08 Nov Don’t give your prospects eye candy, give them soul food.
In B2B marketing, educational content is an important tool for lead generation. Companies involved in marketing to industries such as IT, Manufacturing, BFSI, etc. must consider using white papers. It allows you to reach people early in their buying process. Typically, an early stage lead is not yet ready to speak to a sales person, but can be developed further with the right lead nurturing program. Leading marketing researchers have found time and again that about 5 to 15 percent of those who download white papers are truly sales-ready leads.
The key issue most companies have is engaging people above the sales funnel. A good white paper with thought-leading content can add tremendous vale by filtering and sharing content that is relevant to your target audience. You can become a trusted advisor with a value proposition that is relevant to the business challenges your potential customers are facing.
While creating a white paper, make sure that they are not just glorified brochures that simply focus on your company and its products. It is critical to provide something of value to prospects in order for them to be encouraged to fill out a form. A well-crafted white paper is one of the more compelling value pieces – especially in B2B marketing. When you present your readers with facts and evidence, they are better informed. It doesn’t matter if they are not ready to buy yet. But with your white paper, your prospects have a better understanding of the solutions available and will connect with your brand at a more intuitive level, as a trusted advisor.
That said, it is a big challenge for your already time-strapped marketing team to come up with educative marketing content. A good whitepaper can take a few weeks to write and refine. It is best outsourced to a content marketing agency that is seasoned with creating winning marketing assets. The more well researched your white paper is, the more informational it can be for your prospect. Connect your technical team to the content marketing agency. The marketing agency can also repurpose your existing marketing collateral into an informative white paper that delves deep into business problems and solutions. Be warned that overtly parading your own stuff can put off your readers. Remember, your audience here expects a high degree of expertise backed by solid research that is fully documented by references. You can include as much detail in white papers as needed to unfold a business challenge and how to tackle it. You are presenting your readers with information to build their knowledge and gain insight before making their next move. Therefore, tend to be particularly informative and detailed.
Following are the essential elements of a white paper:
- Introduction
- Problem definition
- High-level solution
- Solution details
- Business benefits
- Supporting Case Studies
- Summary
- Call to action
White papers are typically read by decision makers who want to feel better about a future purchase. It can speak volumes for your brand and build trust among readers. While your white paper is interesting & engaging, make sure it looks attractive to prospects. Promote your white papers through your website and email/ social-media campaigns. It is important to follow up one-on-one through phone calls and meetings to check whether your prospect found the white paper relevant to their business or has any further questions and how else you can be useful. And voila!’ you’ve just taken your lead one step down the funnel.
ttc-marketing has extensive experience in creating well researched white papers with compelling visuals. Reach out to us to know more on how we can help you boost your lead generation with white papers.
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