“If you build it, they will come” only worked in the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams. In real life, especially in content marketing, merely launching a content marketing campaign will not attract eyeballs or sales. While having the content is the first step, what you do with it – and what kind of content you produce – is what will maximize the impact of your client's campaign.
To get more from your client's content marketing campaign, consider these six tips for getting the most bang for their marketing buck:
1. Start with a foundation of sharable content.
To get the most out of content marketing campaigns, you’ll need reach. That reach comes from content that is sharable: well-written blog posts, helpful Tweets, fun to read (yet very useful) infographics, ebooks and white papers that hold solutions to problems, case studies that customers identify with, and quality video. Plan content accordingly, and it will be something that you and your customers will be proud to share with others.
2. Share prolifically.
Content marketing campaigns are great for SEO purposes. But that tactic to gather views only works when a prospect or customer is actively searching for keywords in your ebooks, special reports, blog posts, or other content. Take to social media, where your customers are, and post links, commentary, and tidbits from the content that will entice them to click through to the full piece.
3. Make it easy for prospects and customers to share content.
Your shares are important, but customers and prospects also want to share great content with their peers. Include share buttons where appropriate so that visitors can easily click and share to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest (especially if your content marketing campaigns use cool infographics).
4. Synchronize your sales cycle with your content marketing campaign.
All the content in the world won’t increase sales if the sales team isn’t on board with the campaign. For example, if your company is launching a new product that the sales team is planning to push, now is the time to create white papers, data sheets, and other information around the new product so that not only will the sales team have collateral to bring to customer appointments, but prospects will be primed to contact sales for more information or demos.
5. Repurpose content where you can.
An ebook or white paper doesn’t have to just be one piece of content. An effective content marketing campaign takes content and repurposes it to the company’s advantage. If you have a great video series, that can be turned into an ebook or a series of blog posts. Snippets from blog posts can be turned into tweets. Research can be turned into cool infographics with the help of a talented designer. And all of it links back to your site to start the lead generation cycle.
6. Define KPIs, then measure your ROI.
Before you launch, define what metrics you will use to measure the success of your content marketing campaigns: shares, clicks, leads, all three, or other indicators? Then measure regularly and fine-tune your content to what seems to be working best with your audience. For example, a case study on how a customer was able to automate payroll with your solution may be widely shared, but you’re noticing that blog posts touting the benefits of automation aren’t as popular. Add more case studies, which in this case are gold.
Using these tips, you’ll be able to maximize the impact of your client's content marketing campaign, shorten their sales cycle, and get the best ROI possible.
