When we build websites for companies, there is usually a lot of discussion about how to get more visitors. That makes perfect sense right? Why create this beautiful website, if no one is going to see it? And in the end, more visitors helps drive more sales.
The traditional answer to the question of how to get more views on your site is content creation, blogging for instance. This is simple mathematics. Website + Content = More pages (and more pages equals more chances to capture eyeballs).
However, we feel that traditional content creation is only a tactic. It is part of a broader strategy of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing goes with sales like peanut butter and jelly.
I believe that inbound marketing is hands down the best all inclusive strategy for getting more MQL (or marketing qualified leads, i.e., leads that your sales team wants.)
However, not everyone is in the position to launch a full-scale inbound marketing campaign. It requires a considered sales process, a particular value of your sales (above 2k) and a chunk of the marketing budget, as well.
So what do you do if you don’t have the resources or sales structure for an inbound marketing strategy? Good news you can still use some of the tactics. The best bang for the buck is strategic content creation.
Just as a quick refresher what does content creation do for your sales team?
SEO: Content creation helps you with your search engine optimization. You create content based on topics that you want to rank for, and if your content is good (plus some other factors), it has the potential to rank high on searches for your key phrases.
Thought Leadership: If you have a unique take or opinion on how you can help your clients or customers, content creation is a great way to express it. It allows you to present not just a “me too” solution.
Personable: Content creation allows you to express yourself and act like a person. B2B is a misnomer; people buy from people. So don’t be afraid to be people.
Content Creation vs. Strategic Content Creation
Now that we all know what content creation is you may have the question what is the difference between strategic content creation and regular content creation? Traditional content creation is more “write something and post it!”
Strategic content creation is a lot closer to true inbound marketing. You have a strategy and a plan to execute that strategy.
For instance here is a typical strategy you can use to help build your first campaign.
Step: 1: Goals. Step one is always the goals. Not just goals but SMART Goals. If you don’t have measurable goals how will you know if you hit them?
Step 2: Research. You can’t assume that what you want to talk about is what your customers want to hear. That doesn’t mean you should change your product or lie; it means to talk about the benefits (not features) that appeal to your customers and prospects.
How do we find that out? Well…ask them, whether you do it face-to-face or using a survey find out.
Step 3: Plan. now that you know what resonates with your customers, you need to plan what you are going to create.
You need to have one core piece of premium content. This piece of content may be an e-book, whitepaper or video. Everything else you create will relate back to that one piece.
Why?
We need a premium piece to “anchor” everything. A concerted campaign is a key to strategic content creation. It keeps your content creation on track and guides your effort.
Also, the premium piece is something that is worth being exchanged for information (email and name, perhaps). That is one of the ways we will generate sales leads from our content creation.
Step 4: Timeline. A reasonable timeline to start with is three months. Two weeks to research and plan a concept for your premium piece. One week to create it. Then you start building “regular content pieces”around it. Think blogs.
Then you write pieces around the premium content for three months and then repeat with another piece of premium content.
Want to learn more about lead generation? Get our 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips, Tricks and Ideas.