When businesses want to find new customers, they usually think about using Google ads, making cold calls, and reaching out on LinkedIn. These methods work well but they need good content to support them. Content like blogs, videos, and guides help to attract customers. So even though content marketing is not the first thing people think of, it is also very important which makes these other strategies work out better. Through this post, you will get to know the importance of content marketing for B2B and how to use it for B2B lead generation.
What is Content Marketing for Lead Generation?
B2B lead generation means finding and connecting with potential business customers. For example, a marketer might use some strategies where they offer some useful information for free. But if people want access to that information they might need to share their contact details like email. These strategies turn anonymous website visitors into leads by making them share their information in exchange for something useful. In content marketing, businesses use informative articles to attract customers. About 70% of B2B marketers use content to get leads.
Why Marketers Need Lead Generation Content Strategy?
Marketers should invest in lead-generation content rather than just using ads because a quick pitch is not enough to make B2B buyers make decisions. So they look for content for good research to abstract information. Content marketing provides valuable content to build trust even before asking for a sale. This increases the chances for businesses to get leads.
The Best Types of Lead Generation Content
To generate leads, certain types of content work better than others. However, creating content after good research is very important. The top B2B lead generation content includes:
- Case studies
- White papers
- Webinars
- Blog articles
- Videos
- Infographics
How to Use Content Marketing For Lead Generation
Here are the ways you can generate leads by the use of content marketing:
1. Set Your Lead Generation Goals
The direction and success of the operation started by the marketing team to generate leads are based on your lead-generation goals. While setting goals they decide how many leads they want, what they expect from those leads, and how they will measure success.
For B2B marketers, some common goals are generating revenue, increasing brand awareness, and building a database. The first half of B2B content focuses on raising brand awareness and the other half is about turning leads into customers.
2. Research the Audience
You can say that lead generation is effective when a business achieves success by attracting potential customers. For example, a business that generates 1000 leads but only can convince 2 B2B customers is less effective than a business that generates only 200 leads but converts 100 of them into potential customers. To achieve this goal, marketers try to research the audience and convert them into potential customers by providing them with the best content.
3. Personalize the Content
Personalization in B2B marketing is really important because customers take more interest when the content is personalized. Personalizing content means making content that gives a direct solution to customers’ specific needs. Marketers split their audience into groups that have the same needs and provide valuable content to them.
4. Use Relevant Topics
If you want to use content marketing to generate leads, make sure to use relevant topics in your content. To attract the right audience try to find the keywords for your content that are relevant to the needs of customers and the content also needs to rank in search engines. By using these keywords in their content, they make sure that the content is according to their audience’s needs, and that way they can generate high quality leads.
5. Focus on The Quality Over Algorithms
It is true that keywords help to attract customers. But the quality of the content is also important. It is important to attract people to read your content, but to make them stay and make their decision, the quality of content is very important. Good content is about sharing helpful ideas, reliable information from experts, and including links to trusted sources.
6. Make Conversions Easy
Businesses get more leads when their lead magnets are clear. For example, creators can design banners that grab attention. Similarly, content writers can use a bold sentence with a link to a webinar, contact form, or other lead magnets. This way marketers can create awareness about their services and get leads.
7. Create Creative Distribution Strategies
After creating good content, marketers need to make sure it reaches the relevant audience. They use a content syndication strategy so that their content can reach potential customers. This means distributing your content beyond your own website. For example, a business can share a blog post on LinkedIn, as well as distribute it through other platforms so that the content can reach more people, gain visibility, and attract potential leads.
Content is really important for getting B2B customers interested in your business. When you use content smartly, like blogs and videos, you can catch the attention of people you want to reach. This explains how content marketing for B2B is important.
Also read:- The Impact of Social Media in B2B Lead Generation