Seven Ways you Can Use Your Content to Get More Leads

Carl Taylor | December 9, 2019

Your content is one of the most powerful marketing tools that you have at your disposal. Here are seven ideas for leveraging it so that you get more leads.

Just how effective is content marketing when compared to other forms of digital marketing?

An eBook created by content marketing company Kapost digs into the details. They say that content marketing saves SMEs an average of 41% when compared to paid search strategies.

That means your business can get more leads for less money with content marketing.

The same eBook then digs further into how effective content is as a lead generation tool. Kapost found that content marketing creates 4 times more leads per $1,000 than other types of marketing.

There’s a simple message here…

Effective content is one of the best lead generation tools that you have. However, many business owners don’t know what they can do to get more leads from their content.

That’s where this article can help.

We’re going to look at seven ways that you can use your content to get more people into your sales funnel.

Technique #1 – Repurpose Existing Content

There’s no denying that coming up with new content ideas is a time-consuming process. You’re constantly trying to pull water out of the creative well.

Sometimes, it’s going to run a little dry, especially if you haven’t launched any new products in a while.

Your old content can come to the rescue. And in doing so, you get to leverage it to generate more leads.

For example, you may have an old tip sheet that you created several years ago. It’s likely that you can update a lot of the information on the sheet and offer it up as an updated version. Or, you may have a better understanding of your audience and their problems. You can use that information to repurpose the content so that it speaks more directly to buyers.

Turn the updated piece into a lead magnet and point people towards a landing page where they can get it. You’ll start generating more leads from the piece.

Automation Agency can help you with the lead magnet design and landing page creation. A message to our Concierge service will get you started.

Alternatively, you could look into repackaging existing content in a new way. For example, you may be able to turn a How-To guide into an infographic or YouTube video.

Again, we can help you with infographic creation if you choose to go down this route.

The point is that the content you created years ago isn’t dead and buried. With a bit of spit and polish, you can turn it into something that’s capable of generating lead again.

Technique #2 – Optimise the Piece for Search Engines

You likely already know about the important role that keywords play in your content. The idea is to use keywords in appropriate places to tell search engines what the content is about. This will help them to rank it.

The higher your ranking for that particular keyword, the more traffic you’ll pull towards your site.

And of course, more traffic means more leads.

However, many content creators only focus on a couple of keywords in their pieces. That means they’re missing out on ranking for longtail keywords that would bring even more traffic.

These keywords tend to be longer phrases that are very specific to what the article is about. And with semantic search growing by the year, they’ve become very important.

You may be able to go back to your old pieces to add some of these longtail keywords.

Open up a tool, such as LSIGraph or SEMRush, and enter your main keyword. They will offer up some longtail, or semantic, keywords that your piece could use.

You can then find ways to incorporate these new keywords into an existing piece. Thus, the same piece could rank for multiple keywords at once, leading to more traffic.

Technique #3 – Use Google Analytics to Find Your Best Performers

Google Analytics is much more than a tool for viewing website traffic statistics.

You can also use it to see which pieces of content people engage with on your site. You can even track the paths that people take to conversion.

This data becomes very useful when trying to find ways to use content to generate leads.

For example, Analytics may show you that one of your pieces is more popular than the rest. It attracts more traffic and more people buy after reading it.

Examine that piece.

What did you do differently there when compared to your less successful pieces?

You may have a CTA in the successful piece that you’re not using elsewhere. Adopting that CTA in other pieces could lead to you getting more leads.

Or, you may confront a topic that your potential customers have a lot of questions about. It’s possible that you could craft new pieces based on this successful piece to keep the momentum going.

The key point is that your existing content can give you an idea of what works and what doesn’t. Leverage the stats that Google Analytics gives you to figure out what you can change.

Technique #4 – Republish on Social Media

You likely use social media as a means to attract people to your blog.

However, the average social media post has a very short lifespan. Within a couple of hours, your post almost completely falls off a follower’s timeline. Plus, your organic Facebook posts only get seen by between 2% and 10% of your followers.

You can boost posts or turn them into ads to get around this issue. However, both of these options cost you more money.

A better idea is to create a social media posting calendar that sends multiple posts out for the same piece.

The key is that these posts don’t have to say the same thing.

For example, you might share ten tips in a blog post. That means you have ten different messages that you can use to create social media posts.

Schedule each post into a calendar and use your CRM to automatically send the posts at appropriate times.

This increases the chances of your followers seeing the post and clicking onto the content. And again, the more people who see the post, the more leads you’ll generate.

Our Concierge Service can help you with a range of calendar-based services. Send us a task to find out more.

Technique #5 – Create Side-Bar Opt-Ins

A lot of content creators only share one CTA in their articles. Usually, it’s placed at the bottom of the piece.

That means the people who don’t read the entire thing have no chance of converting.

Creating side-bar opt-in forms can help you to get around this issue. These forms go into your website’s side-bar and act as a constant call to action. For example, your opt-in may constantly encourage people to subscribe to your blog. Or, it may entice them towards a lead magnet.

All they have to do is enter their details. And best of all, they don’t have to read the entire piece of content to hit a CTA.

Include one of these forms on every piece in your blog.

Again, we can help you to create an attractive opt-in form that converts. Just send a task to the Concierge Service to get started.

Technique #6 – Answer the Key Questions

Value is one of the most important words in content marketing.

If your viewers don’t see any value in your piece, they’re not going to engage with you. They want to see that you’re the right person to help them solve whatever problem they have.

You need to be the expert and authority in your niche. That means you need to share information that your viewers can take action on.

If you can do that, you’ll have more people getting in touch with you.

The best way to showcase the value you offer is to confront your audience’s pain points. Figure out what questions they’re asking and create content that provides answers.

There are all sorts of places that you can find these questions. Your social media pages allow you to see what people in your niche regularly ask. You may also have customer service logs that allow you to see common trends.

Use this information as the inspiration for content that answers your prospects’ questions. They’ll see you as an authority, which means they’re more likely to come to you when they need help.

Technique #7 – Tell Stories With Your Content

Building from the previous point, you need to show potential customers that they can trust you to deliver on your promises.

Your content may talk about what you do and the benefits of your product or service. But that alone isn’t usually enough to convince somebody to get in touch with you. They want proof that you do what you say you can do.

They can get this proof from all sorts of sources. For example, they may check out what customers say about you on social media. Or, they may look at reviews on sites like Yelp and Google Maps.

The good news is that you can exercise a measure of control over the source of this information using your content.

How?

Leverage your success stories within the content.

Select your best customers and build stories about their journey with your brand. Start by identifying the problems that they came to you with. These will usually align with the problems that other potential customers have.

Then, elaborate on the service they used and how it changed their lives. Provide any relevant results and you have a third-party story that people will trust more than your own sales spiel.

Content Can Create Leads

Your content is so much more than something you use to fill up a blog.

Great content generates leads constantly over long periods of time. And if you leverage these techniques, you can build a content marketing machine that ultimately leads to more sales.

Your current content is a great starting point. Leverage it in as many ways as you can to attract an audience. Make sure you’re answering the questions that your customers ask and use your content to give them reasons to trust you.

Finally, don’t rely on a single CTA at the end of the article. Use side-bar opt-ins and sprinkle CTAs throughout your content to get more leads.

Automation Agency can help you with a number of aspects of content marketing, particularly in regards to design. If you need help with a calendar, lead magnet, or landing page, send a task to the Concierge Service.

Or, perhaps you’re not sure if our service will work for your business. If that’s the case, use our Right Fit Chatbot to find out if we can work together.

About the author 

Carl Taylor

Carl Taylor is the Founder & CEO of Automation Agency. For the past 10 years Carl has been building businesses and marketing them online through the use of Sales Funnels, Email Marketing Automation, Landing Pages, and Wordpress Websites. Carl is also a #1 author and highly sought after speaker and consultant whose work has impacted thousands of businesses across various industries worldwide.

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