What makes online content a better choice for engaging your targets and addressing their needs than traditional advertising?
The simple answer is that content holds value for both marketers and prospects. For marketers, online content allows for direct engagement with members of a target audience, encouraging them to share their contact information in exchange for a download or an offer. With this information in hand, marketers can nurture leads in a more targeted, strategic manner, using data to better tailor content to address the needs of each contact. Essentially, content allows marketers to automate the early phases of the sales process, leaving the sales team free to focus on warmed leads further down the funnel.
For prospects, well-crafted online content offers valuable solutions to their individual needs. Unlike traditional advertising like television ads, which tell people what to buy, marketing content educates prospects, empowers them to do better work and addresses their pain points directly. It builds a relationship that may eventually lead to a sale, but it offers value before any money is exchanged.
But not all content can achieve this. Does yours?
As we discussed on Monday, content only works if it’s attuned to what buyers need and delivered to them when they need it. Prospects can see right through valueless content, and they will not hand over any of their information in exchange for something that they feel is worthless. Underdeveloped, low-value content will hurt your brand rather than help it.
Content is also wasted if it is not well-targeted and delivered in a timely fashion. When developing your company’s content strategy, address your targets’ needs at every stage of the buying cycle, determine the ideal time to deliver each piece of content to them and automate the process to ensure the right information is given to the right prospects at the right time.
When we partnered with smart grid technology leader Landis+Gyr to create the Future.Ready. campaign, we knew we would need to create a cross-channel content strategy to reach a discerning, fragmented target market. Every piece of content had to be tailored to its medium and audience, but the campaign as a whole also needed to support the overall message about Landis+Gyr’s ability to evolve with customers into the future.
For the campaign, we chose to highlight different aspects of the Landis+Gyr brand message on each channel. For example, a short video introducing smart grid technologies and highlighting their importance was sent to email subscribers, and posted to YouTube and the campaign website. Why video? By putting content in this form, we were able to capture viewers’ attention without demanding too much of their time or expecting them to have an in-depth knowledge of smart grid technology: perfect for those who were interested enough in the topic to make contact but not yet very far in the buying cycle.
Meanwhile, a digital and print magazine provided much more in-depth coverage of specific smart grid topics, addressing the questions and concerns of industry leaders. This was paired with other digital collateral, including white papers, so that those who sought out higher-level information could engage with the campaign in a manner appropriate for their skill set, background knowledge and expertise. At the end of the day, every audience segment received the content that was right for their needs, leading to a year-over-year increase in all leading brand KPIs.
Take a look at some other clients Movéo has partnered with to create impactful marketing campaigns:
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