However, Inbound Marketing isn't just about content creation: an effective strategy requires implementing rigorous tools and processes to attract people seeking information on your areas of expertise, demonstrate your expert status, and, above all, encourage them to take action (contact form, booking, order).
Here are the key points and major steps to follow to develop a lead generation strategy around content production:
1. Define specific targets for your content
The first step before embarking on content production, and even before defining which topics you want to address, is to define your target audiences. Simple? Not always. You know your customers through your CRM software and databases, but a content strategy may not target the same type of people. You should take this opportunity to rethink your targets, or, if you keep the same ones, to refine them.
Inbound Marketing can help you reach a different clientele. You can deliberately choose to address certain functions within the company or certain sectors of activity neglected on offline channels. Define your priorities. In light of the identified target profiles, you must then imagine adapted content and make it coincide with the interests of these targets. The questions you need to ask at this stage are: what subjects interest your targets? How will you "keep" them on the site? What are their preferred communication tools? On which social networks are they present?
2. Equip yourself with a publication schedule and an editorial charter.
You've outlined your target audience and identified the key topics to present to them. Now, you need to define an editorial charter and publication schedule:
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- Who is the expert on which subject? Who can (should) speak on a topic? Define your experts and their fields of action, and how they will transmit their knowledge. Will they write the content themselves? Will they be written by an external web editor, an agency, or by a single person internally?
- What tone will you adopt? What order will the topics follow? What will your publishing pace be? You need a battle plan with a 'tunnel' vision of your publications. The more precise your vision of the weeks ahead, the smoother the creation process will be.
Please note that defining a publication schedule and an editorial charter does not mean setting a strategy in stone and never revisiting it. Keep in mind that current events, an unforeseen event, or a major event in your sector can impact your content. Thus, a very precise vision beyond three months is not necessary.
3. Optimize your SEO
Of course, producing quality content on your favorite topics will positively contribute to your natural referencing. But that's not enough! Behind websites with good search engine optimization lies extensive technical optimization: the choice of a server, a domain name, the prioritization of content, or the writing of meta tags... A search engine optimization audit of your site can help you optimize these technical elements. It is necessary to monitor the evolution of your search engine optimization regularly, as the ranking algorithms are constantly changing.
This technical optimization of your site is essential to ensure the success of your Inbound Marketing strategy in the long term. There's no point in producing quality content that no one will find. Moreover, in the absence of visibility, your desire to produce content will wane due to lack of results.
4. Bring your content to life with a communication process
Once content is published on your website, its digital life begins. Then define your communication process around this content: how to promote it? Which channel will be the most effective to reach the targets defined previously? Mailing, newsletter, sharing on social networks?
Should an article be revealed in full or in parts? Should certain platforms be used for teasing? It is essential to consider this process of relaying articles, as it largely determines the success of your Inbound Marketing strategy.
5. Be interesting... but above all, « engaging »!
If you think a topic isn't captivating enough or won't hold the readers' attention, change your approach and try to find a relevant angle. Article titles and illustrations are the primary drivers of reader engagement.
Also, always keep some information up your sleeve. Provide useful material without giving everything away. Address specific and limited topics that meet your target audience's concerns in a logical progression. Always allow them the opportunity to learn more, either by subscribing to your newsletter or your company page on social media, or by participating in a webinar... Or even by contacting you directly by email or phone. In short, make sure you create a relationship with your readers and generate interactions with them so that they enter your "funnel": only then will your (quality) content become real lead generators!
The webinar is an inbound communication tool that has become essential today: through its audience and content, it generates numerous leads. Find out how in this webinar:
