We now can generate extra content material than ever earlier than, however ought to we? What if we knew what consumers wished and made extra of that as an alternative of manufacturing what’s quick and/or straightforward?
Final month, I shared insights from our analysis highlighting the hole between content material advertising and the customer’s journey.
Particularly, roughly 80% of closed gross sales offers we evaluated couldn’t be linked to advertising content material. Naturally, that led us to the query: what content material did we discover that we might connect with the journey?
The varieties of content material that resonate with shoppers
We analyzed consumer gross sales and advertising information from 5 industries and performed major analysis with consumers and gross sales representatives (SDR/BDR/AM/CSMs). The content material we found match into one of many following 4 classes.
Case research/use instances
Opposite to traditional knowledge, we discovered that case research have been used/consumed in the beginning of the customer’s journey reasonably than later. BDRs/SDRs used business case research or solution-specific use instances to construct credibility early within the dialog.
Occasions
Content material associated to consumer occasions acquired appreciable consideration. Business occasions the place firms sponsored or supplied audio system additionally carried out very properly.
Webinars have been hit and miss. Most curiosity went towards subjects associated to business traits or use instances. We additionally discovered that attendee-to-lead conversion was more and more harder in late 2023 and 2024.
Analysis
Analysis carried out properly in sure industries. In skilled companies, cybersecurity and life sciences analysis on sizzling subjects (AI, threats, market dynamics) have been the most effective performers.
We discovered that content material syndication generated curiosity however didn’t convert properly to sales-qualified leads (SQLs). Moreover, interviews revealed that analysis was, for probably the most half, under-leveraged by gross sales.
Dig deeper: A B2B marketer’s information to long-form content material
Web site
Whereas not conventional content material advertising, an internet site is a supply of content material. Utilizing GA, Demandbase and 6Sense, we discovered that consumers hit the online in the beginning and finish of the gross sales course of.
Nevertheless, we didn’t discover a constant sample. As a result of advertising directed audiences to particular touchdown pages, it’s tough to measure real curiosity. We did discover that e-mail campaigns, not like content material syndication campaigns, led to spikes in internet visitors.
Recognizing your viewers’s content material preferences
That is on no account an entire listing. As I discussed, visibility points between gross sales and advertising methods did restrict our means to see all content material.
Even so, right here’s the purpose. Prospects have a choice for sure content material. The identical could be stated for consumers and prospects. Understanding that choice might current a possibility to do extra with much less.
Consider it this fashion: We discovered that some firms have a chunk of content material that’s, in a way, a “model.” It might be one thing well-known within the business or produced yearly, just like the report talked about above.
As an alternative of being on the content material hamster wheel, pumping out increasingly content material, you might concentrate on getting extra worth out of the branded content material and “atomizing” it.
What does that imply? For instance, the analysis report I simply talked about could be mined for brand new, smaller items of content material. Most experiences have a heavier cognitive load than most consideration spans will tolerate at one time, so breaking the insights into smaller items will enhance consumption.
Take a bit every quarter and switch it into an book that includes one matter. Use eye-catching graphs for month-to-month social media posts. Create a quarterly webinar on a discovering and use the attendees to construct your survey listing for subsequent 12 months’s report.
The identical factor could be executed with occasions. Over six months, tease the audio system, venue, attendees, presentation, and so on.
There’s an undervalued alternative to create better-performing property by leveraging what you’ve already constructed reasonably than constructing new ones. It’s onerous to achieve mindshare with audiences. In case you have identified content material, maintain reinforcing the worth of the knowledge.
The objective of content material advertising is consumption, not creation. Focusing extra of your efforts and sources on doing extra with what’s being consumed will cut back the necessity for creating new content material.
Dig deeper: B2B content material advertising: Driving success by strategic content material creation
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