Creating Content That Keeps on Giving

Did you know that creating content can work wonders for lead generation? Your content can help keep your business alive with a steady stream of interested customers. If you're ready to create content that keeps on giving—giving you leads that is—follow these top four tips.

Know Your Customers

Your content needs to interest and engage its audience. To make sure it does just that, you need to understand your customers. Ask yourself:

• What are their demographics?
• What is their experience with my organization so far?
• What makes my products or services relevant to them?
• What are their needs?
• What problems are they trying to solve?

When you understand your customers, you can tailor your content to speak directly to them.

Create Content with a Purpose

Before you craft a piece of content, ask yourself what its purpose is. For example, you can use content to answer questions, entertain, inform, encourage conversation with your customers, or show them how you can make their lives better.

When your content has purpose, it establishes your organization as offering real value. This helps position you as an expert and a trusted source your customers can turn to.

By giving your content a purpose that fits well with your customer profiles, you're offering your customers information or content that they truly want. This encourages them to spend time with your content and your business, and ultimately buy from you as well.

Explore Different Content Types

Content doesn't just mean blog posts. Explore different content types to maximize your lead generation. Choose your content type depending on your purpose:

• Blog posts for sharing ideas and information
• Infographics for a visual overview of a topic or facts
• eBooks or white papers for covering a topic in depth
• Videos to demonstrate something or tell a story in a visual way
• Podcasts to share information with customers on the move
• Newsletters to keep customers up to date on industry trends and your organization
• Case studies to show your credibility and demonstrate how you benefit your customers

Match Your Content to the Buying Cycle

Not all customers are at the same point in their dealings with your organization. By understanding where they are, you can offer content that matches that. For example, if a customer is new to your organization, offer content that will help them decide if you can help them. Try using videos, podcasts, and blog posts to inform and entertain. You can also offer eBooks or white papers for those who want more in depth information. When a customer is seriously considering purchasing from you, try using customer case studies, more in depth videos or podcasts, or even Webinars, to help them evaluate what you can do for them.

Useful and well planned content is a valuable tool when it comes to lead generation. Know your customers and their needs and craft content that speaks to them so you can capture their interest and turn curiosity into sales.

What are your best practices for creating content that really grabs the attention your audience? If you have any tips or suggestions, I’d love to hear in the comments below!