It's no secret that content creation is the hub of inbound marketing. But building a piece of content doesn't necessarily equal new business. Just because you build it doesn't mean they're all going to come. The real question, if you are a marketer, is how to squeeze the life out of a single piece of content in order to get more visitors and new leads.
We recently wrapped up a whitepaper/guide for one of our clients in the staffing and recruiting industry. The guide has really great information in it, super helpful to their target persona, and the design fits their branding standards and looks great. When all was said and done, our client then turned to us and asked, "now what?"
You also may have found yourself in the position of having a really great piece of content but not really sure how to get the eyeballs to it — so here's our plan for getting our client hundreds of visitors and dozens of leads using this piece of content:
The first thing we plan to do is have the client place the call-to-action button that drives the visitor to a landing page to download the whitepaper on strategic pages within their website. The client has all of these visitors coming to their website...why not capture those visitors by offering them a relevant piece of educational content? By analyzing their most viewed pages, we are able to gather a set of recommended website pages that this offer should be seen on.
The client had a very active blog and already previously published a series of blog posts that were relevant to the same topic and pain point as the whitepaper. By going back into these old blog posts and inserting a call-to-action button for the offer, we have found a new platform to deliver more thought leadership. They also have space in the side column of the blog, and by inserting this offer in the side column, we are guaranteeing that no matter what blog is clicked on, this offer is going to be seen.
Using your social media platforms is a great way to spread the word that you have a new piece of content. This is also a great way to get more fans, followers, and friends. The guidance that I gave my client was to use the social media platform that their clients were using. In this case we used and focused on LinkedIn and Twitter. By "fishing where the fish are," you are more likely to get someone's attention and convert them into a lead.
Inbound and outbound marketing go hand-in-hand. Each methodology can work separately to get new leads and new business, however they perform best when paired together.
We created a series of promotional emails that we will send to our client’s database to promote the offer. Each promotional email highlights a different benefit or reason why someone should download this offer. By sending a series of emails, we are increasing our chances of getting more click-thrus, thus getting more leads.
We will also be using our client's monthly eNewsletter as a vehicle to promote the whitepaper. By utilizing space in the newsletter, we are trying to get our client's subscribers to become aware of the new piece of content that was created with them in mind.
There are a lot of steps and strategies within each promotion channel listed above. A lot of thought will go into every aspect of the promotional campaign, because simply building a piece of content will not get you the results you are looking for. You must be proactive in getting eyeballs to the offer and highlighting the benefits of why someone should download the content. With some good planning, great strategy, and insightful writing.... That is how we plan to help our client increase their visitors and get more leads. Now wish us luck!