How do I get my marketing content to create real revenue?

Discover the secrets to turning your marketing content into profit-generating assets.

With endless content on the internet, how can you break through the noise to get noticed and then make sure you turn your marketing content into real revenue?  Marketing is part art, part science to 1) get interest (demand generation) and then 2) to capture it (demand capture), and then 3) to follow it through to turn it into a sale.  This means you need to create it like a funnel, thinking about it according to these three areas where the top of the funnel will drive the largest interest (demand generation) and then capturing fewer who are truly interested (demand capture) to finally closing deals with those who are truly ready for what you have to offer.  Here are steps to creating and using content in way that flows through this funnel and generates real revenue from it.

First Stop: Craft Compelling Content

Crafting compelling content is absolutely the most important part of getting the marketing engine to work in your favour.  You need to create compelling content "offers" that attract the right audience (demand generation).  To do so, you first need to determine "who am I selling to?" and create a buyer persona.  Then you need to understand, "what expertise do I have that I can share with them or what interesting content can I deliver to provide them value?".  This will help you to begin crafting your content strategy.

This content should first attract the right audience naturally.  But you also need to consider "how can I make my content different and attention-grabbing?" given the flood of content available on the internet.  By understanding your audience's needs, pain points, and desires you are already creating highly targeted content that resonates with the people you want to reach.

However, you also need to consider "how do they like to receive their content?".   Making your content unique, interactive or interesting with different forms of media, served in the best way your audience like to receive it (whether that be written blogs, downloads, podcasts, videos or interactive games) is important.  I discuss this topic in my blog, Standing Out: Creative Content Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses.

In addition, consider how you can set yourself apart from your competitors. This could include storytelling, providing expert insights, or offering exclusive tips and tricks. The more value you provide, the more likely your audience will see the benefit of your products or services and convert into paying customers.

Can your content offer credibility and allow people to trust you?  How do you help them understand how credible your expertise is in providing them this information?  Do you already have happy customers and great reviews you can include to demonstrate that you are a trusted partner in delivering both the content you offer as well as your products or services?  Customer success stories and reviews as well as bio information that demonstrates credibility help pull you over the hurdle of trust early in a buying process.

Remember to also use persuasive language and emotional appeals in your content. This can help create a sense of urgency and drive your audience to take immediate action. Use strong headlines, thumbnails, compelling calls-to-action, and persuasive storytelling techniques to capture their attention and keep them engaged throughout your content.

Overall, crafting compelling content requires a deep understanding of your audience, a unique value proposition, persuasive writing techniques and different than what is already available. By consistently delivering high-quality content, you are on the right path to gaining an audience and having them build trust to take the next step in a revenue relationship with you.

Place Your Content in the Right Places

For initial demand generation, you should consider putting your content in the places where your audience will already be.  Go to them, where they already are, instead of making them come to you.  It is much easier to capture an audience in the places they trust and feel most comfortable.

What does this mean?  Ask yourself, what websites do they already look at or what newsletters do they already read? Are there events they go to where I can distribute my content? Are there any other vehicles for my content distribution that I can use that my target audience already gravitates to?  What about partners that are also appealing to the same audience that I work with - can they help provide a place to deliver my content? 

This can be as simple as asking existing customers for feedback on where they go, what they read and what they do.  Understand their trusted sources of references and use them.  Then, you need to make sure that relevant content is also available to them on your website with an easy way to contact you so when they search for you, you have a professional, trusted website with further information that they need.  

Create the Ultimate Demand Capture Funnel

You've created compelling content, placed it in the right places for your target audience, and now you're ready to use it to pull it through to sales.  You now need to ensure it's been crafted in a way to have a natural call to action and follow through to your products and services. 

First, is your content branded with your logo and does it have information on how to reach you?  Does it deliver an offer for your product and services so that they understand you can solve a problem or fill a need for them?  This is a fine line between a cheesy sales pitch and offering great value.   Many marketing experts will argue that early contact with a customer should just offer them value and not hound them to buy something or capture their contact information immediately, but you also need to recognize that if that person is immediately interested, you need them to easily find you and your offerings - instead of your competitors. 

So how are you leading them to the next step or immediately capturing their info?  The first and easiest way is to get them to fill out a traditional form and you follow up with them directly.  QR codes can help them get directed to a specific landing page that provides more information on your website and a way to either sell to them immediately or follow through on another content adventure.

Within the content you create, you should be adding some links and ways they can discover more of your content, products and services.  Your content needs to be crafted in a way that naturally helps your audience want to know what you do and how you can help them with your products and services.  Adding links to the relevant products and services that align with their interests and needs will not only provide value to your audience but also help you to earn a commission or generate sales.

Having a call to action right on a website page or placing relevant ads on your website pages (or other websites) in addition to linking directly from the words of your blog or content are all effective strategies.  Consider some relevant ads on the side of a blog that naturally offer a reader a call to action.  When you add links embedded in your content, you will want to consider being subtle and highly targeted so that you don't lose the trust of your audience.  It is important that they are relevant and add value to your audience. Avoid spammy or irrelevant links that may detract from the user experience. Instead, focus on linking to high-quality products or services that you genuinely believe in and can vouch for.

In addition, consider using affiliate marketing programs to earn commissions from the sales generated through your links. Affiliate marketing allows you to partner with companies or brands and earn a percentage of each sale that is made through your referral. This can be a great way to generate passive income from your marketing content.  Remember to disclose any affiliate links or sponsored content in accordance with FTC guidelines. Transparency and trust are key when it comes to monetizing your content.

By adding links and calls to action to relevant products and services, you are creating easily trackable direct revenue streams from your marketing content that can be measured, monitored, followed up on and pulled through the marketing funnel to a sale.  The tracking, measuring and monitoring of a lead through the pipeline is a whole other art and science to be discussed in further blogs, so sign up to our newsletter for future content or contact us now to learn more on how we can help you do this with our marketing services.

Optimize for SEO

Creating the ultimate demand capture funnel also needs to consider organic web traffic, making search engine optimization (SEO) essential for increasing revenue. When your content ranks higher in search engine results, it becomes more visible to your target audience and increases the chances of attracting qualified leads.  This is again, showing up where your customers are (ranking high in their searches).

How do you optimize for SEO?  In short, you can start by identifying the keywords and phrases that are relevant to your audience.  Incorporate these keywords naturally throughout your content, including in your headings, subheadings, and body text. This will help search engines understand the relevance of your content to specific search queries.

In addition, optimize your meta tags, including the meta title and meta description, to accurately describe your content and entice users to click through to your website. Use descriptive and compelling language that clearly communicates the value of your content.

The higher-quality your content is as it addresses the needs and interests of your target audience, the higher search engines will prioritize it because it provides value and meets the search intent of users.  We talk more about this topic in my blog, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Simplified for Small Business. 

Once they find you in the search engine, your listings need to be compelling enough to make them click through to the relevant content they need to engage and stay on your page.  Your website should be optimized to deliver them exactly what they need on the page they land on and then make it easy for them to explore more content, review your products and services or contact you for more information.  You can do this with a landing page (more on this discussed below with email marketing) or right within the content of your main webpages.

Use Social Media

Social media can be a powerful tool for promoting your marketing content and driving real revenue.  However, there are different and very specific needs on each platform for the way your cotnent is crafted for users to find your content.

Start by identifying the social media platforms that are most popular among your target audience. This will help you focus your efforts and maximize your reach. Create compelling and shareable content specifically tailored for each platform to increase engagement and encourage social sharing.

Some platforms require more visual elements such as images, videos, and infographics into your social media posts to make them more appealing and attention-grabbing. Others require specific hashtags and captions or text.  Use persuasive captions and calls-to-action to encourage your audience to click through to your website or take a desired action.

Engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. Building relationships and fostering a sense of community can help increase brand loyalty and drive repeat business.

By effectively utilizing social media, you can amplify the reach of your marketing content and generate real revenue through increased brand awareness, website traffic, and conversions.

Implementing Email Marketing Strategies

Email marketing should be part of your ultimate demand capture funnel as it is a powerful strategy for nurturing leads, building relationships with your audience, and driving real revenue. By implementing effective email marketing strategies, you can leverage the power of personalized communication to convert prospects into paying customers.

First and foremost, any contact that engages with you and provides you with contact information should be followed up with immediately.  You need to determine if they should be contacted immediately by a sales person, entered into an email nurture stream relevant to their interest or put into the longer game of relationship building.  

Capture contact information should always be don to continuously build an email list of subscribers who have expressed interest in your products or services. Offer valuable incentives such as exclusive content, newsletters, discounts, or freebies to encourage visitors to subscribe to your email list.  Ask prospects if they would like to be added to your frequent communications or newsletters.  Build ongoing communications with existing or past customers to maintain a relationship with them and keep them loyal to purchasing your products and services again.  Each of these email communications need to be tailored to the audience and will have a slightly different purpose, message and voice.

As your list grows, you will need to segment your email list based on demographics, interests, customer status or purchase history to deliver targeted and relevant content to each of these segments. By personalizing these communications you can greatly improve engagement and conversion rates.

The emails you create also need to be compelling and persuasive that provides value to your subscribers. You cannot just spam your users constantly, so a communication strategy is important.  Creating tailored landing pages for the offers that you are providing to them will deliver both the most effective and valuable way of communicating with them without confusing them but also provide a way to measure both the effectiveness of your email offers and the revenue that is generated from them.  In your emails and landing pages, use attention-grabbing subject lines, personalized greetings, and clear calls-to-action to encourage opens, clicks, and conversions.

You can automate your email marketing campaigns to deliver timely and relevant messages to your subscribers with various tools that are available that can schedule email nurture follow-ups, newsletters and regular communications. Automation tools can provide an effective way to set up email sequences that stay in contact with your prospects and lead them to the right offerings, to deliver a welcome series to a prospect or client and make them feel engaged, abandoned cart reminders, customer loyalty communications and more.  At brandspot, we can provide you help to determine what tools you need to effectively create marketing automation in your organization and measure and track the leads to turn them from prospect to customer.

You need then regularly analyze the performance of your email marketing campaigns and make data-driven decisions to tweak and optimize your strategies. Test different subject lines, content formats, and CTAs to identify what resonates best with your audience.

However, when working with email marketing, you need to ensure you are compliant with the the various laws and regulations of each country.  You cannot just spam people endlessly (though we all know some people do!).  You could actually be sued or fined if you email the wrong individual without permission.  Ensure you are reading the rules of email marketing from the local government of the countries you are working in and have opt-in and online agreements from your prospects before you add them to email marketing content.  You also need to ensure that every email has the right information for them to unsubscribe and understand who is sending them the information.

By implementing effective email marketing strategies, you can build strong relationships with your audience and drive real revenue through increased engagement and conversions.  This is a vital marketing tool that is central to many marketing campaigns and measurable so be sure to include it where you can in your follow-through.

The Follow-Through!

Sometimes a hot prospect will immediately hunt you down and buy something directly off your website or contact your sales rep if you solve the immediate need they are in the market for at the very precise moment.  This is the dream, but it needs to have all the stars align - the prospect just waiting to solve a problem, you delivering the right promise and the right connection to make it happen.

Other times, they may have the intention to contact you and are interested but something distracts them along the way.  They may also be in the stages of exploring and learning how they will solve their problem, but need to do more research and be convinced. 

And there are even further scenarios where people don't even know they have a problem to solve yet or are just learning about something for the first time.

Each of these scenarios require a different follow-up strategy but regardless, all of them require specific follow-throughs.  First, determine how hot the prospect is and whether your sales team should contact them immediately or if they should be put into a marketing nurture program. 

Then determine how they will be contacted and segment your leads in a way that each has a follow through action.  Is it with a call or an email sequence?  Is it personalized and direct or is it something more long term that provides them more value in a way of continuing to nurture them and convince them they need the product or service?  Any contact without a follow through is a wasted effort.  Determine before you start your marketing tactic what your follow through will be and create the tools necessary for the engagement.  Does the sales team need a script to carry on the conversation so they don't cold-call them as though they had never engaged?  What is the message that both marketing and sales are working together with to deliver the most value for the customers and fastest path to a sale?

Or, should they be sent a follow-up offer to continue to learn more? Whether this is deeper information on the topic of conversation or the chance to get on your regular email communications, this is valuable to keep the conversation going.  Make sure each and every marketing effort is designed with a clear follow through that is aligned upon between sales and marketing in order to drive the best results.

Analyze and Adjust for Maximum Revenue

Analyzing and adjusting your marketing strategies is important to maximizing revenue and ensuring the success of your content marketing efforts. By regularly monitoring and evaluating the performance of your content, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your revenue generation.

Start by setting clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your marketing campaigns. This will help you track and measure the success of your content in terms of revenue generation.

Utilize analytics tools to gather data on important metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement. Analyze this data to identify patterns, trends, and areas of improvement.

Based on your analysis, make adjustments to your content, targeting, distribution channels, promotional and follow-up strategies. Test different approaches and measure the impact on your revenue generation. Continuously iterate and optimize your strategies based on the insights gained.

Consider conducting A/B testing to compare different versions of your content or marketing campaigns. This can help you identify the most effective elements and refine your approach for maximum revenue generation.

Regularly review and update your content marketing plan to stay ahead of industry trends, changes in consumer behavior, and new opportunities. Flexibility and adaptability are key in the dynamic world of marketing.

By analyzing and adjusting your marketing strategies, you can optimize your revenue generation and ensure the long-term success of your content marketing efforts.

Maximizing Revenue is a Key Marketing Responsibility

Marketing is a core part of the business to create value and sales and a key part of the role of marketing is to create compelling content that will generate demand and then turn that demand into real business.  However, in order to make it work, it needs to be understood by leadership and other parts of the business on how it provides the road to sales.  It needs to be visible, measured and strategically planned.  It needs to be monitored, analyzed and the team needs to make data-driven decisions to tweak and optimize your strategies.  The brandspot team can help you create compelling content and strategies to follow through with sales.  Learn about our pricing packages or contact us direct for a personalized quote.