Determining the Right Content for Your Lead Nurturing Program

In years past, assets such as brochures, product bulletins and data sheets encompassed a technical company’s marketing content. Some companies also used white papers and case studies to entice users to ‘buy,’ but relatively few companies developed a wide range of content. Today, content variety is a necessity – particularly if you want to engage in inbound/social media marketing (and why wouldn’t you?) and/or nurture your prospective buyers along a logical, progressive path to a sale.

In previous posts and in a content marketing white paper, I talked about the various types of content (static and dynamic) that can spark a prospect’s interest.  I also talked about the various content delivery methods available to you.  But if you are considering use of a lead nurturing/automated system, you need to double-down on your knowledge of your intended audience (their specific information wants and needs), then determine which assets will most appropriately ‘feed’ the system, and at what stage in the buying process each asset should be made available to the prospect.  

Typically, the best way to acquire this information is to interview any number of prospects as to the type of information they are looking for (i.e., information that would influence their decision to purchase from your company and/or buy your specific product or service), the people/titles involved in the buying decision, and the typical length and stages of their buying cycle. Then, you should sit down with your sales department to make sure that the nurturing scheme you propose mimics their understanding of the intended audience and their puchasing process. You should also agree on how to score the leads, when (at what points in the process) a personal contact should be made by telemarketing or sales, and what metrics will be used to measure the program’s success. You want this to be a joint marketing/sales effort to help ensure maximum buy-in and ROI.  (See also our Lead Nurturing white paper for more system specifics.)

Once you have agreed on these factors, consider producing your content in various ways.  It’s hard to know what format your audience will be most receptive to, so for maximum interest/acceptance be sure to offer your key content in various formats.

• Most relevant formats include:  whitepapers, e-books, video presentations/demos and case studies (written or video).

• Other format types are:  infographics, interactive demos, webinars, podcasts, customer testimonials (written and video), analyst and industry reports, e-newsletters, brochures, data sheets, ROI calculators, pricing and warranty information.

Generally speaking, the educational content (white papers, e-books, industry reports, webinars, etc.) are relevant during the early phases of the nurturing process. Specifics on your product or service (brochures, case studies, data sheets, ROI calculators, etc.) are more relevant at the mid-to-later stages of the process.  

Now, once you have all the ‘pieces’ and agreed-upon processes in-hand, spreadsheet the full plan – again, conferring with sales – and work it!