Generating market qualified leads (MQLs) for the sales team is the goal of marketing professionals. MQLs can be generated with multiple ad impressions, brand awareness campaigns, and valuable content sharing. However, measuring the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns can be a challenge.
When it comes to generating MQLs with content, there are challenges that must be considered, especially if the local competition has a strong digital marketing strategy as well.
Consider the following common challenges when marketing in the systems integration business:
- Talking about market trends or the newest technology is required, however is likely being done by the competition as well.
- Content not tied to trackable data can be downloaded or viewed anonymously.
- Paid advertising of content is becoming more crowded and expensive, especially if the content isn’t creating organic interaction.
- The initial content download may be at the very top of the funnel, requiring more content to pull the prospect toward the decision to purchase.
- Sales and marketing teams may disagree about the content topics and mediums used.
So, how does your marketing team turn systems integration topics into actionable leads?
Consistently publish content
The first tactic to generate significant interest in your content is to produce it and promote it regularly. Choose the social media channels that your prospects are likely engaged in based on your known target personas.
Be sure to leverage email to advertise your content on a regular basis. Recent trends show that email marketing is an underutilized method of consistently and reliably reaching your prospects.
Additionally, with proper infrastructure in place, customer reaction to email can be tied to the sales process in your CRM system.
Solve problems with content
While your team will sometimes need to use content to advertise, consider creating an internal rule where most of your content is geared toward problem solving more so than advertising.
Check with the sales, maintenance, service, and customer service teams to see what their most frequently answered questions are. Answering these questions with content will give your team a resource to reference and will likely attract more prospects who have the same challenge or questions.
Pick the right format
Using multiple formats to convey your message is a winning strategy. Some people like videos and others like a PDF to reference. By using multiple formats to share our content will ensure you don’t miss a person’s preference. Plus, it will allow you to use the same topic in multiple ways, increasing the shelf-life of your content.
Most importantly, if you are going to limit your format options, be sure to select the format that best presents the topic. For example, consider a white paper for a technical topic. Likewise, consider a video interview to simplify a concept or solution using conversation to break down a complex topic.
Strategize for MQLs
As the digital content competition increases, it’s critical to continually evaluate, modify, and execute your unique marketing strategy.
Having a marketing partner to provide an outside viewpoint and assist with content creation and distribution can mean the difference between average results and generating qualified leads for your salespeople.
Contact Vector Firm today to discuss your content production and marketing needs.
Comment on this blog article
