It’s a big promise: perfect content marketing. But it is possible if you understand how content fits into your overall digital marketing strategy. And done right, your content marketing will not only attract prospects, but also move them through a marketing funnel to drive more sales and grow your business.
Methods of Well-Executed Content Marketing
Let’s start with a thorough understanding of what we mean when we say content
You see, most businesses miss out on a lot of opportunities because their vision for content marketing is too small
As a result, they’re churning out content but not getting great results. And here’s why: content in and of itself isn’t what drives traffic and sales
Your content needs to be “perfect.”
Now, what do we mean by that?
Perfect content isn’t about you, your brand, or your objectives. It’s about delivering the right information to your prospects at exactly the right point in the customer journey
1:Perfect Content Marketing is Full Funnel
I know this is Marketing 101 stuff, but stick with me for just a second before I get into the more advanced content marketing concepts we’ll be covering
For an ice-cold prospect to become a customer, they will need to travel through three stages:
Awareness – The prospect must first become aware that there is a problem and that YOU or your organization have a solution for it.
Evaluation – Those who move through the Awareness Stage must now evaluate the various choices available to them, including your competitor’s solutions and, of course, taking no action at all to solve the problem
Conversion – Those that move through the Evaluation Stage are now at the moment of truth—purchase. At DigitalMarketer, our goal at this stage is to convert leads into frequent and high-ticket buyers
Blogs are fantastic facilitators of awareness, but they do a poor job of facilitating evaluation and conversion. And, at the risk of pointing out the obvious, evaluation and conversion are super critical to your business
Top Of The Funnel (TOFU) Content Marketing
The prospects entering the top of your funnel are completely unaware of your solution and, often, completely unaware of their problem As a result, you need content with a low barrier to entry—because at this stage, they have little to no motivation to put skin in the game (such as giving your contact information or money)
You need freely available content at the top of the funnel (TOFU) that…
- Entertains
- Educates
- or Inspires
- Blog posts
- Social Media Updates
- Infographics
- Photographs
- Digital Magazines/Books
- Audio/Video Podcasts
- Microsites
- Print Magazines/Newsletters
- Primary Research
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) Content Marketing
The big goal in the middle of the funnel is to convert “problem aware” and “solution aware” prospects into leads
Here, we use free content to incentivize prospects to submit their contact information and opt in to receive future marketing
We call this type of content a Lead Magnet.
Lead Magnets can be…
- Educational Resources (Case Study, White Paper, etc.)
- Useful Resources (Swipe File, Checklist, etc.)
- Software Downloads
- Discount/Coupon Clubs
- Quizzes/Surveys
- Webinars/Events
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) Content Marketing
OK, it’s point of sale time
What types of content will your new lead need to make an informed purchase decision?
Here are a few…
- Demos/Free Trials
- Customer Stories
- Comparison/Spec Sheets
- Webinars/Events
- Mini-Classes
Perfect Content Marketing Is Cross-Channel
- Website/blog
- YouTube