In digital marketing, it’s common for industry best practices to change almost as soon as they are introduced. Despite this, content marketing has proven itself as incredibly valuable to boosting overall brand awareness and online visibility.
Content marketing has been around nearly as long as humans have. From the beginning of time, humans have been communicating through images and text, using storytelling techniques and tools to convey messages and insights. With images, videos and text, it is easy to tell a story on the internet, and content marketing is a tried and true way to bring customers to your business.
However, for many marketers, lead generation is an important component to their overall content strategy. About 66% of marketers surveyed are using their content to nurture subscribers, audiences, and leads. But generating leads can be challenging for even the most sophisticated marketers. The market is becoming more saturated and 50% of C-suite executives believe that high-quality thought leadership content has more impact on their purchase decision-making during economic downturns than when times are good. Organizations must dedicate resources to developing high-quality content in order to connect with clients and prospects. Learn more in our guide below.
Is It Possible to Generate Leads Through Content Marketing?
It’s not only possible to generate leads through content marketing, but for many organizations it is the preferred strategy. Since most of the B2B sales process (83%) occurs before a prospect ever reaches out to an organization, content marketing provides the necessary touchpoints to not only generate leads but to nurture them as well.
According to HubSpot, most digital marketers’ primary goals for running marketing campaigns are to increase brand awareness, overall sales and engagement. Combine these three factors with a comprehensive content marketing strategy, and any brand will surely boost lead generation.
However, marketers must also ensure that their content is well-researched and thought-provoking. Generating high volumes of content is no longer enough to be competitive. Digital marketing experts estimate that the average American is exposed to anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 advertisements per day. With all of these ads swirling around newspapers, smartphones, radios and tablets, brands must deliver a clear and concise story, making the importance of content marketing especially omnipresent.
And the industry is catching on. HubSpot reports that 82% of marketers report actively using content marketing in 2021, up a full 70% from 2020. This content strategy seems to be working; year-over-year growth in unique site traffic is 7.8 times higher for content marketing leaders compared to those who chose other marketing channels.
All of these statistics prove one thing for sure: Valuable content is worth its weight in gold.
Why Is Content Marketing Important for Lead Generation?
Content is the foundation of lead generation and nurturing efforts. In today’s competitive landscape, decision-makers have come to rely on content marketing to determine which organizations to work with. About 54% of those surveyed decided to do business with a company they had not previously considered, and nearly half (48%) have given business to a company responsible for producing thought leadership. Additionally, there are a lot of other thought leadership stats depicting how this kind of content creates more value for businesses.
Your content must educate and inspire, but producing high-quality content can be a challenge for many organizations. However, when done correctly, it can generate leads and persuade decision-makers to work with your organization.
10 Steps to Generate Leads with Content Marketing
So how exactly can your business boost lead generation with content marketing? Follow these steps and you’ll be sure to get those customers through your door.
1. Create a Documented Content Strategy
As with any other goal, how can you be sure you have reached your content marketing goals if you don’t have a documented strategy in place? A written-down, carefully thought out content strategy will ensure your entire team stays aligned on your goals, both long-term and short-term. Additionally, creating an editorial content calendar allows the entire team to see the status of all projects and what is in the pipeline. Be sure to conduct a content audit before beginning with any new strategy. It’s important to understand what currently exists, what content needs to be refreshed, what may need to be created, what may need to be outsourced and what topics have not yet been covered.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, the most successful content marketers are the ones who have a documented strategy. However, only 37% of marketers have this in place. Additionally, Marketing Insider Group notes that 65% of the most successful content marketers have their strategy documented.
For the best result, it's recommended to create your strategy before you start executing on content of any kind. This comprehensive strategy should include any newsletters, website updates, trade show-specific collateral, and your blog strategy. So get to brainstorming!
2. Develop Buyer Personas
If you don’t create content that speaks to your target audience, then your content will simply not work. Conducting market research is a fantastic method in determining who exactly your audience is and honing in on their specific wants and needs.
Once you have a good idea of the factors that differentiate a qualified lead from a “regular” consumer, you can start to develop buyer personas. A buyer persona is a research-based profile that represents who exactly makes up your target audience. The goal of a buyer persona is to give insight on what makes the prospective buyer unique, such as their demographics, the criteria needed to make a purchase and certain touch points they need during their customer journey to convert.
Consider including the following when developing your buyer persona:
- Basic biographical details
- Job roles and daily responsibilities
- How they get and source their information
- Common life goals
- Pain points
- Typical location in the buyer’s journey
- Role in making a purchase decision
- Education around your industry, products and services
The answers to these questions will help you craft a robust buyer persona that will inspire your content strategy through better understanding the types of content these personas are seeking.
3. Leverage Thought Leadership Content
It’s no secret that thought leadership content marketing is a vital component of any content strategy. By providing educational material that’s been written and created by industry thought leaders, digital marketers can build trust with a returning customer or a new prospect.
Thought leadership isn’t just a content strategy tactic; it has proven to be successful in more ways than one. Approximately 48% of decision-makers are spending an hour or more per week consuming this kind of content. Additionally, 89% of these decision-makers agree that their perception of a brand can be improved through thought leadership content. With this in mind, why wouldn’t you leverage groundbreaking, authoritative content like this?
4. Plan Content Syndication Campaigns
Content syndication is the process of working with a publisher to distribute content across their channels and databases. If you are a smaller business and you don’t necessarily have the proper platform to promote your content, content syndication can highlight your brand. Even for bigger companies, content syndication can reap a ton of benefits. Large organizations can take advantage of reaching a new audience or engaging with prospects across different channels. Additionally, you can target specific industries with content, using educational or financial content syndication for example.
By partnering with the right publisher in your industry, your team will be able to reach audiences you may not have been able to reach previously, which offers a huge advantage.
5. Choose the Right Social Channels
The choice of channels can also make or break your content marketing strategy. For instance, if Facebook is one social media platform where your target audience engages with your brand most, your team will want to create content that works well for this channel.
Alternatively, if Twitter works best, you’ll want to focus your energies there. The more you understand your target audience’s habits, the better you can create and market your content-driving lead generation.
6. Curate News and Other Pieces of Content
It is important to have something valuable to offer your leads. Curated news and curated content can help to fulfill the needs of nurturing prospects while giving value to new lead generation. Additionally, by leveraging the insights from world-renowned publications, you don’t need to hire additional resources to cover breaking news or niche topics. You can showcase high-quality journalism in your marketing via industry insights to your audience without having to expend valuable resources creating a news team to cover changing trends. Partnering with the right licensing agency can allow you to showcase content from a wide range of industries including financial news, healthcare news, as well as general health and wellness content. Your team can continue to focus on developing quality content, while you supplement any gaps through outside resources.
For example, consider your company newsletter. By leveraging curated newsletter content from outside resources, you can offer additional value on trends and insights that your audience cares about.
7. Boost Leads Through Blog Posts
Blog articles are a great way to connect with audiences and help them get familiar with what your brand has to offer. Since blogs can be exceptionally versatile in terms of the tone used and what you write about, blogs allow a brand to build credibility in their industry and improve their relationships with prospects. This format of content can be very shareable across social media platforms for more views.
A blog can also be a fantastic place to highlight your thought leadership content, which is what audiences are looking for; about 59% of those surveyed agree that thought leadership content is a more trustworthy measurement for an organization’s capabilities and offerings.
8. Experiment With Content Formats
All your customers are different, and not everyone likes to consume content in the same way. One of the best things about content is how versatile it can be, and you’ll want to ensure your content is put in front of as many eyes as possible.
Consider leveraging videos, graphics, ebooks, social media posts and other formats into your content strategy plan for the biggest impact.
Use Visual Content
A picture is worth a thousand words. Incorporating the power of visual imagery such as photographs, infographics, and videos, helps engage your website visitors and boost the message behind the content.
9. Utilize Clear CTAs
It’s a marketing best practice to use a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of every piece of content. This is because readers need to understand what action they should take after consuming your content. For the best results, a CTA needs to be clear and concise, and if you aren’t sure what works, feel free to change things up and experiment.
We suggest using a few different CTAs throughout your content to see which performs best. You can even use a different CTA for each format of content, such as infographics, blogs and social media posts, and test out response rates from there.
By adding CTAs throughout your content, you can make it easier for users to convert.
10. Optimize Content For Conversions
Make sure your content effectively generates leads through optimizing it for conversions. Adding gated content throughout your site, such as exclusive whitepapers, ebooks, or webinars, can be a game changer for capturing conversions and increasing lead generation. These valuable resources entice website viewers to share their contact information and also help you strengthen your positioning as an industry leader.
How Do You Write Content That Generates Leads?
Now that you have your content strategy in place, below are some content marketing ideas to generate qualified leads for your business.
Conduct Competitive Research
It’s always a good thing to look at your direct competitors. Not only will you see how they communicate to their audiences, but you’ll see how the customers interact daily. Plus, you’ll start to get an idea of what topics are popular in your industry, which can help to build out your editorial content calendar.
Read Industry Journals
Industry magazines and journals will give your brand insight into what your target demographic cares about. They offer a different perspective that you may not be used to and are a great existing resource to use.
Outsource Content
Outsourcing content development from thought leaders can give valuable perspectives and insights from a source that is tried and trusted in your industry. Creating content in this manner can further build relevance and credibility with your audience. You can also outsource blog content in order to make your core team more efficient.
Leverage Licensed Content
Content licensing allows you to partner with world-class publishers to distribute your content across channels that may not have been available to you originally. Using this content, such as the multiple offerings from The New York Times Licensing Group, can bulk up your editorial calendar while speaking to professionals on industry trends and insights.
Types of Lead Generation Content
There are many different types of content that can generate leads. Consider the following:
Ebooks
Ebooks are a great form of content marketing used to generate leads. They offer a way to explore more complex topics, but broken down into digestible chapters. Ebooks are often packed with other types of content to help illustrate complicated topics, such as charts and infographics, so they are a great way to provide useful, authoritative content that is broken down into smaller chapters. Given the emphasis of design and images in ebooks, they tend to be more informal and fun.
White Papers
White papers are valuable because they are more persuasive and academic. Site visitors often look to download white papers from authoritative, credible sources, and use them to assist in their decision-making process. Furthermore, they’re an excellent form of lead generation content, as they are normally offered in exchange for customer information–such as an email address.
Webinars
Webinars are useful for introducing prospects to thought leadership in your industry, in real time. Webinars can also be repurposed after the date of the event, and gated behind a lead capture form, which can be a great way to generate high-quality leads. In addition to the lead generation aspect, they help to build your brand’s authority, as these events put a face and a voice to the people behind your company for the attendees to interact with and ask questions.
Licensed News Articles
Licensed news articles can help nurture relationships with potential buyers, since it provides credible and insightful information. AdvisorStream, an award winning platform for financial platforms, used licensed content from reputable brands to drive conversions and engagement. As a result of this initiative, they were able to increase lead capture via its platform by 260%.
Final Thoughts
Using content marketing to generate leads is only as powerful as the strategy behind it. A comprehensive content strategy can work wonders for businesses of all shapes and sizes, and when done properly, will generate qualified leads right to your door.
If you do not have the bandwidth or resources to build out a content marketing strategy in-house, don’t fret. The NYTLicensing Group has multiple content licensing packages that will use our expert storytelling to inspire your audience. We have current and archival content that can help you tell your brand’s story with ease. When you work with us, we’ll help you attract and retain the customers needed to grow your brand.
Learn more about NYTLicensing Group’s content licensing packages.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lead Generation Content Marketing
How do you create lead generation content?
Creating effective lead generation content begins with understanding the target audience through researching pain points, interests, and needs. Then you can craft content addressing these issues in the formats of blog posts, webinars, videos, ebooks, and infographics. Ensure the content includes CTAs throughout in order to capture the leads.
Why is content marketing important for lead generation?
As they say, “content is king” and it is crucial for lead generation. Content marketing helps to engage, educate, and nurture audiences. Using content as a means to build authority and trust will help establish ongoing relationships with leads and customers, which can help lead to lead generation through website conversion and sales.
What content type is mostly used for lead generation?
Numerous types and formats of content can be used for lead generation. In order to decide which type to use for your brand, you must go back to research to inform what type of content your target audience is seeking. Popular types of content for lead generation include webinars, ebooks, gated content, whitepapers, and more. Gated content is a great way to provide high-quality material in exchange for contact details.
How can I repurpose existing content for lead generation?
Repurposing content is a smart and sustainable strategy to get more use out of your existing assets. For example, you can turn blog posts into ebooks, infographics, or gated whitepapers. Break down a webinar into smaller video snippets to use on social media and throughout relevant blog posts. Remember to update and optimize your content as you repurpose it for the best lead generation results.
How do you generate leads organically?
Leads can be generated organically by having an up-to-date website. Consider featuring industry news and insights to make your site a valuable resource for decision makers. Pair this tactic with an SEO strategy, to also increase views from search.
