What Is Premium Content And How Do You Create It?

Premium content is a critical part of your lead generation process and a powerful tool known for establishing credibility and authority in any industry. Unlike a blog post, the goal is to attract visitors to your website by offering them a type of relevant and valuable piece of content in exchange for their contact information. Once they submit their information via a web form, you begin the process of leading them through the sales funnel, so that you can further nurture them.

Creating invaluable premium content helps generate leads and begins filling your sales funnel. However, it also helps educate potential leads regarding various aspects of your business and gives them a reason to trust the information you deliver. Keep reading to learn more about premium content and how to create it.

What is Premium Content?

When done right, premium content has the power to drive traffic, improve conversion rates, enhance brand positioning, and build loyalty. Often times, premium content is seen as a big, lengthy whitepaper. While a whitepaper is certainly a type of premium content, there are many other effective types.

Essentially, anything that a visitor finds valuable, and is willing to provide their information for, is a good piece of premium content. This can be any and everything ranging from:

• Case studies
• Press releases
• eBooks
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• Videos
• Contact page
• Tutorials
• Free demo
• Free trial
• Training materials
• Newsletter signup 

How to Create Premium Content 

1. Know Your Target Persona

Will they find it important? Do they have a need for that type of information? If your target personas don’t find it’s important, you’re wasting your time. Think about their needs and pain points, and what they’d find helpful.

2. Provide Value

One of the main difference between a blog post and premium content is how the prospect reacts. A blog post should warrant interest and provide value, but premium content goes above and beyond providing enough value to make the reader want to exchange information in return. Once you produce a piece of premium content, ask yourself:

• Is this content providing the information we told them they were going to get?
• Did we answer all of the questions that we said we would?
• Was it a good use of their time?

3. Align Premium Content with Current Goals

Your premium content should enhance your lead generation goals. For example, if your goal is to fill the top of your sales funnel so that you can convert visitors into leads and nurture them down the funnel, then you need  to increase website visitors and fill the top of your inbound marketing sales funnel. You would produce helpful premium content, such as a video series, that provided solutions for your ideal clients' problems.

If your business or brand is well-known and already has a steady stream of visitors to the website, your goal is focusing on converting leads and nurturing them into customers. This is where the exchange of contact information for valuable premium content takes action.

4. Make Premium Content Targeted

This means targeted to different stages of the sales funnel. Different pieces of content will speak to different stages—that’s the beauty of premium content! Make sure you have content that speaks to each of these stages.

What Types of Content Align with Each Stage of the Sales Funnel?

• Top of the funnel offers are for those who are at the beginning of their buying process. Therefore, offers might include those that are:
  
  
  • General topics
  • Whitepapers
  • How-to guide
  • Short videos
  • Checklists
  • Educational webinars
  • Tip sheets
• Middle of the funnel will target those who are familiar with your product/services and want to learn more. This is where you want to provide more niche or in-depth topics like:
  
  
  • eBooks
  • Case studies
  • Product samples
  • Subscriptions
  • Podcasts
  • Webinars

• Bottom of the funnel is where you’re starting to hone in on the end of the buying cycle. These prospects are closer to making a purchase, so you want to provide them with offers such as:
  
  
  • Free trials
  • Live demos
  • brochures
  • Consultations
  • Pricing
  • Estimates
  • Coupons

When generating ideas for your premium content pieces, categorize them into each stage of the sales funnel. Don’t forget, after you create a piece of premium content, you’ll need a stellar landing page for it. Check out more on how to do that here.

*Editor's Note: This blog was originally published in August 2014 and has since been updated.