Before you create a piece of content, you have to ask yourself what form it should take. After all, there are loads to choose from.
One of the best ways to answer this question is to think about where your prospects are in the buying cycle. Are they new to your company? Or are they on the verge of making a buying decision?
In this month’s article, I explore three of the most popular types of content, and how to match them to different stages of the buying cycle.
Blog post
Blog posts can be very effective at bringing your brand to the attention of prospects for the first time. They help build awareness and equally important, trust. But to achieve these two crucial goals, you must put significant thought and effort into choosing a topic and create something of value your audience won’t find elsewhere. That way, your brand won’t only rise above the noise, but you increase the chances of extending your content’s reach. This relates back to a point I made in my last newsletter about knowing your audience- to create valuable content, you need to understand their pain points. Investment funds are good at creating this type of content as they can share a fund manager’s unique interpretation of how economic events could potentially impact the markets.
Whitepaper
A whitepaper can be a good way of generating leads, as it encourages a prospect to take the next step in the buying cycle and express an interest (particularly if it’s ‘gated’ content which means a prospect must register for access). It also helps establish credibility. White papers are typically longer than a blog post, at roughly 1,500 to 2,000 words and are usually distributed as a PDF. Again, creating something of value is critical. In many cases, this involves addressing a theme or issue affecting your industry as a whole, ideally providing a unique angle or insight. It shouldn’t dwell on your offering, although by all means mention it as a possible solution. However, use it as a call to action, for example get in touch for a demo, rather than an out- and- out sales pitch.
Case study
A case study is useful at the later stages of the buying cycle, as it can help a prospect make a final decision. A case study explains how your offering has benefited an existing client or user- it’s an opportunity to ‘show don’t tell’ which is a powerful sales tool. The format is usually broken into three sections. Firstly, describe the problem the client was facing to put the case study in context. Next, explain why the client decided to choose your offering ahead of the competition. And finally, show in greater detail the benefits provided by your offering (saves money, save time, boost profits etc). As you can see, a case study is more of a sales pitch than the first two types of content, but this is necessary as it aims to convert your prospect into a customer.