Generating qualified leads through a multi-channel approach allows you to combine the strengths of various platforms and content formats to create a fully optimized lead-generation engine. By intertwining channels such as informative email campaigns, engaging eBooks, educational courses and training modules, and captivating landing pages, marketers can help increase engagement and develop a loyal audience. Read on to discover the nuances of creating an effective lead-generation campaign. Organic Social Organic social media provides authentic engagement and community building for lead generation. Organizations can forge meaningful connections with their audience through social platforms, spark conversations, and nurture trust. An experienced marketer knows that creating compelling content that resonates with followers, evokes reactions, and prompts sharing will provide honest lead generation. Organic Social Tips
For example, an environmental non-profit can share captivating visuals of its conservation projects, encouraging followers to share their eco-friendly initiatives using a branded hashtag. By fostering a sense of community and encouraging user participation, the organization not only spreads awareness but also generates leads from an engaged and environmentally conscious audience. Paid Google Ads Paid Google ads generate targeted leads, allowing organizations to reach precise audience segments with tailored messaging. By leveraging Google Ads' capabilities, businesses can amplify their visibility, drive website traffic, and capture the attention of potential leads actively searching for products or services. This proactive approach to advertising allows organizations to position themselves prominently in search results, increasing the likelihood of attracting qualified leads interested in their offerings. Google Ads for Non-profits Google Ads does provide qualifying non-profit organizations access to up to $10,000 per month in search ads shown on Google.com. The program aims to help non-profits raise awareness, attract donors, and recruit new volunteers by displaying their messages to people searching for non-profits like theirs. To apply, you must sign up for a Google for Non-profits account. Along with Google Ad Grants, Google also offers other tools to help non-profits raise awareness and fundraise. Tips for Google Ads
For example, a non-profit organization dedicated to ocean conservation leverages ads to enhance awareness around a new campaign focused on reducing plastic pollution. The campaign emotionally connects with the audience by targeting individuals interested in environmental activism, sustainability, and nature conservation and using vivid imagery of ocean wildlife affected by plastic waste. The ad copy emphasizes the urgent need for action and how contributions can make a real difference. By directing users to an engaging landing page that outlines simple steps individuals can take to reduce plastic use, alongside the option to donate, the campaign effectively nurtures a sense of responsibility and encourages immediate action. Landing Pages Landing pages allow organizations to convert website visitors into actionable leads. A well-designed landing page acts as a virtual storefront, capturing the essence of a brand's value proposition and compelling visitors to take the desired action, whether signing up for a newsletter, downloading a resource, or donating. By optimizing landing pages for clarity, relevance, and conversion, businesses can streamline the user experience and maximize the likelihood of lead generation success. Tips for Landing Pages
For example, your social and paid ads campaigns drive traffic to a dedicated landing page. The landing page showcases striking visuals and a clear call to action. By aligning the messaging, imagery, and branding, the organization ensures a cohesive and engaging experience that encourages participation. Email Marketing Multiple studies over the years show that email marketing is still one of the most trusted forms of marketing communication. Email marketing provides a direct and personalized channel to nurture relationships, deliver valuable content, and drive conversions. By crafting targeted email campaigns that resonate with subscribers' interests and preferences, businesses can establish a consistent line of communication that guides leads through the sales funnel. Email marketing allows organizations to segment their audience, tailor messaging based on behavior, and deliver timely, relevant content that cultivates engagement and loyalty. Email Marketing Tips
For example, an organization utilizes email marketing to engage its subscriber base with personalized educational material, advice, and exclusive offers. The brand delivers tailored content that resonates with each group's specific interests and goals by segmenting the audience into categories like cold, warm, and hot leads (or products). Through the strategic use of automation to send follow-up emails based on engagement levels, the brand nurtures leads, drives conversions, and fosters a community of loyal customers passionate about fitness and well-being. Understanding Essential Marketing Skills A multi-channel marketing campaign demands a comprehensive skill set that includes analyzing metrics, researching keywords, creating ad copy, and understanding landing page optimization and email effectiveness. Additionally, effective budget management, a thorough knowledge of tools such as HubSpot and Google Ads and Analytics, adeptness at conversion tracking, and conducting A/B testing are indispensable. Moreover, staying updated with the latest industry trends, updates, and best practices will help you excel in crafting and managing campaigns that yield high ROI. Contact Michael Rohde today to discuss how I can help your organization grow. Content marketing can act as a bridge between a company’s innovative digital solutions and its customers. A solid marketing strategy emphasizes creating valuable, relevant, consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. For SaaS companies, whose products are often intangible and have complex features, content marketing can clarify product features and help build long-term customer relationships, establish thought leadership, and bolster brand awareness in a crowded digital marketplace.
The unique nature of SaaS businesses – offering software subscriptions over physical or one-time-purchase goods – demands that content marketing for these entities focus on educating potential customers, showcasing the continuous value of their subscription services, and nurturing leads through an often lengthy sales cycle. This approach helps lower customer acquisition costs, reduce churn rates, and increase customer lifetime value (CLV) by demonstrating ongoing value and fostering user loyalty. Read on to learn the fundamental skills necessary for a Content Marketer in a SaaS Company. Understanding of the SaaS Business Model A deep understanding of how SaaS companies operate, generate revenue, and retain customers allows for creating content that resonates with SaaS audiences’ unique challenges and needs. At its core, the SaaS business model enables users to access software applications over the internet, typically on a subscription basis, without needing onsite hardware or significant upfront costs associated with traditional software licensing and installation. This model benefits from recurring revenue streams, providing a predictable cash flow for SaaS providers and allowing businesses of all sizes the agility to adapt to changing needs and technologies without substantial capital expenditure. Furthermore, SaaS solutions often offer customizable plans, automatic updates, and extensive customer support, enhancing their appeal to a broad audience. As cloud computing continues to evolve, the SaaS model is poised for further innovation, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics, promising even more sophisticated, tailored software solutions that can drive efficiency and growth across diverse sectors. Technical Proficiency The ability to grasp and articulate complex software functionalities, updates, and USPs (Unique Selling Propositions) in an accessible manner should be a top priority for content marketers in the SaaS space who need to translate technical jargon into benefits and features that resonate with a non-technical audience. SEO and Analytical Skills High proficiency in SEO practices and analytics is critical. Content created needs to be discoverable through search engines and other digital channels. SEO/SEM involves keyword research, competitor analysis, and understanding user intent. Analyzing content performance and using insights for optimization is also crucial for success. Customer Empathy and Buyer Persona Understanding Developing a deep empathy towards the SaaS company’s target audience and a thorough understanding of various buyer personas enables the creation of tailored content that addresses specific pain points, challenges, aspirations, and stages in the customer journey. Storytelling and Creativity The ability to craft engaging stories and present complex information in a compelling, creative, and understandable manner can captivate the audience, making technical or dry content more relatable and memorable. Strategic Planning and Execution Proficiency in creating and implementing a coherent content strategy that aligns with the company’s marketing goals involves planning, executing, measuring, and tweaking content campaigns across various platforms and formats to drive engagement and conversions. Collaboration and Communication Skills Exceptional collaboration and communication abilities to effectively work with cross-functional teams, including product managers, sales teams, and customer support, ensure that content marketing efforts are cohesive and aligned with the broader objectives of the SaaS company. Mastering these skills can empower content marketers in the SaaS industry to produce impactful content that educates and engages their target audiences and drives meaningful business results. Spark Studios At Spark Studios, we have the skills and experience to develop a comprehensive content marketing strategy for your SaaS business. We designed our content marketing solutions to elevate your awareness by crafting compelling narratives that resonate with your audience. Whether you are a startup looking to establish an online presence or a small business aiming to amplify your marketing efforts, Spark Studios is your partner in success. Contact Spark Studios Small businesses often choose between hiring a specialized marketing agency or building an in-house team of full-time employees. Both options have advantages and drawbacks that can impact a company’s marketing efforts and overall success. Read on to explore the pros and cons of opting for a marketing agency over an in-house team to help you make an informed decision.
Expertise and Specialization Working with a marketing agency has many benefits, including access to a diverse team of specialists with expertise in various marketing areas. These specialists can bring a broad spectrum of skills, including digital strategies, content creation, SEO, and social media, to help elevate your marketing campaigns and strategies. In contrast, recruiting individual employees with such a wide array of marketing skills can be challenging and costly. Cost Efficiency Hiring a marketing agency can be a cost-effective solution for many businesses when it comes to cost. With agencies, you only pay for the services rendered without the additional overhead costs associated with full-time staff, such as benefits, office space, and equipment. This flexibility is particularly advantageous for companies working on short-term projects or those with fluctuating marketing needs. In contrast, full-time employees entail consistent salary expenses and additional costs, regardless of the company's varying marketing requirements. Scalability and Flexibility Outsourcing to agencies can provide businesses with scalability and flexibility that may not be achievable with an in-house team. Agencies can quickly adapt and scale their services to meet your evolving needs. This adaptability enables businesses to stay agile and responsive to changing market conditions, giving them a competitive edge. In contrast, scaling a full-time team's size up and down based on current needs can be less flexible and may involve complex HR processes. When choosing between hiring a marketing agency or assembling an in-house team, the key lies in understanding your goals, budget constraints, and the level of expertise required to drive your marketing initiatives forward. Spark Studios At Spark Studios, we fuel brand success through captivating content marketing solutions designed to elevate your online presence. Led by founder Michael Rohde, a seasoned writer and marketer with over two decades of industry experience, our team is dedicated to crafting compelling narratives that resonate with your audience. Whether you are a startup looking to establish a strong online presence or an established small business aiming to amplify your marketing efforts, Spark Studios is your partner in success. Contact: Reach out today to kickstart your content marketing: Contact Michael at Spark Studios. Defining your leadership style is essential when mentoring and managing junior-level employees. By emphasizing empathy and nurturing, you can create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed. This article will explore the steps to define your leadership style and incorporate empathy and nurturing into your management approach.
Cultivating Empathy Empathy plays a pivotal role in effective mentoring and management. By understanding and sharing the feelings of your junior employees, you can create a supportive work environment. Developing empathetic communication skills, such as active listening and understanding body language, will help build trust and create a safe space where team members feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and concerns. Building Trust Foster an environment where trust is central. Encourage open communication, ensure confidentiality, and value ideas and opinions from each team member. Trust enables collaboration and facilitates the sharing of diverse perspectives. Establishing Expectations Setting clear expectations ensures employees understand their roles and responsibilities. Communicate the goals you expect them to achieve and empower them to make meaningful contributions. Clearly define expectations, deadlines, and desired outcomes. Establishing accountability holds your team members responsible for their actions and encourages a sense of responsibility. Empowering Autonomy Delegate tasks to your employees and empower them to make decisions. Provide guidance and support, but allow them autonomy in executing their responsibilities to help foster a sense of ownership and build self-confidence. Providing Feedback Regular feedback is vital for growth. Provide constructive feedback that focuses on strengths and areas for improvement. Acknowledge and appreciate their talents. Act as a mentor and coach, guiding their professional development. Offering Development Help your junior employees acquire new skills and knowledge by providing development opportunities, including workshops, conferences, online courses, or access to relevant resources. Encourage continuous learning and support their growth ambitions. Encouraging Teamwork Promote teamwork and collaboration among your employees. By encouraging them to collaborate on projects, share ideas, and leverage each other's strengths, you will cultivate a sense of belonging and collective success. Recognizing Personalities Embrace the diversity within your team. Celebrate different personalities and encourage collaboration between contrasting styles to create a well-rounded and inclusive team environment. Setting Examples Lead by example and adhere to high ethical standards. Display integrity in your actions and decisions to help set the tone for ethical conduct within the team and reinforce trust. Showing Vulnerability A humble leader demonstrates authenticity and openness. Admitting mistakes and seeking input from others boosts morale and encourages junior employees to learn from their failures. Being Approachable Make yourself accessible to your team members. Encourage open-door policies, regular check-ins, and one-on-one meetings. Being approachable builds trust and ensures your junior employees feel supported. Balancing Discipline While nurturing is important, maintaining a balance is equally important. Establish clear boundaries and hold team members accountable when necessary. Balancing nurturing with discipline ensures professionalism and efficiency. Contact me, Michael Rohde, to discuss how these strategies can help your company succeed. In this article, I discuss the significance of a 30-60-90 plan for marketing professionals focused on empowering the sales team with content and qualified leads while achieving key performance indicators (KPIs). Essentially, a 30-60-90 plan is a strategic roadmap that outlines the objectives and goals for the first three months of a new job. When starting a new role, having a well-defined plan is crucial for effectively navigating a new setting, aligning with the organization's objectives, and driving success.
Understanding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that show how well you achieve specific goals. As a marketing leader, it is crucial to identify the KPIs that align with the overall sales and business objectives. These may include metrics such as sales revenue, conversion rates, lead generation, content utilization, and sales cycle length. By establishing baseline metrics and setting realistic targets for these KPIs, you can have a clear benchmark for measuring progress and success. 30 Days: Setting the Foundation In the first 30 days, it is important to lay a strong foundation for success. This involves meeting with key stakeholders such as sales leaders, marketing teams, and other relevant departments. These interactions will help you gain insights, understand expectations, and build relationships essential for collaboration. Additionally, conducting extensive research on the company, its products/services, and the target customers will give you a deeper understanding of the organization's unique value proposition. During this phase, it is important to assess the current sales enablement processes and tools. Identify gaps or inefficiencies that hinder sales productivity and develop strategies to address them. Lastly, creating a content inventory allows you to assess the existing materials and identify gaps or areas that require improvement. 60 Days: Developing Strategy and Execution In the second phase of the 30-60-90 plan, it's time to develop a strategic roadmap for sales enablement. This involves defining specific goals aligned with the organization's overall sales objectives, focusing on improving sales productivity, increasing revenue, and enhancing customer engagement. Collaborating closely with the sales and marketing teams is vital to ensure alignment and establish shared goals. Developing a content generation plan is necessary during this period. Assess the needs of the sales team, understand the buyer's journey, and create relevant content for each stage. This may include educational materials, case studies, customer testimonials, and sales training resources. Additionally, implementing sales enablement technologies, such as CRM systems, content management platforms, and analytics tools, can streamline processes, measure effectiveness, and enhance efficiency. 90 Days: Evaluating and Optimizing At the 90-day mark, it's time to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented strategies and make necessary improvements. Analyze the previously identified KPIs to assess progress and identify areas that require adjustment. By measuring the impact of the implemented sales enablement initiatives, you can track improvements and identify gaps or areas for further optimization. Refine the content generation strategy based on feedback from the sales team and customers. Continuously analyze content utilization, feedback, and sales performance data to optimize and align content offerings with buyers' needs and preferences. Regularly providing feedback to key stakeholders also ensures ongoing collaboration and reinforces the sales enablement efforts within the organization. A 30-60-90 plan provides a clear roadmap for success in a new role. By focusing on KPIs and content generation, marketing can align their efforts with the organization's objectives, drive sales productivity, and enhance customer engagement. By consistently evaluating, refining, and optimizing the plan, sales enablement managers can create a sustainable cycle of continuous improvement and maximize their impact on the organization's overall success. The success of a business relies heavily on the alignment between sales and marketing departments. By establishing common Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and goals, these departments can work cohesively toward achieving effectiveness and synergy. Read on to explore the importance of sales and marketing alignment and the key strategies that can help drive this alignment.
Lead flow plays a critical role in aligning sales and marketing. Marketing efforts should focus on generating quality content and leads, while sales should provide feedback on lead quality. By sharing insights, both departments can refine lead generation strategies, improving the overall quality and quantity of leads. Conversion rates are a fundamental metric that aligns sales and marketing. A shared understanding of conversion targets helps both teams evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. Marketing can refine lead generation and content strategies to ensure qualified leads are passed to sales, while sales can provide feedback to marketing on lead quality and required content. Nurture campaigns are crucial for engaging prospects throughout their customer journey. Sales and marketing teams must collaborate to develop and execute effective nurture campaigns that provide valuable content and move prospects toward conversion. Regular feedback loops ensure these campaigns are optimized based on the insights gathered from sales interactions. Collateral usage refers to the materials, such as sales presentations and product brochures, utilized by both departments. Regular communication and feedback allow marketing to develop collateral that supports the sales process. In contrast, sales can provide insights into the effectiveness and relevance of these materials during their interactions with prospects. Share benchmarks and targets between sales and marketing to create alignment between both teams to help them work toward a common goal. By aligning pipeline targets and revenue objectives, both departments share responsibility for the company's success. Tracking and displaying data through tools such as Pardot and HubSpot offers real-time updates for all parties involved. By accurately monitoring lead sources and interactions, sales and marketing teams can gain insights into the efforts driving results. Analyzing campaign performance and data helps identify strengths and areas for improvement, enabling data-driven decision-making. By presenting shared KPIs and metrics through reporting dashboards, both departments have an understanding of performance. This type of transparent data sharing encourages collaboration and fosters a more cohesive team environment. Joint training sessions foster understanding and enable both teams to comprehend each other's perspectives and unique challenges. Cross-functional meetings provide opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and brainstorming ideas. Emphasizing continuous improvement through feedback and insights leads to an ongoing alignment process that drives effectiveness and synergy. Aligning sales and marketing through shared KPIs, metrics, and tools is crucial for achieving effectiveness and synergy within an organization. By focusing on lead flow, nurture campaigns, conversion rates, and collateral usage, both departments can work together towards common goals. Conclusion This is a quick overview discussion on how to align sales and marketing through shared KPIs, objectives, and continuous feedback loops to help ensure closed sales and increased revenue. Contact me, Michael Rohde, to discuss how these strategies can help your company succeed. The synergy between a finely tuned Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy and a well-crafted Content Marketing Strategy (CMS) creates a catalyst for success. The fusion of these two strategic frameworks becomes paramount in effectively launching products, engaging target audiences, and driving revenue growth. By harmonizing the GTM strategy's market-focused approach with the CMS's content-driven tactics, companies can amplify their brand visibility, establish thought leadership, and forge meaningful connections with customers, setting the stage for long-term business success and market dominance. Develop a Go-to-Market strategy When developing a GTM strategy in conjunction with a CMS strategy, key elements such as defining target audiences, creating compelling and relevant content, selecting appropriate communication channels, and synchronizing sales and marketing efforts must be emphasized. By meticulously crafting these interdependent strategies, businesses can effectively reach their target market, cultivate brand loyalty, drive customer engagement, and ultimately achieve their growth objectives. Define your product and customers The anchor for any Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy is the fundamental task of defining the product and understanding the nuances of the target customers. This pivotal step involves a detailed exploration of how the product resolves customer pain points, what specific features resonate with users, and the unique value proposition that sets it apart in the market. Identifying the ideal customer profile is equally crucial, clarifying whether the product caters to, for example, IT managers, line-of-business executives, or C-suite officers. By delving into these key aspects, businesses can craft tailored messaging, fine-tune their product offerings, and align their strategies to resonate with the specific needs and preferences of their target audience. This insightful groundwork not only informs marketing and sales tactics but also lays a solid foundation for building lasting customer relationships and driving sustainable business growth. Determine your marketing channels Choosing the right marketing channels is crucial for success. Determining the optimal market channels involves a comprehensive evaluation of how to best reach and engage the target audience. This process entails assessing various digital platforms, social media channels, traditional advertising avenues, and even face-to-face interactions such as conferences and networking events. Understanding where the target customers are allows businesses to tailor their messaging, content, and outreach efforts to maximize visibility, resonance, and impact. Moreover, leveraging data analytics and performance metrics enables ongoing assessment and refinement of channel selection. This ensures the GTM strategy remains agile, responsive, and finely tuned to capture market opportunities and drive sustainable business growth. Distribute your product The distribution of a product plays a pivotal role in seamlessly integrating a Go-to-Market strategy with a Content Marketing Strategy. This crucial step in the customer journey marks the convergence of marketing efforts with the tangible delivery of the product to the end consumer. Whether offering digital downloads, web-based services, or physical goods requiring shipping, the distribution strategy must align closely with the messaging, positioning, and customer expectations defined by the GTM and CMS frameworks. Effective product distribution involves fulfilling orders and creating a positive post-purchase experience that fosters customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. By synchronizing distribution channels with marketing initiatives, businesses can ensure a cohesive brand experience, streamline customer interactions, and optimize operational efficiencies, ultimately driving long-term customer engagement and sustainable business success. Determine a pricing strategy When determining a pricing strategy, it's crucial to align it with a Content Marketing Strategy to maximize business success. Your pricing strategy should reflect the value proposition communicated through your content marketing efforts. By understanding customer perceptions shaped by your content, you can set prices that resonate with their expectations and reinforce the perceived value of your offerings. Moreover, your content can educate customers on the benefits of your products or services, justifying higher price points and building trust. By integrating pricing considerations into your content strategy, you can effectively communicate the value of your offerings and empower customers to make informed purchasing decisions, ultimately driving revenue growth and enhancing customer loyalty. Drive engagement Beyond defining personas, selecting channels, optimizing distribution, and setting pricing, the messaging and positioning of a product or service stand as vital components of a Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy that must align with Content Marketing efforts. Ensuring consistent messaging across content channels solidifies value propositions, enhances brand identity, and fosters customer engagement. By harmonizing messaging and positioning between GTM and content marketing, businesses can create a cohesive narrative that resonates with their target audience, bolsters brand credibility and drives meaningful interactions that lead to conversions and sustained business growth. Conclusion
This is a quick overview discussion on how you can develop a Go-to-Marketing plan that mixes in with your Content Marketing Strategy. Contact me, Michael Rohde, to discuss how these strategies can help bring your product to market. The goal of this blog post is to emphasize the importance of having a content marketing strategy for any company that sells products or services and to explain how a content marketing strategy can help a company tell its story, attract and retain customers, and become an essential component of the company's overall marketing plan. This post provides a comprehensive overview of the key elements of a content marketing strategy, including the importance of a collaborative team, a publishing calendar, and a consistent message across different mediums. It also provides an example of how a content marketing strategy can be executed across different buying cycle stages. Ultimately, the post aims to educate readers that content marketing is essential to any successful marketing plan and that they should consider implementing a content marketing strategy for their company. “Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience–with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” —Content Marketing Institute Developing a Collaborative Team for Content Marketing
A content marketing strategy contains all the parts of your company’s story, how to execute, when to publish, and who will tell your story. Your story needs to be on point, from site content to downloadable fact sheets to video messages and infographics. You need a collaborative team to make sure all the moving parts are in synch, and that the message doesn’t stray from one department to another, and you’ll need an evangelical whose voice is heard across the entire company. If your company comes complete with many departments—marketing, sales, business development, engineering, and customer service—chances are you will need a content marketing strategist who can coordinate the strategy, production, publication, and execution of your campaign. Executing Your Content Marketing Strategy: Fine-Tuning to the Buying Cycle Content marketing strategies are executed across several mediums continuously and are fine-tuned to the buying cycle. This is where a publishing calendar comes in extremely handy. Your calendar will show which part of the story you are currently telling, when you are telling it, and where you are telling it. In this manner, you can use your calendar to put your video producers and writers on the same page with customer service, sales, and engineers. Types of Content for Your Content Marketing Strategy By telling the same story through different mediums, and then altering it to fit the different phases of the buying cycle, you will create a positive customer experience. An example of a content marketing strategy might go like this:
Conclusion To develop a consistent message, it’s important to tell a story, a story rich in themes. Each theme should tell a different part of the story—the product’s features, the integrity of the company, the customer’s pain points, and so on. Your message should be told in text, video, animations, and webinars and spread across several mediums so that your customers are continuously exposed to a consistent message that informs them about you and why they want to buy your products or services. That's just the beginning of content marketing! Please get in touch if you think this plan will work for you. Introducing a new product or service to the market can be exciting and daunting. As a business, it's crucial to have a well-thought-out strategy that guides potential customers through the buying cycle. The buying cycle consists of four phases: Discovery, Consideration, Conversion, and Retention. Each stage has its own challenges and opportunities for businesses to create compelling content that resonates with their target audience. In this blog post, I'll dive into each phase of the buying cycle and explore the best type of content to create for each stage. Let's get started! Phase 1—Discovery The beginning of the story starts with potential customers finding you. At this stage, your potential customers need to become aware of your company’s products and why they should choose your products or services. A successful beginning starts with introducing the company to the potential customer. The goal is to show the customer that your company is aware of their needs and can fulfill them. You will have reached your Phase 1—Discovery goal when the customer becomes aware of your brand. The best content at this beginning stage should be educational. Viral content is also important in helping spread awareness. Types of content that work well during the discovery phase include:
Phase 2—Consideration After the customer becomes aware of your company, you will want to start the education process on how your company’s products will help the customer succeed, describe how your company excels where the competitors might fail, and answer all of the customer’s questions so that they can make an educated decision on choosing your company’s product. The goal at this point is to get the customer to consider a purchase. The best content at the consideration stage of the buying cycle is to supply potential customers with content that helps them evaluate you and your products, such as:
Phase 3—Conversion The story’s climax is when the potential customer becomes a paying customer. For this to happen, the customer’s pain points must be resolved, any lingering doubts about the competition must be removed, and the customer must feel confident they made the right decision. All of this is accomplished through a consistent message, adhering to set themes that address the customer’s concerns, and relaying confidence that the company’s product is the best product or service on the market. The best type of content for converting the customer includes:
This content will be the heart of your direct sales materials and should showcase all your best features — this is the point of the story where you want to drive home the message that your products or services are the best available. The story won’t end there of course; there should always be an epilogue. The theme of the epilogue is to keep the paying customer happy so they remain a paying customer, and would recommend your products and services. That’s where Phase 4—Retention, comes into play. Phase 4—Retention At this point in the story, you have a paying customer, and you’d like to keep them around in the hopes they might refer you, offer a great review, provide a testimonial, or, best of all, remain a paying customer. The best type of content to retain a customer is:
Now that you know what type of content you want to develop and where it fits in the buying cycle, you should create a calendar so the team knows what they need to do and when they need to do it. Do you need help keeping your content marketing efforts on track? Do you find yourself publishing content haphazardly without a clear plan or strategy? If so, it's time to consider creating a publishing calendar. But what exactly is a publishing calendar, and why do you need one? In this blog post, I'll explore the answers to these questions and provide tips on creating a successful publishing calendar that will help you achieve your content marketing objectives. What is a publishing calendar? A publishing calendar is a schedule that outlines when you plan to publish content, what type of content you plan to publish, and where you plan to publish it. It's a roadmap for your content marketing efforts. Your calendar should include goals so the team understands objectives clearly — this is essential to ensure your content is relevant, valuable, and aligned with your business strategy. Why do you need a publishing calendar? There are several reasons why a publishing calendar is essential for effective content marketing. First, it ensures that you have a steady stream of content going out on a regular basis. This helps build your brand's visibility and credibility in the eyes of your target audience. Additionally, a publishing calendar makes it easier to coordinate your efforts across multiple channels and team members, ensuring that everyone is on the same page. When working with a team, it is important to have some flexibility in your content calendar to allow for last-minute changes, updates, or additions. Leave some room in your schedule to accommodate any unexpected events. When should you create a publishing calendar? The best time to create a publishing calendar is at the beginning of an overall marketing campaign. Let’s say your company wants to develop leads for a specific product, territory, or audience type. To generate those leads, you’ll need several types of content, all working in harmony, to create a branded, coherent, consistent message that educates the audience on why they want to choose your company. Different types of content take different lengths of time to generate — while a blog post might take a day or two, planning a webinar or shooting a video could take a month or longer. The calendar will keep you on track so that all the different content pieces can be produced, published, tracked, and analyzed in sync. Doing so will help you create a comprehensive content campaign that generates new business. Content types to include in your publishing calendar Now that you understand the importance of a publishing calendar, let's take a look at some of the content types you can include in your calendar: Blog posts Blog posts are one of the most popular types of content for a reason. They're easy to create, they're shareable, and they're great for driving traffic to your site. Use blog posts to highlight thought- leadership, recap recent webinars, or write an employee spotlight post to support recruitment efforts. Your calendar should include time to interview an SME, draft, review, edit, and publish. And don’t forget to include the Graphic Designer so they have time to create a header image, that will also match the image used in the social media post. Social media posts - paid and organic Social media is a great way to connect with your target audience and build brand awareness. Include a mix of curated content and original content to keep your followers engaged. Always promote your blog posts on social media — this will help drive top-of-funnel traffic — so you don’t have to rely on SEO alone. If your company attends industry events, post which events you’re attending and encourage people to schedule a time to meet with you. And don’t forget to use hashtags and tag people to help drive awareness. Webinars and videos Video content continues to be increasingly popular, and for good reason. It's engaging, shareable, and great for building brand awareness. Always allow for more time to create a video than, say, a blog post due to the additional steps involved. While a blog might consist of an interview, draft, review, edit, and publish process, creating a video includes all that and writing the script, planning the shoot, filming the video, editing the video, and adding music and special effects. All of this takes time and should be planned at least a couple of months in advance of the blog and social posts. For webinars, don’t forget about adding an email campaign. eBooks and whitepapers eBooks and whitepapers are great for lead generation. They provide in-depth information on a specific topic and are perfect for attracting prospects who are interested in what you have to offer. They follow the same basic process as a blog in terms of interviews, drafts, and revisions, but for an eBook you’ll want multiple SMEs and will need additional time for review. Email is another integral part of any content campaign and should definitely be included in the calendar to coincide with social media posts — the idea being, they see the email in their Inbox and then they see a similar post on LinkedIn — this builds brand awareness through repetition. For webinars, you’ll want to send out at least 3 invitation emails, each with new information, that start a month before the event. And always send a follow up email after the event. For emails, you’ll want a simple banner image with your logo, and it’s always a good idea to A/B test Subject lines, email body, and even landing pages. Landing pages To generate leads, you’ll need forms for prospects to fill out. That’s where a well-designed landing page comes into play. To drive visitors to your landing page, you need to include links from your email, blogs, social media, and even pop-ups on your website — so people are funneled into your lead generation platform, like Hubspot. In conclusion, a publishing calendar is an essential tool for effective content marketing. By planning and organizing your content strategy, you'll be able to build your brand's visibility and credibility, while also improving your overall results. For more examples, contact Michael Rohde today and kick-start your publishing calendar today. |
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