Why do B2B marketers invest in producing blog posts, white papers, reports, articles, and videos? The general aim is to attract an audience to their website so they can engage them and (hopefully) turn them into customers over time.
As I wrote last week, I believe that marketers often don’t consider ROI tools and value calculators when planning their content marketing mix, and I think this is a missed opportunity. If marketers want a high volumes of well-qualified leads, then my view is that value calculators and ROI tools can often pack a much bigger punch than other forms of digital content.
I’m not saying that traditional modes of content marketing aren’t important. But I don’t believe blogs, articles, and white papers have the power to deliver well-qualified leads in the same way that a targeted value calculator can. Someone who engages with a value calculator is demonstrating an interest in understanding the problem that you can solve for them and evaluating the economics of your solution to their business. To me, that indicates a serious buyer. Someone who wants to read a white paper might be a serious buyer -- on the other hand she might just be looking for general information about that topic.
When you make a value calculator available on your site, you typically want to allow them to use it to evaluate the economics of your offering in an open fashion (not gated). In order to download the business value report generated by the calculator, though, you typically want to capture their contact information before providing the report. Someone who is interested enough in the analysis to provide their contact information to get the report is more likely to be thinking about how your offering will impact his or her business and is a more serious prospect. By definition, this person is probably a better and more qualified lead for you than someone who downloads a white paper or visits your site to read general content.
Of course value calculators are just one piece of an overall content marketing strategy. Blog posts, articles, and white papers, etc. help establish your brand and position you as an authority. (Those assets are also likely to drive more general traffic to your site.) However, I do think ROI tools and value calculators can help companies capture better-qualified leads than other types of content. If you can deliver better qualified leads to sales, then salespeople naturally spend less time chasing leads who have little or no intention of actually making a purchase. The more time salespeople can spend in conversations with serious prospects, the more likely they are to close more deals. Who wouldn’t want that?
What types of content do you include in your marketing mix? Do you use value calculators or ROI tools? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
[Image via Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]
