Great lead generation content needs 5 ingredients. When optimizing a lead generation campaign, marketers can use a variety of levers. Do they have the correct targeting strategy? Are their bids sufficiently competitive? Do they need to go abroad and pursue volume, or should they focus on quality and narrow their campaign?
However, it’s surprising how often the most important part of lead generation marketing isn’t taken into account.
Lead Generation Content in 2022
To achieve exceptional results with a lead generation campaign, you must have the right content assets and signal the value of those assets correctly.
Assuming that your content asset is what you’re delivering to an audience in exchange for their content data, it’s astoundingly straightforward and staggeringly clear. It gives all of the reasons for potential prospects to sign up as Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). Despite this, it is frequently the last thing marketers think about when determining how to increase lead volume or improve lead quality.
A large part of my role is to engage with advertising customers to see where changing content assets may take them. I collaborate with LinkedIn’s content partners, which are agencies that specialize in various parts of content generation and whose services clients can employ as part of a campaign booked on our platform.
On numerous occasions, we’ve worked with customers who have spent time altering their targeting or bids to enhance lead volume, quality, or cost per lead (CPL) but have never asked whether their content is appropriate for the lead generation duty they’ve assigned it. It’s incredible how much of a difference optimizing content for lead generation can make.
In my experience, there are five key components of a high-performing lead generation content asset. When developing your campaign, it’s worth double-checking that your content delivers on these various elements and making any necessary changes before you start putting money behind it.
And when generating sponsored content copy to promote your lead generation assets, aim to signal these different selling factors in the headlines, images, and body text that you use. Put all five into the mix, and you’ll ensure that your lead generation content meets the challenge you’ve set for it.
Relevance and urgency
The effectiveness of a lead generation campaign is determined by getting someone to click a link and consume a piece of content. That needs a sense of urgency—a cause to act right away. And the easiest way to do so is to connect your content assets with the themes that you know your target audience is interested in at the time.
This could be a case of creating lead generation content that coincides with important dates on your target audience’s calendar. Suppose you’re a cybersecurity business that focuses on retailers, for example. In that case, you know that the concerns you help them address become more serious around occasions like Black Friday and Valentine’s Day.
Creating content for these instances ensures relevance and creates the sense of urgency that you require. More broadly, you can utilize tools like LinkedIn Pages’ Content Suggestions feature to analyze the content themes that are capturing your target audience’s attention – and then create content assets to address them.
Increasing relevance does not have to include producing unique lead generation content from the start. You may already have a piece of content that provides insights or tips that are of genuine present value to your target audience but aren’t the major emphasis of the piece. Don’t be afraid to repackage this content, emphasizing its currency in your sponsored content headline and copy.
If your content asset has distinct insights to offer different parts of your target audience, try launching different sponsored content campaigns with headlines that call out those specific groups. All of this contributes to the emphasis on relevance – and provides a compelling reason to click. Don’t be afraid to tailor your content efforts to certain audiences.
Depth
Lead generation includes a clear value exchange, and failing to deliver on your end of the exchange can have a negative impact on the quality of leads that you create. Effective lead generation content assets provide measurable value that is worth sharing specifics about. If you’ve recognized a need or an interest on the part of your audience and persuaded them that you have the expertise they require, then your content must live up to their expectations.
Case studies, opinion pieces, engaging video content, and short infographics are all incredibly important types of content that can play significant roles in your marketing plan. However, they rarely make for successful lead generation content assets since they lack the depth of insights that a prospect expects when they complete a lead generation form.
The weight of content around which you design a lead generation campaign must justify the bargain that is involved in someone becoming a lead. If you happened to disappoint them and leave them feeling shortchanged, you’re damaging the opportunity before you even hand it over to your sales staff.
If you’re concerned about your content asset is too light to serve as a lead generation role, don’t give up but don’t keep going either. Investigate ways to improve the value you’re providing.
- Are there any other client testimonials that you could pull into a compendium showcasing different solutions to the challenges that your prospects experience if your content asset is a case study?
- Can you reach out to other specialists in your business for their thoughts on an opinion piece written by a member of your C-suite?
- Or should you use it as the foundation for content that outlines action plans and recommendations for prospects to follow?
- Are you able to quickly do some research to back up your point of view with real data?
If you have a content asset who isn’t ready to play a lead generation role, that doesn’t imply that your campaign must be put on hold. It’s an offer to dedicate a little more time to create a content asset that will provide ongoing value to your business, customers, and prospects.
Original value
When Edelman and LinkedIn investigated the reasons why decision-makers connect with content, originality was prominent in the responses. The type of prospects you’re likely to be targeting told us that they desire content that “explores potential issues or fresh opportunities I hadn’t considered previously.”
When lead generation content assets deliver new insights and ideas, they not only provide a compelling reason to click and share information – they also establish why it’s worthwhile to take a call or open an email from your sales team.
This type of unique value is the most difficult challenge for lead generation content. It’s pretty simple to develop a content asset about something your audience is interested in; it’s significantly more difficult to generate a truly unique perspective on it.
A smart starting point is to analyze your target audience’s content and seek out opportunity gaps where your business can add value.
- Is there anything you know about a topic that is not currently being discussed?
- Do you have any facts or statistics to back up or refute the floating theories?
- Best of all, if your audience is debating a common issue, do you have novel solutions?
By emphasizing these elements in your content, you are informing your audience that you have something new to offer—and that they simply cannot afford to miss out.
Actionability
When content gives your prospects a clear sense of what to do next—when its ideas are actionable—it offers the most value of all. Aim to provide clear next steps inside your content asset, outlining how your audience may utilize the insights to solve issues and grow their businesses.
If this coincides with your solutions or the expertise that your business has to offer, all the better. Use these real-world applications of your ideas to make Sponsored Content campaigns around your lead generation asset more appealing.
Intrigue
What you say matters a lot in lead generation content, but how you say it matters even more. When thought leadership is wrapped in a fascinating creative concept, it stands out and piques your audience’s interest.
Try condensing your plethora of content into a basic headline notion that you can explain in a short sentence or a few words. Use images and visual metaphors to bring it to life, and then use these to create your assets and build your sponsored content campaign. Consider creating teaser movies or compelling demographics spotlighting essential ideas or statistics if your budget allows.
It doesn’t take long or a lot of money to transform interesting content into potent lead generation content. The real key to success is knowing which elements you require and emphasizing them.
Last Updated on August 11, 2023
