If you're in an industry where customers have no choice but to purchase from you, then you’re one lucky business owner because you generate leads by simply existing!

However, if you’re like most of us, your potential customers have plenty of options, so you need to convince them that you’re the best one. That’s where content marketing can help lead generation for your business. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads.

Here is some advice to generate leads for your business.

Embracing empowered buyers

Potential leads will alsobe jumping onto message boards, reading up on social media reviews, and, as Taimur (Tim) Hydari, a content expert at Jupiter Business Mentors (JBM) says, “Generally getting their hands on any information they require to make their decision, which could be from a single source or multiple sources.”

Business Marketing Strategy and campaign should be directing people to the content businesses want them to see. As Hazar Ibdah, an Arabic content expert at JBM, says, “Content helps your customers make an informed decision based on well-articulated information.” Almost all customers start their journey by using search engines, which means Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) play a big role in getting you seen by interested eyes. As Hazar suggests, to gain better leads, a business should have “SEO experts working hand-in-hand with copywriters to create content that works in terms of reach and ranking.”

So, the best way to attract leads, win them, and keep them, is to give them the information they want and need.

A better way to build a relationship

Building your business by being helpful to strangers, prospects, and customers will lead to healthy buyer-seller relationships,” mentions Tim. He continues, “Gone are the days of simply promoting your product or service and calling it good – the market is more nuanced than that. People expect more support and clarity around their decision-making and the problems that they’re facing. This is where content comes in.

Whilst your product or service has the potential to solve your customers’ problems, it’s possible that multiple alternatives also exist. Hazar suggests that “for the most basic content marketing plan, a client should draft a strategy for their social media and make sure they continue feeding and targeting their audience with relevant content.”Building relationships with your contacts is the foundation of a successful business. Contacts aren’t just email addresses and phone numbers that live in your database.
A contact is anyone that the company markets to, sells to, partners with, engages with or employs. These are the people who you provide value to, and in turn, they help your business grow. Make sure to segment your contacts so that you’re sending them relevant information at the right time.

Using the right content to generate the right leads

Whether it’s blogs, articles, eBooks, presentations, videos, infographics, or other types of content, “they need to be contextualized,” believes Tim. He continues, “That means each piece of content is tailored towards someone who is looking for your services or wants to buy your product.” Buyer personas, which are detailed descriptions of your ideal customers created through research, can help you figure out how to tailor your content. As Hazar mentions, your content should be “shaped by your thorough understanding of the targeted audience.”

Your buyer’s journey depends on your unique business model, including your product/ service, your pricing, and your target audience. It begins with the Awareness Stage when a prospect is looking to name and frame their problem. The Consideration Stage is when they’re committed to understanding all the available solutions to their problem or opportunity. The Decision Stage is when the prospect has decided on their solution and they’re compiling their shortlist. As Diksha notes, the right content “gives you visibility and, somewhere in their mind, registers you as a credible resource. Once they have a requirement, they’ll come to you.”

Keep at it, revisit and repeat

“Untargeted content without a purpose is just spam,” Tim notes. He continues, “People love opportunities to learn and your brand can become a vital resource.” When strangers, prospects, and customers are getting expert insight from people at the forefront of an industry, they’re increasingly likely to trust the information.

This is where goal-setting can be key. “Without a goal, you won’t know if your marketing efforts were successful,” says Tim. He continues, “Whether it’s increasing website traffic, social media engagement, click-through rates, or, for example, converting more leads into sales, make sure to have metrics that will not only show this but demonstrate reason behind choosing that particular metric.”

Content marketing can provide you with quality leads that could become your new customers, but it does require some strategizing, planning, and commitment before you’ll see real results. However, if you put in the effort, you’ll find a new (and lucrative) way to attract more business over the long term.

Author's Bio: 

Jupiter Business Mentors (JBM) is a platform dedicated to fostering the start-up community and small & medium business enterprises with access to experienced executives and industry experts from various areas of business, in the UAE and across the Middle East region, with plans in the pipeline to have global mentors listed on the platform.
To consult with our content experts, get in touch with us here jupiterbusinessmentors.com