The trade press agrees. No leads without content marketing. Classic product advertising has come to an end, so the tenor of many articles. Is it really like that? In our daily agency practice, lead generation is still the number one challenge. Why? Too Few Companies Do Content Marketing? Are you doing it wrong?

Is there a secret? The solution is obvious! Successful content marketing is at least as difficult as good advertising. Anyone who hoped that the creation and distribution of a few white papers, webcasts, videos, or infographics would magically wash the pipeline full will be disappointed. As always, strategy is the key to happiness. Content is Queen! Strategy is King! Well, this realization is not really revolutionary.

But let’s maybe take a step back. What do we want to achieve with content marketing? Correct! We want to win over interested parties. Marketing managers know that the target groups have very different levels of knowledge WB_Illu_Relevance.

If one is looking for a specific solution to a specific problem, another has no idea that he has a problem, let alone that he can solve it with your product. Content marketing can help to create or open markets. How? I have summarized the 5 most important findings from our day-to-day agency work.

5 tips from practice

Tip No. 1

Segment your potential target group into 4-5 phases!

If you have a problem, ask, ask around, and surf the Internet. What is it like? What is the reason? How can you solve it? Who offers solutions and who has the best experience with which manufacturer? You should develop and offer your content along with these phases. An example of a simple classification:

  • People whose attention I want to get
  • People ( who already know me ) whom I want to draw attention to a specific topic
  • People ( who already know me ) whom I want to draw attention to my offer
  • People ( who evaluate products or solutions ) to whom I want to make it clear why they should buy from me.

Successful and less successful content marketing differs in that topics and channels are optimally tailored to the target group.

Tip No. 2

What to do with the content?

There is a misconception that you just put content somewhere on the Internet and then just have to wait. Content and prospects than find each other in a miraculous way. You will guess: the principle of hope only works with the lottery. Unfortunately, content marketing shows hard numbers after a few weeks.

No matter how effusively the trade press heralds the age of content marketing, it remains the same: content is not an advertising channel, but an advertising medium! It follows from this:

Content has to be marketed. You will ask yourself: If the content has to be marketed just as intensively as I used to market my products, what is the advantage of content marketing? Very easily!

In the greater willingness of the customer to identify himself (to reveal his address to you)! Where do you find these people? Which websites, forums, events, and portals do the target persons visit with these different levels of knowledge?

What do they read and where is it worth “picking up” these target groups? The best thing to do is to let yourself be by one media agency help. The result: a matrix with content topics that suit target groups and that are marketed on the right media.

Tip No. 3

What is your content worth?

I already mentioned it: content marketing is above all an exchange. The potential customer exchanges his address for your information, tips, tricks, advice, or other content. When do we swap? If we believe that we will get an interesting value for our “currency” (in this case your address data).

It has long been clear to everyone that our names and addresses will be used some time and somehow to “edit” our sales. Because we all know that, our name and email address are a currency! And this is where most of the mistakes begin.

Think about what content your target people are willing to pay for. I try to give our consultants – depending on the target group – a yardstick! Content for which the target person would not be willing to pay at least 20 euros, Experience shows that hardly any downloaders leave their names behind! This rule applies in particular to getting started: The first level of content marketing or TOFU (Top of Funnel).

Tip No. 4

Content must inspire!

In addition to all points from Tip 1-3, the presentation and implementation (“tonality”) of the content is crucial. In general, complex issues should be presented briefly, concisely, but above all well-founded. From my point of view, 90% of the content offers are not worth their money (ie “their” email address). Why is that? Two things.

Many companies are afraid of revealing too much of their know-how!
The content is not well prepared.

Whether video, white paper, or webcast. If the customer “pays with their good name”, they also want something. And that should be up-to-date, exciting, varied, informative, and entertaining. It is certainly difficult to find the right tone between the high editorial demands of the prospect and the advertising intent of the provider.

If you want to motivate interested parties to find out more about you, you have to take two things to heart! a) It must make it easy for the content user. Guidebooks, blogs, videos, or white papers all too often look like the annual report of the allotment garden association Ottobrunn. b) He must be patient.

Tip No. 5

How do I write white papers, newsletters, blogs, etc.?

More on that next week! The best thing to do is subscribe to my blog, so don’t miss the content marketing text seminar. In about 10 days more at this point!;-)

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Author

I am a marketing executive in a virtual SEO Expert. I have knowledge of on-page & off-page SEO, Analytics, and ads. Apart from this, I have knowledge of local listing.

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