Final week, my colleague Joanna Lord and I gave a Unwebinar on leveraging content for conversions.
The webinar lined how entrepreneurs can create a buyer journey map, determine areas for conversion enhancements after which leverage various kinds of content material to do exactly that.
We had a ton of enjoyable, and wished to reply some follow-up questions from the viewers (seven to be actual). Take pleasure in!
1. Have you ever discovered that video and audio converts higher than text-based content material?
Requested by: Bruce Dickson
Video and audio content material are nice methods to offer your viewers with fascinating, participating data, however I don’t see one type of content material trumping the remaining in relation to conversion.
All of it relies on the objectives and KPIs you’ve set in your content material technique when taking a look at content material on the high of your discovery funnel, and what you contemplate “conversion” in relation to content material customers.
Is your content material driving customers to fill out lead varieties? Are they subscribing to a e-newsletter? Are you pushing them to a free trial of your services or products? Be sure you know precisely what “conversion” means for you earlier than integrating it along with your content material technique.
When you’ve nailed down conversion, it’s time to formulate a plan in your content material creation course of. The easiest way to check out which sort of content material converts new readers to clients is to strive all of them out. Begin with conventional weblog and downloadable content material, and transfer by different forms of content material like video and audio till you discover one of the best combine in your distinctive viewers.
The sky’s the restrict right here, so get artistic in what you provide!
2. How do you leverage “thought management” items and switch them into gross sales?
Requested by: Carrie Estrada
Repurposing content material is one in every of my favourite methods to place restricted time and sources to good use. There are such a lot of methods to leverage an thought by publishing it in a number of codecs; it’s often the primary tip I’ve for content material strategists who’re serving a number of groups with the content material they create.
At BigDoor, we usually publish most of our thought management items on our weblog. We then take themes that resonate properly by the posts and switch them into bite-size items of content material our gross sales staff can use at completely different levels of our gross sales cycle.
For instance, we’ve not too long ago coined the time period “reciprocal loyalty” which is a brand new approach to consider model loyalty in our trade. It’s based mostly on the idea that manufacturers have to be as loyal to clients as they hope clients are to them. This consists of manufacturers prioritizing buyer expertise, investing in clients in new methods, and reallocating their funding to verify the shopper is completely happy. We lean on this time period to assist clarify our software program once we speak with potential purchasers.
Somewhat than pointing purchasers on to the weblog submit to learn our ideas, we took the theme of the weblog submit and used it in gross sales decks, shows, and even one-page depart behinds that our gross sales staff can use after they meet in particular person with purchasers.
3. What about content material that’s not on-line – like within the bodily location of a enterprise?
Requested by: Dana Simonsen
Completely! Like I discussed in our webinar, I contemplate content material to be any phrase you utilize to assist clarify your organization or promote your product, together with on-line written content material, movies, talking engagements, and even printed content material that your organization creates for its foyer.
Most of the rules we lined can be utilized for creating bodily content material like one-pagers, gross sales sheets, magazines, and extra.
You’ll nonetheless want buy-in from key gamers to get approval for the undertaking, a content material champion to drive and create the content material, an editorial plan to carry it to life, a plan to distribute it, and a report on how the piece does as soon as it’s in entrance of your viewers.
Though your KPIs and outcomes might look a bit completely different for bodily content material, the identical rules nonetheless apply.
4. What strategies do you’ve for small groups making an attempt to create beautifully-designed content material with out huge model sources?
Requested by: Amanda Willard
Whereas it’s true that giant manufacturers are inclined to have extra design sources, creating superbly designed content material with a small staff is completely doable.
We’re a staff of 20 at BigDoor and have two designers on our employees that cut up their time between consumer work and designing advertising and marketing belongings, which incorporates our content material.
Though our consumer work all the time takes precedence (because it all the time will and will), having a design staff with a watch for lovely UX makes our content material really stand out. We have a tendency to make use of their providers just for our larger items of content material, however they dabble within the day-to-day items at any time when their schedules enable.
In case you’re working at a fair leaner store – say it’s simply you who’s creating and publishing content material – it’s essential to make two greatest buddies in relation to design: a stellar contract designer and Photoshop.
Dribble is a saving grace in relation to discovering contract designers for one-off-projects because it permits you to browse design type and choose somebody who matches your model’s stream.
99Designs and oDesk are a bit cheaper than Dribble, and in addition provide unbelievable contractors. As for you, the content material creator, don’t underestimate the facility of your individual talents to completely create attractive items that you just see in your head.
A fast lesson in Photoshop or Illustrator will open the doorways for what you are able to do along with your content material, and also you may even take pleasure in breaking apart the writing and studying a brand new talent 🙂
5. How do you handle all the info of your KPIs?
Requested by: Brendan Burnett
Joanna and I report on our KPIs on a weekly and month-to-month foundation, which makes monitoring them commonly important for our success. We hold tabs on our KPIs by Google Analytics, Moz, and good ol’ original spreadsheets the place we manually enter information.
Our content material is tied again on to our total advertising and marketing success metrics, which supplies simple benchmarks for fulfillment.
As for content-specific KPIs, there are numerous completely different content material analytics instruments that you should use to report on a wide range of metrics, together with social shares, feedback, downloads, and extra. My favourite are Contently and Kapost.
6. How do you make the case for content material that doesn’t contribute on to income, however that tackles a lot much less tangible KPIs like model consciousness?
Requested by: Devin Asaro
I can’t let you know what number of instances I’ve been requested this query 🙂
As content material entrepreneurs, our work is typically probably the most ambiguous out of all our firm’s advertising and marketing endeavors. Which means we have now to get artistic in how we current and formulate concepts, which is definitely fairly enjoyable in case you enable your self to assume exterior the field.
An important factor to recollect is that every bit of content material you create ought to have the ability to be mapped again to an organization KPI – I truly imply all the time, it doesn’t matter what, no excuses.
In case you can’t map a chunk of content material again to your total objectives, you don’t have any enterprise creating it in your firm’s dime. Even gentle KPIs like growing model consciousness will be mapped again to a broad, company-wide aim.
When you nail down what broad KPI your content material piece will assist, comply with the path of breadcrumbs again right down to the precise content material piece itself, utilizing success benchmarks and smaller KPIs alongside the best way to decipher how one can inform if the piece hits its aim or not.
In case you don’t bear in mind anything from this text, bear in mind this one level: The nearer you possibly can tie your work again to income, the extra worth it can maintain.
That is true throughout each org, and content material isn’t any completely different.
7. What’s the one key issue to make content material stand out?
Requested by: Manuel Sauceda
Just one!? I suppose I’ll strive 🙂
Above all, the important thing issue to a stand-out piece of content material is the subject and its relevance to the viewers it was supposed for.
In case you create a chunk of content material that doesn’t line up with what your viewers is excited about studying, count on your bounce fee to be by the roof and your share fee to be sadder than me once I order tea and by chance find yourself with scorching water. For reals.
Earlier than you even create one teeny tiny piece of content material, spend a while enthusiastic about who will learn it. What are their pursuits? How did they get to the place your content material is revealed? Are they prone to share their ideas after they’re carried out studying?
Your viewers is essential to your content material’s potential to rise above the group. Write it for them; they’re an important piece.