Interesting Infographics: 11 Ways to Drive Sales With Content Marketing

If you’re skilled at content marketing, your efforts can yield up to three times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing. Not bad, right? Brand content can be a pretty powerful force.  But the metric that you should be thinking about is whether it is also helping you to boost your profits. This infographic designed by Clearvoice offers 11 tips for building a robust and holistic content marketing strategy that is more likely to earn you conversions.

1. Stick to the Funnel. While 68% of B2B organizations don’t have a firm picture of what their funnel looks like, it’s important to map out the different stages in your company’s buying cycle, and to develop content to support each stage. While traditional marketing was focused on bring consumers from awareness to consideration, and then leaving them in the hands of sales, modern marketing strategies are more holistic, and involve a lot more cooperation between the marketing and sales teams.
2. Include Testimonials. Most consumers will be searching for reviews anyway. Make sure to include testimonials in content aimed at leads that are in the “consideration” stage of your funnel.
3. Expand on Successful Posts. Content that really hits the right note with your audience can be adapted into an infographic, video blog, or e-book. Offer users a chance to access exclusive related content through submitting a few pieces of information.
4. Experiment with Niche Ads. Many companies advertise on Facebook or Google because of the vast audiences these sites offer, but it’s often a good idea to include smaller niche sites in your media buy as well. These can often get you better leads at a lower cost.
5. Forge Content Partnerships. Exchanging content with another business can help boost traffic for both businesses, if it is a good fit. Consider collaborating on an interactive app or quiz.
6. Leverage Industry Experts. Work on building relationships with industry influencers by providing value. Share their work and engage with them before asking for a retweet.
7. Don’t Forget the CTA. Lead capture tools don’t have to detract from user experience. Adding links and informational offers at the end of an interesting blog post is one great way to pull leads. You can boost conversions by 86% by adding a video to your landing page, and leads are 70% more likely to convert if website visitors see retargeting ads.
8. Add Live Chat. Reach out to your potential customers while they are looking at your website. An instant chat tool offers the opportunity to instantly connect with leads by offering them a convenient, low-commitment way to have their questions answered.
9. Retarget Leads. It can take an average of 3-5 engagements with your brand before a lead will be ready to buy. Make sure that your marketing strategy includes retargeting.
10. Follow Up With Authenticity. 30-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. But don’t just send a half-hearted or form email. Establish trust and connection by genuinely showing interest in providing the right solution for the customer.
11. Use Email Nurture Campaigns. This point hearkens back to number 9. Up to 50% of leads are qualified but just aren’t ready to buy. Keep your leads considering your company through long-term email nurture campaigns.

It’s definitely useful to keep your full funnel in mind while crafting a marketing strategy. As I’ve talked about before in this blog, the division between sales and marketing departments makes little sense in the current business landscape. Having these teams share information and work more closely together can help to make sure that each stage of your company’s buying cycle is being targeted appropriately.

Which of these tips did you find the most helpful? Will you be turning your popular posts into infographics? Are you mulling over potential content partnerships? Let me know in the comments.