Content marketing – it’s a nebulous topic for many brands. One of the greatest grey areas concerning content marketing pertains to what types of content a brand should create.
ebook? Blog post? Infographic? eNewsletter?
The format of a piece of content can vary greatly, and it’s just as important as the story itself. Presenting information and messaging in an appropriate format adds power to a story. If you want a customer to create an emotional bond with a brand, you wouldn’t use a case study, would you?
Before beginning production, determine whether the right type of content marketing is being developed to reach key objectives. Where in the sales funnel are your customers when they receive this piece of content? What are the actions you want them to take?
Content can either entertain, educate or promote. It’s up to a marketing team to map content formats against customer intent and decision style for increased customer engagement. Read more below to learn about the best types of content marketing for engaging customers at different points in the sales funnel.
Entertaining Content = Introduction to the Brand
To create valuable, sustainable customer relationships, great companies don’t push products and services with a hard sell; they capture customers’ hearts and their funny bone. Memorable, emotional connections increase engagement.
You might be asking yourself, “Why do I need to create entertaining content when what I really want is to make the sale?”
Immediately, in my most Yoda-like voice, I say to you, my young padawan, you need to capture the interest of those customers at the top of your sales funnel. These customers are cold leads — barely registering on your radar — which means you’re trying to connect with users when they are looking for solutions or fact finding. Entertaining content offers marketers an opportunity to grab the attention and make inroads with new customers who are grazing the top of your sales funnel.
What types of content marketing work best for entertainment? My suggestion is to try branded (not promotional) videos, quizzes and games. These formats lend themselves to social sharing — increasing your market reach and engagement — which means not gating this content is typically the best strategy. Entertaining content aims to introduce your brand to as many customers as possible, which means you can’t have anything in the way that may cause a potential customer to disengage. Instead, create strategic calls to action at the end of each piece that directs to a landing page so that you can capture their information for later nurturing.
Educational Content = Interest and Evaluation
In terms of lead generation and capturing potential customers’ information, educational pieces of content have a leg up over entertainment. That’s because educational content is aimed at potential leads when they are further down the sales funnel. Customers aren’t yet ready to buy, but they know your brand and, if you’ve produced high-quality content, are considering your company as a thought leader who can provide insight and maybe even a solution to their problem.
Unlike entertaining content, educational pieces largely lie behind a gate. When faced with a landing page, potential customers who fill out the form acknowledge that your company is providing a worthwhile piece of content and, in turn, feel as if their contact information is a worthy trade for that information. Educational content comes in a wide range of formats, including ebooks, reports, case studies and infographics.
When developing educational pieces of content, drive engagement by simultaneously creating a distribution and promotion plan. Email, banner ads and paid search – all of these strategies and more should be considered as opportunities for driving customers toward a well-crafted landing page that highlights what a user will gain from filling out the form.
Remember, content development isn’t a silo. Make these types of content marketing work for your brand. Even infographics, which traditionally should be left ungated, offer customer engagement and information-capturing opportunities. Consider this: Would transforming a section of your latest ebook into an infographic work as a bread crumb to a landing page offering an ebook download?
Infographics typically receive high circulation, work well as a hook with journalists for media placements and are highly shareable. Try including a strong call to action at the bottom of an infographic that leads a user to a landing page offering an ebook that goes into greater detail on the same topic. This should allow your brand to increase customer engagement and track user interest.
Promotional Content = Conversion
Promotional content is geared to those potential customers who are poised to make a purchase. They’ve already determined that your service or product is the right solution to their problem and are now evaluating the options your company provides. While B2B customers will schedule a time to speak with a sales representative to gain expert opinion, most will already have an opinion about what level of service or product will suit their needs. Make sure that opinion is informed and one your sales rep can get behind by producing high-quality promotional content that works to further inform the potential customers about your company’s service offerings.
Types of content marketing that fall under the promotional umbrella include demo videos, visuals highlighting product features and benefits and calculators. While potential customers who have made it this far are most likely already in your system, it’s important to include gates here as well to make sure your marketing and sales team are able to track what an individual is viewing and how much time they are spending on a given page. This will help your sales team provide more tailored solutions when the customer schedules a call.
Before beginning content creation, ask yourself where in the sales funnel are these customers and what types of content marketing will best move them forward in the buying journey. Otherwise, you’re trying to fit a square tool in a round peg and no one is satisfied with the results – except your competitors. Looking to learn more about the best types of content marketing for your objectives? Contact Jacobs & Clevenger to receive a free content marketing assessment to determine how you can successfully measure and promote your lead generation efforts.
Topics: Digital Marketing
