What Kind of Lead Generation Content Makes for Successful Conversions?

In the B2B world, lead generation is becoming a top priority. With evidence showing that more than half of all qualified leads aren't always ready to buy right away, how do you convince them that you're the better choice over a competitor?

Many in the B2B community know that content is one of the major ways in which a buyer initially becomes interested and one of the major components involved in encouraging consumers to make purchase decisions. However, when you have little time to create a lot of content, a more effective method is to create one piece that tells the buyer everything that he or she wants to know.

So what does good lead generation content look like? You want to clearly lay out the reasons your products are better than others. With some astute study of what your buyers want, you can determine what good content is, what the best format is, and smart ways to promote it.

All in all, you'll consolidate your content marketing while nurturing a better relationship with your leads by showing them that you're transparent about your products.

WHAT TOPICS SHOULD YOU FOCUS ON?

Your B2B buyers want detailed information about your products, but they don't want to feel like they're reading through an encylopedia. For better focus in your content, have your marketing team determine what the single most important problem is that your buyers face. Do they need a particular feature on your products that helps them be more competitive? Do they need high-quality discount items? Or do they need one particular type of product, which perhaps you haven't focused enough on?

Answering these questions will help you determine which topics to focus on, both to attract other businesses and to keep them interested.

Another strategy is to study online forums where people in your industry are discussing the latest issues. Google these forums and read the most recent discussions. Social media outlets are also a good place to find cutting-edge industry discussions. On Twitter, for instance, you can easily look up what people are tweeting about using hashtag searches.

Don't be afraid to go in and join the discussions taking place. By asking questions, you'll know what the latest concerns are in their industries. Once you know what the most pressing issues are, you have a content topic firmly in place.

Now you just have to figure out what kind of media format will provide your customers with the easiest way to read or watch.

WHAT'S REALLY THE BEST MEDIA FORMAT?

While videos always do well, it's often difficult to include a lot of detailed information in video formats because of time constraints. One solution to this is to incorporate an infographic or some animation in the video that provides detailed information in an easy-to-read format. But be careful about using too many infographics in a video–videos can expensive to produce, and infographics can easily be included on your website much more economically.

Once again, studying your demographic's preferences will help you decide which media format works best for them. You might be surprised and end up finding out that they prefer white papers, ebooks, or blogs over a more elaborate video production.

PROMOTING YOUR CONTENT

If you entice people to sign up for regular emails, you can easily include exclusive and valuable content there.  The more exclusive the content is, the more valuable it becomes.

But there's a fine line: you shouldn't make all of your valuable content exclusive. You want a healthy balance between the two by including some public content. You just have to see what's worked before with your past customers and how they reacted when you made content public or private.

Just remember that when your content is material not typically found on a Google search, you have a better chance of showing your value. Conduct searches to make sure that your topic hasn't been covered before. If it has, give it a unique spin, and connect it directly to your products.