10 Ways to Boost Content Marketing Lead Generation

A whole lot of us are producing content because…well, we’ve been told our customers like content. And it’s true that both B2C and B2B buyers are consuming it at record rates. Engaging, shareable content does indeed help you gain brand awareness and establish your credibility as a thought leader. But more importantly, content marketing lead generation can be the missing piece that helps you fill your funnel and accomplish your business objectives.

Why is content marketing important in lead generation?

Content marketing increases the visibility — and credibility — of your brand, products and services. By positioning yourself as an expert and responding to the needs of your audience, you open up a natural channel for further engagement.

And content marketing lead generation is a critical element of customer acquisition. According to HubSpot, a leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, content marketing drives 3X more leads than traditional marketing.

Which type of content is most effective in lead generation?

Video — hands down. Video accounted for  82% of all consumer internet traffic in 2022. HubSpot reports that video is the most popular and effective media format for the fourth year in a row — and that nine out of 10 people report wanting to see more videos from brands.

And if you want to reach younger audiences, video’s a requirement. Today’s younger consumers grew up on phones and tablets, with a steady diet of video consumption. 56.66% of YouTube’s audience are millennials or Gen Z.

What is the typical cost of lead generation?

The average cost to generate a lead varies widely from industry to industry – and channel to channel — and can top out at $500 or more in industries like technology, and professional and financial services. You can measure your cost per lead with a simple calculation and use that measurement to assess the effectiveness of your campaigns and channels.

10 tips to boost content marketing lead generation

1. Know your target audience.

Learn as much as you can about your customer — their needs, demographics, psychographics, and habits. Creating a buyer persona, a fictional profile of your ideal customer, is a useful way to humanize your audience and increase the effectiveness of your content marketing lead generation.

2. Be relevant.

Don’t be the person at the party who hogs the conversation. Yes, your audience is looking for information, and yes your features and benefits are important — but show them how you can solve their problem first. The formula is pretty simple.

1. Engage your audience by showing them you understand their challenges and their needs.
2. Provide evidence that you’re a credible option to solve them.
3. Give them enough information to want to learn more.
4. Point them to the next piece of content that helps them on their customer journey.

3. Provide value.

Give your audience facts and data that can help them make a decision or gain a competitive edge. Support your content with credible sources — or better yet, statistics you gather yourself. High-value, fact-packed content pieces like infographics, how-to videos and case studies help position you as an expert and trusted resource.

People seek out content because they want to solve a problem or answer a question. Remember that buyer persona? What information does that person want or need?

4. Promote your content.

Content doesn’t have much value if nobody sees it. Promote your content on your website and social channels — and only gate it where it makes sense. Structured distribution of your content through targeted email, relevant social media and other channels can help you get your messages out to the right prospects.

5. Make it personal.

Personalizing content can be an effective tool for connecting with your audience. Product recommendations, offers based on geographic location, and CTAs tailored to a visitor’s stage in the buyer’s journey are a few of the ways to add a personal element to your content marketing.

But don’t be creepy — we’ve all had the experience of feeling like our tech is tracking everything about us. Too much personalization can be off-putting to a marketing prospect, especially if you deliver it somewhere they’re not expecting to see it.

6. Engage your audience.

We’ve already talked about the power of video, but there are other ways to engage. Calculators, interactive infographics, online polls – anything that provides an interactive experience — will keep your audience on your content longer and increase their interest in your products and solutions.

7. Consider how people learn

If you’re trying to educate your audience you need to understand how they learn. Some people process information visually, through means like video, images, and infographics. Some are auditory learners who might find a podcast or recorded webinar a more effective way to learn. And some are kinesthetic, preferring engagement through a hands-on experience like an interactive web tool.

Ideally, you’ll have content that meets the needs of each of these learning styles to maximize customer experience. And like most content production, choosing a style starts with knowing your buyer’s persona and how they like to access and absorb information.

8. Always add a call to action.

A call to action (CTA) is literally that — a suggested next action for your reader. It’s an invitation to engage with the next step of your sales funnel.

Don’t fall into the trap that educational content shouldn’t have a CTA — it absolutely should, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a sales message. A CTA can be anything from “read more” to “get a sample” to “request a consultation” — just make sure you’re delivering the right next step for the reader at the right time, and that it’s appropriate for the content.

9. Experiment.

If you aren’t sure what your audience is going to respond to, try some things — and keep track of the results. Techniques like A/B testing can help you fine-tune your tone of voice, benefit statements, design elements and more — all with an eye to continually improving your content and engagement. If the results feel unlikely, test again.

Some of the items on the exhaustive list of things you can test:

• Email subject lines
• Button colors
• Calls to action
• Offers
• Price promotion
• Different image styles

10. Monitor metrics.

All of them, continually. Every piece of data is information that can help you tune your content marketing strategy and increase customer engagement.

Some key measurements:

• For email, measure open rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion, and bounces and unsubscribes.
• For social media, monitor the size and growth of your community, and measure follower engagement, CTR and conversion rate.
• For content on your website, like your blog posts, measure engagement metrics like page views and social shares, time on page, conversion rate, and bounce rate.

We know content marketing — and we can help.

Content is still king. And producing it is a lot of work. Making sure it’s effective is even harder.

At Big Sea, we can help you align your content marketing lead generation with your business objectives — and identify the topics, formats and distribution channels that generate leads. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and learn how content marketing and boost your lead gen and customer acquisition.