Generating sales leads through content is no more an Achilles Heels

A lot of brands use content marketing and branded content to build brand awareness, love and affinity. Not many are actually able to utilise the content space to fulfil their business objectives through content. A smart marketer will always devise a content strategy to link it with generation of sales leads or direct sales.

A lot of marketers don’t believe that content marketing can even yield results in terms of sales. A marketers’ ultimate objective is to create business for the brand and if any marketing effort, be it content marketing, does not lead in that direction, it becomes really frustrating.

But one must believe in the potential of content being able to boost sales as it doesn’t have an expiry date. Once done, it stays forever. It builds trust and eventual sales if not today then tomorrow. It comes to the rescue of brands as today’s generation always researches and compares everything before buying products. 

A few brands such as Flipkart are mastering the game of lead generation through content. The brand recently launched Flipkart Ideas, where content from brands and influencers will be showcased with associated products from Flipkart in all multimedia formats such as videos, GIFs, images, stories, quizzes and polls. The same content will enable the consumers to know more about products and the brands, while helping them understand ongoing trends across categories, thus guiding them through their eCommerce purchase journey.

While Indian marketers are still learning and experimenting with content marketing to maximise ROI on marketing spends, BuzzInContent compiles a list of pointers that can enhance their learnings of linking sales and business objectives with the right content strategy.

Targeted audience

This is the most important and first thing to be kept in mind while creating and distributing content. No one would want spillage of marketing spends. What’s the point in teaching someone to drive if he or she doesn’t even have a driving licence? In the same way, what’s the point in creating content for the audience who isn’t interested in your content? Hence, extreme targeting is really important. Marketers should conduct research and collect data to know the consumers really well to direct them through their purchase journey.

Quality and differentiated content

In the race to be on the top of the mind of the consumers, marketers leave no path unexplored. Hence, we see a lot of marketers trying hands-on content marketing and branded content. But there is no point in spending money on content for the sake of doing it. Do it only if you have a clear content idea that is differentiated and adds value to a consumer’s life. The content will get lost in the clutter if it is similar to what others are producing. If something has worked for another brand, it doesn’t mean the same thing will work for you. These days, brands are creating a lot of UGC through social media by throwing hashtag challenges. It will give brand recall for a short-term period but it has to be compelling enough to actually lead to sales.

Call to action

Content has the advantage to have two-way communication any day more than regular and traditional ads. Hence, one should always have a call to action to any content initiative of a brand. It encourages consumers to check out the brand’s product offerings. Call to actions can be done in the form of adding links to your content activity or even in the form of contests and UGC. Although, one thing really important to keep in mind is that it shouldn't overpower your content and distract your consumers from it. Doing too much of it will spoil the whole objective of sales lead generation and will annoy the consumers.

Be consistent

 No matter how compelling one’s content is, if it’s done like a marketing activity, then it won’t yield results. Consumers need time to fall in love with the brand. It will never happen overnight. A lot of marketers give up in the short run only because it doesn’t fetch business results in the short run. Consistency and patience is the key. One just not has to be consistent in producing content but should also be consistent in the theme of content it chooses. The consumer might get confused with the brand’s purpose if at regular intervals it keeps on changing the storyline it opted for. Of course, the medium and the style of content can be changed, but the messaging has to be same.

Mapping customer journey

Analysing and mapping the consumer journey at each level is very important to understand his behaviour and why and what will lead him to buy the product in the content. To ensure the main objective of producing content to strike a chord with the audience is fulfilled, mapping the customer journey has become an important aspect. Each consumer’s journey is unique in itself. It also helps to create the right content for the right audience in the future.

Promote and distribute content well

 No matter how good your content idea is, if it’s not distributed well, it has no value. Influencer marketing is the most commonly used distribution strategy of the brands these days. One must identify the most suitable influencers that provide further authenticity to the brand, which in the end leads to sales. Engage with the influencers and their audience to create authentic conversations. SEO is another important mean of distributing and promoting content. Content marketing takes time to yield results, at times, paid traffic becomes an alternative. The best way to use this is to lead the consumers to informative content. Many marketers, though, make the mistake of directing audiences to product pages. One can’t also ignore the importance of social media marketing as well to distribute one’s content well.