In order to generate new business in an efficient manner, companies must create content that is educational and engaging. That is, create content that is customer centric and offers them assistance or a solution to a problem they may be experiencing.
Traditional marketing/advertising/sales tactics would interrupt people (e.g. cold calling, emails, ads). The new “Inbound Marketing Methodology” (as seen in graphic below) is a process whereby you determine who your Buyer Personas are and which of the stages of the Buyer’s Journey they are in and then offer them the appropriate content. The Buyer’s Journey is simply the stages a prospect goes through before making a purchase.
Below are the stages of the Buyer’s Journey along with the possible corresponding content you should consider providing them.
- Awareness Stage. This stage is when your prospect is first experiencing the problem. You will want to create content that attracts the prospect and educates. Examples include:
- Editorial content
- White papers
- Blogs
- Ebooks
- Research reports
- Consideration Stage. Here your prospect is weighing their options when considering a solution for their problem. Content may include:
- Expert guides
- Live interactions
- Podcasts
- Webinars
- Video
- Decision Stage. Your prospect is now making their final decision. Content suggestions include:
- Vendor comparisons
- Case studies
- Trial download
- Live demo
- Free quotes
After you’ve created your content that is tailored to your buyer’s persona and is aligned with their stage in the buyer’s journey, you need to properly distribute it. Examples of where and how to distribute include your website, blog, social media, press releases, email and/or even ads if the content is perceived as very valuable.
Lastly, it is important to obtain metrics for your content’s efficacy. You’ll need to review and analyze how your content is performing by looking at each piece’s number of visits, leads, shares, inbound links and broken down further by performance of each author, topic and/or format.
There’s no question that maintaining an effective content campaign in order to increase your SEO is very time consuming. But unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), it has become a necessary marketing strategy if you want to stay competitive in this ever-changing marketplace. Any questions, give me a call or shoot me an email…I’m always happy to help!
Danielle Foley, President ~ Foley Marketing Advisors ~ www.foleymarketingadvisors.com
Call 973.632.9170 ~ Email dfoley@foleymarketingadvisors.com