Content marketing is booming. According to the 2017 B2B Content Marketing Trends, 39% of companies are increasing investment in content marketing. And yet most companies are not creating effective content. Want proof?
Two of the leaders in B2B funnel benchmarking, SiriusDecisions and Forrester, will tell you that inquiry-to-closed-won conversion ratios are often below two percent in most industries, even for those who follow best practices. Of course, if you go upstream of lead capture, the conversion rates of clicks or traffic to closed-won business are absolutely microscopic.
https://t.co/O8McK20jCb pic.twitter.com/wzDIv8wtAX
— Will Corry (@slievemore) September 18, 2017
There are many reasons for these low conversion ratios. The competition is growing more intense every day, with avalanches of new content sliding into the market. And let’s face it, creating compelling content is hard.
In short, the market seems to believe that content creation, in and of itself, will win the day. It won’t. You really need the right content. Mastering the five critical steps below will increase the quality and effectiveness of your content significantly.
STEP 1: DEFINE WHERE YOU CAN WIN
Media companies, marketing agencies, and our own egos often lure us into the crazy idea of expanding our target market. I must have heard this type of sentiment a thousand times from otherwise thoughtful, intelligent people.