6 Secrets to Powerful Content that Wins Leads

If you’ve been trying to generate leads using inbound marketing, you’ll already have learned that creating powerful inbound content takes a lot of work. Not just the work you put into individual pieces of content, but the intense schedule of blogging, social posting, content offers, emails etc. You need to be sure that your hard work will count, and that means attracting leads.
So, what are the key points to creating powerful content that wins leads:
- Focus on a specific topic: There’s a huge amount of content out there that you’re going to need to cut through. It can be tempting to do this by being as general as possible, believing that the broader the topic, the broader the appeal. This doesn’t translate. People are out there searching for specifics and Google knows that. If your content is focused around a topic with a few strong keywords, you’re much more likely to attract visitors with a genuine interest in your business. Remember, the end-game here is leads, so attracting people is not enough. You want the right kind of people.
Marketing Experiments conducted some tests for an online dental company to determine how minor changes to marketing messages affected response rates. Their headlines ranged from non-specific right through to very specific.
- (The Control)
- "Dental Plans for $8.33 a Month. Acceptance Guaranteed."
- "Over 55,000 Dental Care Providers. Acceptance Guaranteed."
- "Dental Care Coverage. Best Price Guaranteed."
- "Low Cost Dental Care for the Uninsured"
- "Best Price Dental Care - Without Insurance."
Landing Page Headline: Impact on Conversion Rate
Headline 1: -5.68% Headline 2: 72.76% Headline 3: 26.41% Headline 4: -68.43% Headline 5: -20.44% Headline 6: -5.11%
The only two headlines that showed a positive effect on total conversions included specifics: "Dental Plans for $8.33 a Month. Acceptance Guaranteed." and "Over 55,000 Dental Care Providers. Acceptance Guaranteed."
So, while this industry may not be a direct reflection of yours, marketing is a people business and people like specifics.
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You’re not writing a technical manual: You’re content is the voice of your company. If it’s dry and full of technical jargon and verbosity then that’s how potential customers will see you. While excessive formality may seem good, because it’s ‘business-like’, it doesn’t always build relationships. Fall back on your buyer personas and speak to your sales people. And don’t forget, the voice of your business should be consistent across all channels.
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Get Your titles right:The title tells your reader what they will get out of the time spent reading your content. It’s critical to put yourselves in their shoes and make this first engagement count. If the title’s poor, they’ll probably never get as far as your call-to-action and won’t become a lead.
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Make a promise. You need to let the prospective customer know what they’re going to get. Make sure it’s a compelling benefit based on your target buyer personas.
- Be specific in your title and use words that convey urgency
- Where possible, emphasise who should be reading your post (e.g. "Marketers, here are 10 reasons you should be… now")
- Make the voice of your title conversational
- Use one of your keywords in your title
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Add a call-to-action: Conversion is the ultimate aim and test of your content. Turning a visitor into a lead and then a customer. Make sure you have strong calls to action in your content to take your potential customer through the buyer’s journey.
- Distribute and amplify your content: Need quick wins? Once you know your content is good then get it out there for potential customers to discover.
Click below and get started targeting your content more effectively with our free Buyer Personas Guide.