audience to read. Highlight the key information take-aways.
Let the e-book be educative
E-book should offer great value to readers. In other words, a reader should feel contented that in many ways his/her questions has been answered by reading the resource. E-book provides space to dwell on any subject matter in-depth. And, that's where its specialty lies. The more informative your book is, the maximum is the probability that readers turn to you again for further insights.
Hosting webinars is yet another content marketing idea to garner leads if at all the prime focus of your business is B2B. A webinar should enrich the attendees with highly resourceful information that is of immense value.
How to capture leads through a webinar?
Build a webinar sign-up page and solicit details through which you can figure out the expectations of the attendees. Perhaps, it can be in the form of a qualifying questionnaire. So as to generate leads, choose a trending topic which in relevant to your target audience. The webinar sign-up page should comprise of the title, how the session is going to be, information assets offered to participants and presentation style.
Give a short brief about the speaker. It is the speaker who is going to hold the interest of the participants. Hosting a webinar with the non-attractive speaker as a resource person will be of no help to the business. Lead acquisition will be all-time low in such cases.
Hosting webinars is yet another content marketing technique for lead generation widely adopted by companies focusing on the b2b segment.
White papers are a great source to generate leads. Though many consider it to be an outdated one, it commands great potential till this date.
What should be the style of content in a White Paper?
The content in the white paper should be completely research-centric, and on the other hand, should dwell on a topic that influences the customers' purchase journey. At any cost, don't deviate from this. Ensure that the content is highly informative in all respects, else there is a limited possibility of the customer buying your white paper.
How to generate leads through white papers?
At the first instance, white papers should portray you as a thought leader in the subject matter. In order to grab the attention of readers, incorporate a catchy and attractive title that aptly conveys the uniqueness of the information.
Instead of adding "Buy Now" as the call to action, you can incorporate a call to action button that showcases your genuine interest in educating the readers on a long-term basis. And, hence you can follow up with the reader by asking their intend to avail more information or request them to sign up for a future webinar session.
Generating leads by producing white papers is one of the popular content marketing techniques recommended for companies that focuses on the B2B segment.
There is no other content form that results in increased content engagement than visual content. Even a mediocre content, when incorporated with good visual elements produce extraordinary traction. Ensure that the visual elements and visual representation of content are in sync with the theme of the content.
A 1000 words text-based content can wonderfully be converted into a visual content for better engagement. And, that's where content representation format like infographic comes into the picture. Visual content becomes meaningless if the images used lacked relevancy. At the same time, let not the graphics annoy the readers and become counterproductive.
How to capture leads through visual content?
Though visual content, don't add too much of graphics on the landing page. Include minimal graphics and precise content that outlines the key takeaways of the content produced. Let not the landing page speed come down because of the images and other visual elements incorporated in the landing page.
Indeed, this kind of lead generation through content marketing also work well for companies that focus on B2C segment.
To execute the above four ideas for lead generation, a well-thought-out content marketing strategy is extremely essential.
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