Content Marketing tips for lead generation

A Solid Lead Generation System starts with a Nose for News

Whether you are a kid with crayons, a Journalist or a Content Marketer, we all have an expectation that audiences will love every sentence we write. After all, we put a lot of effort into each thought – how can the story not be perfect?

The harsh fact is that most web readers skim stories, which means that it takes even more effort to make the important points of a piece relevant, clear and arranged in a logical style.

For Content Marketers, this storytelling technique is particularly important in developing a lead generation system. 

Four Tips for Content Marketers

Content marketers would do well to imitate Journalists, who by training are some of the best storytellers because they focus on the following areas:

• 1. Relevance. Answers to the key questions of who, what, when, where, how and why are the foundation for making a story relevant to audiences.
• 2. Informational. There are many stories, white papers and blog posts out there that are overt or thinly disguised advertisements for services (these probably get skimmed more than most other content).A better approach is to pick an issue in your industry and 'own' it.  Have an opinion about it and show your thinking about how you arrive at solutions to problems.
• 3. Clear, logical display of content. Journalists sometimes follow the inverted pyramid approach when compiling news content.  This means having the most important and interesting information at the top (where the pyramid is widest), with other points following below in order of diminishing significance.
  

  As the foundation of a lead generation system, content that follows this model will be well positioned to keep readers informed throughout the piece, even when they are skimming. 

• 4. Search engine optimization (SEO). Today’s Journalists know that best practices go beyond good sources, a strong premise and excellent writing. Many have strong Twitter followers to give advance notice about the publication of a story, and more than a few likely think about incorporating key words into their stories so they can capture more readers.

Writers and Editors both know the importance of finding new audiences to ensure the viability of their publication. Likewise, stories by content marketers be found in search engines before they can be viewed by readers, who then can become business prospects.

Thinking like a Journalist can deliver the benefits you seek as a Content Marketer.

Some will take themselves out of your information stream because the content is not what they seek, so you will spend less business development time chasing the wrong leads. You also will engage the right readers who want to have more of your content. From this group you will find the most interested prospects.

In fact, our research found that firms that generate at least 40-60% of their leads online grow up to 4X faster and are up to 2X more profitable, shown in the above figure. Make sure your lead generation system has a content marketing program with a journalistic approach. You won’t be disappointed.