Do you dedicate as much time to your content marketing’s lead generation process as you do creating the content? At Campaignium, we are guilty of spending all of our time thinking about the type of content we want to create. We fall short devoting the time needed to strategically move a prospect through a clear lead generation path using that content. Everyone can do better. Here are some tips geared towards utilizing content marketing to create qualified leads.
Think Of Your Content Like A Funnel
How do you merge content marketing and a lead generation strategy together? Some organizations utilize marketing automation tools to track a leads engagement of content. But what if you don’t have the staff or time to set up a marketing automation tool, or can’t afford it? You have to automate it manually. This is not ideal but can be done.
Think of your content like a funnel that slowly moves a prospect down a certain path. Now think of this funnel with twists and turns determined by the amount of products or services you provide and type of content the user picks.
Start the process by drafting pieces of content that capture a wide audience’s attention. As the prospect reads a certain piece of content, narrow down your focus with the intent of qualifying individuals by a product or service the person might be interested in. Each piece thereafter should serve as a knowledge base for a product or service you provide, keeping in mind that you will move them past this piece of content to even more engaging content. At the end of the funnel, and the content trail you have created, capturing someone’s information through a contact form helps you get an idea of what that person wants from your organization.
Create A Next Step Approach
Creating a next step approach is critical within your content. Offering a new piece of engaging content as a next step allows you to create a clear lead generation path. As you move the prospect from one piece of content to the next, keep an eye on qualifying the individual who is moving down your content funnel. Keep consumers interested by creating different content mediums to engage consumers such as eBooks, articles, info graphics and more.
Use Google Analytics To Track A Users Path
Google Analytics is a great tool to track a user’s path down your content funnel. Setting up goals in Google Analytics allows you to measure how often a specific action is taken. It can also tell you if consumers are dropping out of your funnel after reading a certain piece of content. You can create destination goals, event goals and page goals to help review the action you need to track. You can also reengineer the process to see how consumers find a specific page. Using reverse goal paths in Google Analytics allows you to track the individual path a consumer takes to get to a contact form or to the last piece of content in your funnel.
Next Steps
Content marketing and creation, in it’s very nature, should focus on how the content serves marketing efforts as much as it serves educating individuals. For more information about online marketing lead generation, download our 5 Reasons Your Marketing Mojo Is Missing eBook now.
