When implementing a marketing automation system, even all the bells and whistles in the world won’t save a site with a lack of great content. Content is key to conversion. Your marketing automation system will help you set up prospect-friendly forms and landing pages, but it is up to your offering to convince them to fill them out.
So what is good content?
Content should have some educational value. This doesn’t mean it can’t tie back to your product, service or sales proposition, but you want to offer something that will leave your reader or viewer with some solid business advice, best practices tips or thought provoking conversation starters.
Most companies have a variety of types of content, from case studies to webinars
to news stories about the company’s success. When seeking to increase conversions or lead activity, think about carefully crafting the right combination of these items. Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes. When you are just discovering a new product, what do you want to see?
- It’s likely that you first want to understand what the product does and how it relates to your goals (white paper or webinar).
- Maybe after you’ve learned a a bit about the product, you may be interested in learning how others use it successfully (case study).
- Finally, if you see value in the product you may seek out alternate vendors and investigate them more deeply based on factors like industry certifications, awards and success.
Conversion relies heavily on the first stage, education. If you don’t have an arsenal of interesting offerings, the forms you built will remain untouched, the automation rules lie still and your database sits empty. Marketing automation is a tool to help ease the pain of lead generation, but it requires a solid strategy to set the wheels in motion.
