Publishing original content that attracts qualified business leads is the perfect way to move customers through the sales funnel. Leads are essential in business because they create sales and increase organic customers.

How To Generate Leads With Content Marketing

Generating leads is all about developing the interest of a prospect in your product or service, so much so that they provide you with their contact details.  

This is a crucial step because firstly, they show clear interest in what you have to offer. Secondly, once you have their content details, you can start building a two-way relationship with these potential customers. At this stage, it isn’t about selling but offering value and knowledge so that you can show your expertise and skills. The main focus should be on offering added value to your potential customers, and this is how you can do that:

1. Content Upgrade

A content upgrade, or bonus content, is an extension to a piece of content that already exists on your blog. While a visitor is reading content on your website, a box will pop up offering more valuable information in exchange for their email address. Content upgrades are known to generate high conversions because it’s related to what the visitor is already reading and interested in.

2. Offer Interactive Content 

Interactive content is engaging and adds value to customers, which is probably why it generates two times more conversions compared to passive content. Interactive tools are a great way to personalize the experience for prospects and consist of activities like answering questions, making choices, and giving preferences. It makes content more interesting and encourages users to share information more readily.

Popular interactive tools are calculators and quizzes, which require participants to share their name and email address in return for the results.

3. Guest Blog

Guest blogging is a great way to boost reach among your target audience and help you secure much-needed backlinks to your site. By reaching out to other blogs and websites in your niche for guest posting opportunities, you can fill the top of your sales funnel with fresh leads.

Gaining access to a broader audience means more leads to pass onto your sales team. Keep in mind that your guest post should link back to your own site in some way. Ideally, you should also try to include content upgrades within the post.

4. Create Video Content

Videos deliver a higher level of engagement among viewers compared to written content. It can be used to communicate details on products or services, deliver tutorials, provide advice, or give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Ultimately, though, it should fit your marketing strategy and provide value to your audience.

Not only should your video be high-quality and engaging, but it also needs to have a clear call to action (CTA) to ensure viewers perform the task you want them to or that they’re diverted to related content. This will depend on what stage of the sales funnel you want prospects to be directed to.

When we say high-quality video, it is essential to point out that we aren’t talking about a must-shoot-in-a-studio kind of good quality. Of course, if that is your preference and you have the budget, a studio shoot will deliver that high-quality piece. However, today you can easily shoot a good quality video on your phone, and viewers appreciate it when they get to watch real, raw videos. This helps them to connect with you on a more personal level, and the trust factor is higher when they get to see you in “real life”.

For example, if you’re targeting new customers, you can create an explainer video that provides detailed information on your product or service. This is a good intro to your business, and if engaging enough, prospects may be driven even further down the funnel.

5. Produce An E-Book Or Guide

E-books are an excellent way to guide customers through the first stage of the buyer’s journey. Instead of feeling like yet another blog post or video, a downloadable e-book or guide offers a lot more value and allows you to showcase your area of expertise in a lot more detail.

A big advantage of using e-books or guides for lead generation is that your lead has actively sought out this information, which means they’re already engaged to a certain degree. Providing them with a downloadable object is the perfect way to strengthen your credibility and convert that interest into sales without using a direct sales pitch.

Guides and E-books can be any length or content, and the main goal here is to offer a solution to your reader’s problem. These downloadable pieces should focus on one topic and provide a clear description or even instructions. Guide books are not sales fliers, and you should not try to include lengthy sales offers in them; otherwise, you will have a good chance that your reader will abort your document before they get to the end.

6. Use Social Media Advertising 

Social media has become a gold mine for generating new leads. Your most important pieces of content, whether it be an e-book, webinar, blog post, or something else, can be shared on several platforms to reach new prospects. The best part is that you can target a specific audience. Facebook allows you to target people based on location, gender, age, interests, and more, which can be very beneficial to your marketing strategy. You can share and re-share your content on Pinterest with different images. On Instagram, you can display a downloadable in your bio, giving it a prime location for exposure. Once a prospect expressed some interest, you can casually connect with them via DMs (direct messages) and drive the conversation and your sales opportunities on a more direct and personalized level.

Conclusion

Any business can generate leads online with a solid content marketing strategy. Lead generation is all about reaching out to your audience, educating them, and showing them why your product or service is the perfect solution to their problem. By following the tips we’ve discussed above, you should see your leads multiply exponentially.

If you recently created a lead magnet and despite all your efforts, it is not delivering the expected results, check out this article about Why Your Lead Magnet Isn’t Working And How to Fix It!