Content marketing is a great way to grab attention and generate leads for your business. Content marketing was already doing well as a marketing strategy for businesses, but the pandemic has really catalyzed the growth of content as a reliable marketing strategy.
In this blog, we look at the benefits of content marketing for promoting your brand and how to use it effectively to generate leads for your business.
Start with Market Research
Before you start developing content, do some market research to get an idea of the kind of content that will be effective for your particular industry.
Market research involves identifying the right platforms for posting your content. You also need to select the theme and messaging for your content that will resonate with your target audience.
In addition, you will need to have a fairly good idea of the type of people you are trying to attract. Their demographics, likes, interests and cultural background would help you create the type of content that hits the mark.
For example, if you are selling life insurance products, your content will need to be more formal and target a mature audience. On the other hand, if you are selling kids’ confectionary then your content will need to be more colorful and even cartoonish to be interesting for your target customers.
Find Relevant Keywords to Attract Web Traffic
Chances are that a great deal of your content will be text-based. Most online users still search for information using keywords, and you need to incorporate them in your content to end up higher in search engine ranking.
Once you identify the right keywords for your industry, you will have a pretty good idea about what your target audience wants to know more about. Your content writer will be able to create blogs, articles and guides etc. with these keywords. This will help raise your website ranking and get more traffic for your business.
Match Your Content to Web Users Search Purpose
Keep in mind that you are not the only business that is using the web to attract visitors. Your competitors are probably doing the same and they have optimized their pages to generate organic traffic from Google as well.
What can make your website stand out is how much value visitors derive from your content. You can create value for your audience by having a better understanding of their keyword search purposes and then optimizing your content to fulfill that need.
Here are some common reasons why users search for content online.
- Gain Information: Many web users search for keywords to find quick answers. They are not necessarily interested in purchasing anything at the moment and at the first stage of customer’s journey and your content should aim to inform them what your product or services are about.
- Comparative investigation: These are users who have thought about purchasing a product or service and looking for different sellers in the market to compare quality, features and price of the product or service. These people are in the second stage of customer’s journey. Your goal should be to highlight the features and quality of your offering and what makes it better than competitors.
- Usage Queries: These are web users who are close to buying a product or services. They are looking for information such as mode of delivery or tutorials on how to use and care for the product that they are looking to buy. Some of these could be your existing customers who are looking to upgrade or buy more products similar to what you sell. These are solid leads and highly likely to convert if you can answer their queries through detailed content about the specifics of your product and service.
- Ready to Close: These are people who have thoroughly investigated the product or service. They are ready to buy and just need ordering information. In sales terms, these are solid leads that are in the decision stage of customer’s journey. These may still require product ratings and reviews to understand the experience of your other customers.
You won’t know at what stage your visitors are in their decision-making process. To attract the largest number of people, your content writing team must create content that informs, attracts, generates desires and closes deals. Your content will take the form of a funnel that works well with people at different stages of their customer’s journey to drive them towards sales.
Create Landing Pages that Convert
It is one thing to get web users to come to your website and use it for information. But converting these visitors into paying customers or generating leads for your sales team is an entirely different matter.
A good conversion page begins with an attention-grabbing headline. It is followed by a strong and impactful opening. You can start by posing a question that is probably on your visitor’s mind or give them an example of a problem that they could be looking to solve.
The end goal of the opening is to grab your reader’s attention and interest them enough to read your entire content. If you are pitching on social media, the opening intro is all you will be able to show your readers, so it should be powerful enough for people to click the link and come to your website.
As a Sr. Editor, Steven Dean and his team of seasoned writers at Content Development Pros are experts at creating SEO-optimized content for small, midsize and large businesses. They offer blog writing services, content writing services and perform analyses of your marketing plan, your industry-specific needs, the platforms you want to rank on, as well as what your vision is for your organization before they create tailored SEO plans and content.