Is content marketing part of your strategy to book more meetings with prospective clients? If not, you could be missing out on a lot of fruitful leads.
According to The Content Marketing Institute, 91% of B2B and 86% of B2C businesses use content marketing in an effort to promote their products or services.
And it’s little wonder why — the tactic has a whole host of benefits and, if you aren’t taking advantage, you’ll be making it much easier for your competitors to get ahead.
Here, I’ll explain how this powerful marketing tactic can help you to book more meetings and ultimately find more customers, so you can reach your goals, whether you’re looking to sell physical products or get more consulting clients.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a technique that involves creating and sharing content that your target audience will find valuable. When the term was first coined, it typically referred to long-form articles, but now you’ll often see companies creating a huge array of resources.
Short and snappier listicles are perfect for getting a lot of information across in a very engaging way, and Social Pilot’s guide to Twitter tools that will amplify your Twitter marketing is a great example of that. It’s easy to scan the copy and pull out the most important pieces of information at a glance, which is ideal for the target audience — namely business owners and professionals who are bound to be short on time.
Podcasts have also become a very popular content marketing tool over the last few years, as they allow companies to really explore topics their customers are going to be interested in. Microsoft has done a fantastic job of this with its .future podcast, which looks at how technology affects our lives, and how it will continue to do so in years to come.
Infographics are also often used by businesses that want to make facts and figures as eye-catching and digestible as possible. LinkedIn has had a lot of success with this, and you can find the perfect example in their guide to how marketing budgets and strategies will be affected by COVID-19.
Now you have a better understanding of what content marketing is, here are the benefits and why it’s worth investing in if you want to book more meetings.
Become a thought leader
Content marketing offers the perfect opportunity for you to show off your knowledge and experience. So, it’s the perfect tool for showing that you have a clear niche and you’re a thought leader within it. It is in fact one of the oldest content writing tips.
Before people book a meeting with you, they’ll want to know that you’re trustworthy and capable of solving whatever problem they have. Populating your website with informative content that shows you’re good at what you do will help to give you credibility and show prospective clients that they’ll be in safe hands if they choose to work with you.
Make sure you create and publish content that’s going to show you’re an expert in your industry.
For example, Best Value Schools helps its clients to find the best educational institutes to suit their needs. And their list of the best MBA programs in 2020 shows that they have a very comprehensive knowledge of this space, which will help them to gain the trust and respect of those looking to earn a Master’s in Business Administration.
It could also help the company to stand out against its competitors, who might not have invested as much time and energy into content marketing.
Drive more traffic to your site
Content marketing can also help to drive more traffic to your site, which should ultimately lead to more requests for meetings. There are a number of ways in which it can do this.
Firstly, content marketing is great for SEO — it allows you to target and rank for more key phrases that are relevant to your business. This means it will make it much easier for potential customers to find you on a search engine results page.
For example, Venngage currently ranks in the top spot on Google when you search “What is an infographic?”.
The company designs and creates infographics to help companies present their ideas in an engaging and eye-catching way. So, this piece of content is guaranteed to help them reach people who are interested in their services.
Another way you can drive more traffic to your website is by sharing your content marketing projects on social media. This could be as simple as sharing a link to your latest guide on Twitter, or posting a new infographic on Instagram.
People who find this content interesting may be tempted to click through to your website, and might then decide to book a meeting with you because they like what they’ve seen.
Of course, getting people to visit your website is only half the battle. Once they’re there you need to make it as easy as possible for them to find the information that they need and get in touch. So, you should make sure you have a good website if you want to grow your business. Using SEO softwares will help you rank better on search engines for your desired keywords.
While doing SEO, clustering the topics is as important as the topics itself. You must focus on the search intent associated with the various topics of the cluster.
Making sure your content meets the industry standards is important. Make sure to use a plagiarism checker before you publish content on your site.
Attract leads at every stage of the customer journey
Another reason why content can be such an effective marketing tool is that it allows you to attract people at any point in the customer journey and build customer loyalty.
At the very top of the funnel, you’ll have people who don’t really understand your services, or they might not even know that they exist — as a result, they won’t realize that they need them. So, you’ll want to show them the basics, including what you can do for them, and what benefits they’re going to see.
For instance, Service Provider Pro has a guide to why agencies should have a client portal, which is an effective piece of top of the funnel content.
It’s aimed at business owners who aren’t very familiar with the concept of a client portal and explains everything in the simplest terms. It goes into detail about what these tools are and highlights all of the benefits, so anyone who reads it will want to learn more.
If someone is at the bottom of the customer funnel, this means they’re almost ready to book a meeting or make a purchase, but they’re just doing some last-minute research before taking the leap.
They’ll want to assess all of their options, check out the details, and ensure they’re going to be making the very best decision.
A piece of comparison content is perfect for this, as it will show your prospective customers their options and what the specifics of each are.
In VPN is a website that does this very well. Its guide to NordVPN vs ExpressVPN is the perfect example, as it compares two of the most popular virtual private networks, which its target audience is guaranteed to be interested in when they’re in the final stages of choosing a VPN.
The best way to work out what your ideal customers want to know at different stages of their journey is through keyword research. At Loganix, we have a guide to improving your SEO with question keywords, which will help you to answer the queries that your audience are actually searching for.
Convert visitors into customers
Perhaps the main benefit of content marketing is that it gives you plenty of opportunities to convince website visitors to book a meeting with you. The simplest — and often most effective — way of doing this is with plenty of calls-to-action (CTAs). Essentially, tell them what you want them to do.
For example, in Wave’s guide to calculating cash flow, the reader is given a number of instructions, urging them to read another article. Plus, there’s a sign-up form that follows you down the page as you scroll, which tells you to create a free account.
This makes it incredibly easy for anyone to hand over their details and get started on their journey whenever they feel comfortable.
Foundation’s piece on B2B marketing strategies for 2021 is another article that contains plenty of CTAs. Throughout, the reader is told to download a PDF version, read other articles on the website, and start a discussion in the comments below. And, again, there’s a sign-up form that follows the reader down the page, this time telling them to subscribe to a newsletter that will keep them updated with the latest B2B marketing insights.
So, if you want to book more meetings with prospective clients, tell them to get in touch whenever you get the chance. Make sure you have efficient CTAs in your landing page copy, at the end of your blog posts, and in the side-bar of your website. You can even make life as easy as possible for your website visitors by including a contact form on every page, so they can register their interest quickly and easily.
Summary
If you’re looking to book more meetings with prospective customers, investing some time and energy into content marketing can make all the difference.
By creating valuable content that’s relevant to your target clients, you’ll be able to catch people at different stages in the customer journey and drive more traffic to your website. Then, once you have someone’s attention, your content marketing can show them that you’re an expert in your field and convince them to get in touch for more information about what you do.
Ultimately, you want to build trust with people so they know they can rely on you to do your job properly, and high-quality content marketing will help to show them what you’re capable of. It will ensure they can’t wait to speak to you in person.
About the Author
Adam Steele is the Founder and COO at Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner for agencies and marketers. We build easy to use SEO services that help businesses scale. If you liked this article, please check out our SEO guides and templates on the blog.
