5 Steps to Use Content Marketing to Gain New Clients
Sarah Noel Block, MS
I help B2B consultants, fractionals, and service pros shrink the sales cycle and grow their pipeline with an organic growth engine ?? Build yours in 60 minutes with me ?? Top 100 Marketing Pod / Tiny Marketing
When you think of content marketing, do you think “long play”??
It takes time to rank in Google and even more time to get noticed by prospects. But what would you say if I told you there's a way to gain new leads during the creation process? This post will teach you how to use the content marketing process to build relationships with prospects.?
You don't have to wait until you hit publish to make those connections. Let's get started!
But first…what is content marketing?
To start from the beginning, content marketing is educating prospects on how to solve their problems. Begin with understanding your ideal customer.?
Answer questions like:
Once you have these questions answered, you can identify core content topics that matter to your customer. For example, if your ideal customer is a specifying engineer, you might answer the questions like this:
Q. What problem do they have??
A. They have difficulty finding a product that meets their specs.
Q. How does this problem affect them internally??
A. They're worried that they will get fired or removed from a project for choosing the wrong product or for not meeting deadlines.
Q. Is there a philosophical question they need to solve?
A. There should be an easier way to search for products.
Q. What does your customer's customer desire?
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A. They want products that are chosen on time, meet specs, and work great.
Q. How can you guide them through their problem?
A. You can walk specifying engineers through each step of quickly finding the right product.
Q. What action do you want them to take?
A. You want them to use your software to find your company's product and add it to their request for proposal (RFP).
With these questions answered, you can now identify topics to focus on in your content marketing. Our example company might choose topics like project management for specifying engineers, guides to choosing the right products, FAQs, testimonials, or case studies.
What type of content should I create?
From blogs to podcasts to live streams, content marketing can take many forms. But, of course, it all depends on your audience and niche. So before you can start creating content, you need a plan. Figure out what type of content is right for your business first. Then we’ll cover how to start attracting new leads with that strategy in mind.
First, go to SparkToro and start doing your research. Type in your competitors and publications that share your audience. Using the example of reaching specifying engineers, your competitor might be XY Faucets and a publication you might research could be Consulting-Specifying Engineer.?
Now, visit these blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels. Which ones have the most followers? Engagement? Activity??
Once you've answered these questions, you can confidently decide what type of content to create.
You can start with one type of content and progress from there. I like to repurpose, starting with one content medium and repurposing that content onto other mediums. For example, you can start with a YouTube video, repurpose the audio file for a podcast, and then write a blog based on the video.??But, when you’re starting your content marketing journey - start with one medium.
Now that you understand how to set-up the foundation for your content marketing, how do you create content that generates leads during the creation process?