Your blog posts, videos, and other forms of content help you as a business to showcase your expertise within your niche. At the same time, it allows you to interact with their audience and build lasting connections with them. If content is done right, it attracts potential leads, which can later convert into paying customers!
This is what content marketing for lead generation is all about. Keep reading to learn more about why it’s important and steps to create a plan.
Why Does Lead Generation Matter?
Lead generation is an important first step in building lasting connections with people who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer (your product or service). Essentially, it involves identifying and attracting potential customers, otherwise known as leads, for your business.
The ultimate goal of lead generation is to turn these leads into paying customers. 💸
Here are some statistics that show why lead generation matters:
- Ruler Analytics found that over 90% of marketers agree that lead generation is their top priority.
- According to a survey conducted by Semrush, part of the top 3 content marketing goals for marketers and business owners this 2023 is to generate leads (34%). This comes after attracting more traffic to the website (46%) and increasing brand awareness (45%).
- The same survey found that marketers measure content marketing ROI by calculating revenue from leads/conversions generated by content marketing (67%).
- At the same time, the survey also discovered that attracting quality leads with content is one of the top content marketing challenges for B2B companies (55%).
- According to the Content Marketing Institute, marketers rely on conversions (70%) and quality of leads (60%) the most when evaluating content performance.
What is Content Strategy Lead Generation?
Content strategy for lead generation entails creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a target audience — ultimately converting them into leads. The main idea is to use content as a tool to capture the attention and interest of these potential customers.
Here’s an example:
A local fitness studio wants to generate leads through content marketing. Their target audience is working professionals looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle despite a busy schedule.
Their content strategy is to create blog posts on quick workout routines, healthy eating tips, and stress management for these busy professionals.
To capture leads, the fitness studio then decides to offer a free downloadable ebook entitled “A Busy Professional’s Guide to Fitness” at the end of their blog posts. Website visitors will be asked to sign up with their email address to download the guide.
In addition to getting the free ebook, their subscribers also receive a series of emails containing workout plans, nutritional advice, and success stories from members of the fitness studio. These will help encourage them to avail of the studio’s services.
As you can tell, this entire content strategy focuses on providing value, which gradually nurtures leads to consider the studio’s services for a healthier lifestyle!
How to Do Content Marketing for Lead Generation
When it comes to lead generation, one of the most asked questions is about how to generate qualified leads.
One of the ways to accomplish this is by creating valuable content that addresses the specific needs and challenges of your target audience. An important part of achieving this is to find relevant keywords and phrases.
Additionally, you can attract individuals interested in your offers using lead magnets. Besides offering them in your content, you may give them as rewards in giveaway campaigns.
We’ll explain this further in the points below:
Get to know your audience
The first step is to identify your target audience and find out about their needs, pain points, interests, and preferences. A few things you can do to gather feedback from your audience are:
- Perform market research
- Conduct surveys
- Do interviews
- Start focus group discussions
Additionally, Google Analytics can offer data about your website visitors, such as their demographic information and behavior on your website.
Next, create an audience persona, which is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal audience. It will help you understand the type of people you are trying to reach with your content. Moreover, your data allows you to tailor your content so that it can match their needs and pain points.
Here is an example:
The imaginary person above is given a name, a photo, and other detailed information, which makes it easier to visualize. The information is also put into different categories and in bullet points, making them easier to understand.
You can use a similar template to gather the details about your ideal audience’s demographic data, pain points, etc. — all of which can help you create the best content.
Speaking of content, notice that the sample customer persona above prefers to consume blog posts and videos compared to other types of content. You’ll want to focus on delivering these content types to increase their likelihood of sticking with your business.
Do keyword research
Keyword research involves identifying phrases your target audience would use when searching for information related to your products and services.
The first step in keyword research is to create a list of keywords relevant to your business or industry. These will be your “seed keywords,” which serve as a starting point for your keyword research, so you can generate more related keywords.
Additionally, your seed keywords will help you think of lead-generation content ideas. 🧲
For example, let’s say that your target audience is people interested in home fitness.
Your main keywords could be “home workouts,” “fitness equipment,” or “exercise at home.” You can explore these keywords and find related terms such as “best home exercise equipment.”
Helpful Tip: Make sure to understand the intent behind your keywords. “Home workout tips” is more informational while “best home exercise equipment” has a purchase intent.
Next, create content around these keywords later by integrating them naturally into your content.
Create a lead magnet
One of the most frequently asked questions for newbie marketers is, “What content type is mostly used for lead generation?”
The answer is the lead magnet.
A lead magnet is an offer designed to attract and capture the contact information of potential customers. It’s often offered in exchange for a lead’s email address, phone number, or other contact details. Its main purpose is to entice people to willingly provide their information, so you can nurture your leads and eventually convert them into paying customers.
☝🏻The key thing to remember is that a lead magnet should address a specific pain point, need, or interest of your target audience.
Common lead magnet examples include ebooks, templates, webinars, and discounts.
Create content around your lead magnet then promote it
The next step is to develop material that complements and supports your lead magnet. You can do this by creating content that leads your audience to the lead magnet. Alternatively, you can leverage existing content to align with your lead magnet.
For instance, you can talk about a topic covered in the lead magnet through a blog post. If your lead magnet is an ebook entitled “Top 10 Home Workout Tips,” you can create a post discussing the benefits of a home workout.
Then, promote your lead magnet and its supporting content across social media and newsletters, or write guest posts to attract and guide your target audience toward them.
Giveaways as a content marketing strategy 🎁
Another excellent idea is to promote a lead magnet through a giveaway.
For example, an online fitness brand runs a contest where they give away a “10-Week Home Workout Guide” ebook that covers exercise routines, diet and nutrition tips, and a printable workout planner.
They require participants to enter their name and email, and successfully refer their friends in order to win the ebook!
UpViral is a platform designed to run viral marketing campaigns, including giveaways and contests so that your business can generate more leads. The platform provides an easy campaign setup, helping you conveniently launch viral campaigns.
UpViral can significantly contribute to lead generation through its viral sharing mechanism, which happens by encouraging participants to share the giveaway with their network in exchange for additional entries.
➡️ Click here to check out real-life success stories of businesses who used UpViral!
Nurture the leads you've collected
Just because people have signed up with their name and email to get your offer, doesn’t mean they’re ready to make a purchase. This is why nurturing leads is important.
Through lead nurturing, you can build a relationship with potential customers and establish trust, which is vital for conversions down the road.
When the time is right, your leads have your business at the top of their list, which means that they’re more likely to choose your product or service over a competitor’s.
Nurturing leads collected through content marketing can involve the following activities:
- Continuously providing valuable content that addresses their needs, interests, and pain points
- Encouraging interaction with your content by responding to comments and creating discussions. This also creates a sense of connection and trust.
- Addressing common concerns experienced by your leads through FAQs
Additionally, you can also send out email campaigns to deliver content over time — starting with introductory content and gradually moving towards product-specific information.
Final Thoughts
Content marketing for lead generation involves using strategies that attract, engage, and convert potential leads. The key here is to develop content tailored to your target audience’s needs, pain points, and interests.
This begins by understanding your audience so you can nurture them through their journey towards being customers.
If you’re interested in running a viral marketing campaign that can generate quality leads, you can get started today with UpViral! Click here to learn all the ways your business can take advantage of UpViral.