Posted by Matt Kersey in Uncategorized
Content marketing is a must for modern day business.
The Internet has given us easy access to helpful resources, and many are seeking out these resources for self and career betterment. People are looking to learn things they didn’t already know, help with specific problems, and get answers to specific questions. Some of these people are your prospects.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is “a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
How Will Content Marketing Get Me Leads?By nurturing your prospects through some of the content marketing strategies we’re about to uncover, you’ll be able to stimulate interest from your prospects, drive traffic to your website and build your reputation as a thought-leader in your industry.
Developing the Content Strategy
The most important thing to think about is your ideal prospect. What are they interested in? What will you help them with, as it relates to their business?
Once you know that, you can either begin to curate 3rd party content and/or create your own content, both of which should meet their needs. This is important because if you fail to create content that is relevant to your target audience, they are not going to read it, share it, be impressed by it, or come back for more.
For example, if you’re a B2B software IT company targeting senior level IT executives in large retail companies, your audience is probably interested in more than just IT. They’re most likely also interested in leadership and management content, too. They may even be interested in cyber security, retail trends and new technology.
On the flip side, if you’re a consumer facing brand targeting all Millennials then you may just have too broad of a target. It would be tough to create a content plan that can accommodate everyone who fits that demographic…though not entirely impossible.
I recommend focusing on your ideal client and develop a strategy that is attractive to them. If you then decide that you want to target female Millenials in high school and like dance music, you want to develop and curate content focused on pop music, ballet and things high school girls are interested in.
Creating Your Own Content
If you decide to create your own content you might consider posting a blog on your website, writing ebooks, creating videos, hosting a webinar or sharing a presentation on Slideshare.
The goal is to help your prospects. Teach them something. This will build trust with your audience and eventually make you a trusted resource.While it’s important to keep the prospect in mind throughout the content creation process, it’s ESSENTIAL to have a clear call-to-action at the end of everything you produce. If it’s a blog post, for example, you could invite them to download your newest whitepaper. While it’s not necessary to try and sell them at every turn, it is okay to slip in a sales pitch every once in a while…but don’t overdo it.
Gathering 3rd Party Content
When posting content to social media channels it’s usually a good idea to use a blend of your own custom content mixed with 3rd party 
content. This will soften the sales feel of your posts and will improve interaction with your top prospects.
When curating 3rd party content use the same strategy you used to create your own content; first think about your audience. Then find sources that will allow you to follow good online resources.
One of my favorites is Feedly, which aggregates content from blogs a
nd Google alerts. Another great source is Rt.ly, which pulls the most clicked blog articles about any topic you may be looking for. Both of these websites are FREE and are great resources for curating content.
The Content Blend
Whether you are writing your own content or getting it from a third party source, you will need to remember that the best content is:
- Visually pleasing – Your prospects don’t want to look at paragraphs of text. Make sure the content contains images that add value to the piece that you are sharing.
- Easily digestible – There is no need to write a novel. Keep the content short and to the point…no fluff necessary.
- Engaging- You can captivate your prospects by asking thought-provoking questions and including interesting anecdotes to clarify your point. And it is essential to have a strong introduction, tell your prospects up front why this content is important and valuable.
- Actionable -Make sure the content provides your prospects with applicable information that is easy for them to implement.
In today’s diverse online ecosystem it can be difficult to determine the best places to post all this content you’ve gathered and/or created. This part really depends on your audience. Where are they spending their time? Where can they be reached?
If they’re business professionals, they are probably on LinkedIn. So consider what types of groups they would be in and start posting your content there.
If your prospects are on Facebook you can create and spend some money on “Suggested Posts” ads and hit them with your content that way.
It doesn’t matter what platform your prospects are using, just make sure you are using the correct ones to nurture them in the right way.
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The whole idea behind using content marketing as a lead nurturing tool is to meet your prospects on whatever digital channels they are on, grab their attention, and provide them with a blend of content that they will find interesting and useful. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
What other ideas do you have for nurturing your prospects?
