We can create more content than ever before, but should we? What if we knew what buyers wanted and produced more of it rather than creating what was quick and/or simple?
Last month, I released findings from our research that demonstrated the disconnect between content marketing and the buyer’s journey.
Specifically, almost 80% of the concluded sales agreements we examined could not be linked to marketing content. Naturally, this led us to the topic of what content we discovered that could be related to the adventure.
Clients’ preferred content that resonate with them
We examined client sales and marketing data from five industries and performed primary interviews with buyers and sales representatives (SDR/BDR/AM/CSM). The content we discovered falls into one of four categories.
Case studies / use cases
Contrary to popular belief, we discovered that case studies were used/consumed at the start of the buyer’s journey rather than later. BDRs and SDRs employed industry case studies or solution-specific use cases to establish credibility early in the dialog.
Events
Content connected to user events attracted a lot of attention. Industry gatherings where firms funded or gave speakers also fared admirably.
Webinars were hit and miss. The most popular themes were those dealing with industry trends or application cases. We also discovered that attendee-to-lead conversion becomes progressively challenging in late 2023 and 2024.
Research
Certain industries saw good results from research. In professional services, cybersecurity and life sciences research on hot themes (AI, dangers, market dynamics) performed best.
We discovered that content syndication created curiosity but did not convert well into sales-qualified leads (SQLs). Additionally, interviews suggested that research was, for the most part, underutilized by sales.
Website
A website, while not traditional content marketing, does provide content. Using GA, Demandbase, and 6Sense, we discovered that purchasers go online at the start and finish of the sales process.
However, we did not discover a regular pattern. Marketing steered people to specific landing sites, making it harder to gauge true interest. We did notice that, unlike content syndication campaigns, email campaigns resulted in increases in web traffic.
Recognize your audience’s content preferences.
This is not a complete list. As previously stated, visibility limitations between sales and marketing systems did limit our ability to view all content.
Even yet, here is the point. Prospects have preferences for specific topics. The same can be said for buyers and customers. Understanding that desire may provide a chance to accomplish more with less.
Consider this: We discovered that some organizations have a piece of material that might be considered a “brand.” It could be a well-known industry publication or an annual report, such as the one stated above.
Instead of being on the content hamster wheel, spewing out more and more material, you may concentrate on extracting additional value from the branded content and “atomizing” it.
What does this mean? For example, the research paper I referenced earlier can be mined for new, shorter pieces of material. Most reports have a higher cognitive load than most attention spans can handle at once, therefore breaking the insights down into smaller sections will enhance consumption.
Take a section each quarter and turn it into an ebook about a single topic. Create eye-catching graphs for your monthly social media updates. Create a quarterly webinar on a discovery and utilize the attendance to create your survey list for the following year’s report.
The same principle can be applied to events. Over a six-month period, tease the speakers, venue, guests, presentation, etc.
There is an underestimated chance to generate higher-performing assets by using what you already have rather than creating new ones. It is difficult to gain mindshare with audiences. If you already have known material, keep promoting its value.
The purpose of content marketing is to consume, not create. Putting more time and resources into doing more with what is being consumed would lessen the need to create new material.
