You have been doing everything right to boost your conversion, but people just aren’t converting. You’ve implemented tactics like best practices, breaking down content into relevant areas, and adding calls-to-action with irresistible offers.
However, here’s the thing that’s holding you back – your B2B content marketing funnel. You haven’t quite mastered it.
What is a Marketing Funnel?
A marketing funnel is a road map that highlights a customer’s journey from research to purchase. It’s a visualization tool that helps a marketer breakdown the steps from directing new leads into the funnel and finally, convert them at the end.
As such, a content marketer can use the steps in a marketing funnel to develop relevant content types to advance a customer’s journey.
How to Create a B2B Content Marketing Funnel
Let’s take a closer look at the different stages of a content marketing funnel, and how to create content for each.
Stage 1: Attracting Customers by Building Awareness
When it comes to making people aware of a particular solution, is quantity more important than quality? Definitely not.
Your aim should be to make them aware of its benefits from multiple angles. You need to understand the fact that every consumer will be at a different point in the sales funnel.
An effective attraction phase can generate high-quality leads and show your potential customers how you will deliver value, instead of pushing them to buy your product.
The best kind of content to push at this point of the funnel includes blog posts, articles, infographics, social media posts, videos, ebooks, whitepapers, and guest posts.
Stage 2: The Evaluation Phase
By now, the customer is aware of your brand, product/service, and industry. But they are not ready to buy yet. This phase will bridge the gap between customer awareness and the final sale.
At this stage, a prospective buyer will want to know more about your products or services and the benefits that differentiate you from your competitors. It’s also effective to teach them about new trends or innovations in their industry and challenge them to look at their business in a new light.
For B2B, this phase is quite complicated and exceptionally long. You need to nurture your leads and establish good relationships will them to make things work in your favor.
The best kind of content to push at this point of the funnel includes case studies, whitepapers, retargeting ads, podcasts, and emails. You could also provide your audience with free templates, checklists, guides, videos, and webinars.
Stage 3: Sealing the Deal
The bottom of the funnel is where the actual sales happen. Include high-quality purchase stage content for your targeted leads, so it is easier for them to determine if they want to seal the deal and make a purchase. You should have earned their trust and their time, so make your sales pitch.
The best kind of content at this point of the funnel includes trials and demos, reviews and testimonials, case studies, professional consultations, events, and trade shows. You could also provide free trial offers, demos, ratings, and reviews.
Conclusion
In short, your B2B content marketing funnel should focus on effectively driving awareness, helping prospects understand your product benefits, and finally converting the customer to buy. There are effective types of content you can create and choose to distribute in each stage of the funnel
To learn more about the B2B content marketing funnel, check out this infographic by UTM.io