Creating Great Lead-Gen Offers In A Hurry

Introduction

Recent reports from MarketingSherpa report that around 60% of marketers' websites' use less than 10 landing pages. It's common knowledge that the more landing pages you have, the greater your opportunities for lead generation are, so this result seems strange. One possible reason for this is that they don't have much content to offer to their leads.

Creating meaningful content takes time, and time is not something a lot of people have. And of course, people are going to want something meaningful in exchange for their contact information, so if you don't have content, there's little point in putting up a landing page. Thankfully, there are many ways to create good content in a short amount of time, and all that's really required is a little creativity.

Blog Bundle

If you're a dedicated marketer, you've probably got a blog, and you blog on a regular basis. In fact, you've probably built up a wealth of content on various subjects related to your industry. But over time, each blog post published will be pushed down by new content, causing the information to be spread out all over your blog.

One way to counter this, and offer something substantial to your leads, is to create a “blog bundle”. A blog bundle is essentially a compilation of your best blog posts on a single topic that's been bundled together. By using marketing analytics tools to select content that has high conversion rates, and by using the tags feature of your blogging platform, you can create a meaningful lead generating incentive for your leads.

Data Compilation

Another oft-overlooked area that's a wealth of content is research. If part of your job is to gather statistics, data, or to conduct research within your industry, then chances are you've probably got a wealth of content at your fingertips. Research data and statistics make for wonderful content, and can be easily obtained from either an in-house source or from partners or affiliates.

Presentation Slides

Anyone who has been in this business for a significant amount of time will have made numerous presentations to co-workers, clients, and managers. Instead of burying these presentation slides somewhere on your hard drive and leaving them to rot, why not freshen them up a little and offer it as a lead generating incentive? Of course, you'd have to do some minor editing first, such as removing any proprietary company data, and writing out explanations for concepts that aren't very self-explanatory. That way, even those who did not attend your presentation will be able to glean valuable information from it.

Rework Offers For Existing Personas

While we're on the topic of “existing content”, why limit yourself to just slides? You can take any content that you're already offering and re-work it for different buyer personas. This has the benefit of generating new leads and helping to convert existing ones. The key is to first identify the content that offers the highest conversion rates for each stage of the sales cycle, and then to tailor the language and layout of the content to different personas. For example, offers targeted at C-level executives should be short, professional, and offer more strategic advice, while offers for a mid-level manager should go into detail about your solutions.

Update Out-Of-Date Offers

Over time, the data and statistics that you've acquired will no longer be up to date. New information that replaces the old will be released, so it's a good idea to consider updating old content with newer, more comprehensive information.

Record an Interview

Old articles and slides aren't the only places you can find good content. The next time you sit down to to chat with co-workers, colleagues, or even other industry experts, record the conversation. A discussion among experts is sure to be valuable source of information. Your landing page should summarize the points covered in the discussion, for the benefit of any potential leads.

FAQ-driven E-book

If you don't have the time to sit down and write an entire E-book's worth of content, try taking the FAQ approach to writing. Speak to co-workers in other departments, like sales, support, and consulting and get them to write down the most frequently asked questions they encounter while working with customers. Spend some time writing up answers for each one, or better yet, turn the content creation process into a genuine team effort by getting your co-workers to write the questions AND the answers.

Turn How-to Content Into Checklists

One thing that you should remember is that the length of a written piece is not an indicator of usefulness. Sometimes short and to-the-point checklists can be just as informative as a multi-page article. For example, a checklist of questions to ask potential candidates for a job could go into detail with each question, describing why it should be asked, and how any potential answer should be structured. This sort of thing makes for informative, useful content that people are sure to refer to each time they need it.

Create Templates

Templates are used by office workers everywhere to help them perform recurring tasks, like writing letters, or calculating taxes, quickly and easily. Ask yourself if there are any common tasks in your industry, that could be made easier with the use of a template, and offer one to your leads.

Ask an Expert

You may not have all the answers, but someone you know might. Approach a group of people, whether they are co-workers, friends from a social media network, or industry experts that you've worked with in the past, and ask them for advice on dealing with a difficult problem in your industry. Compile their answers, maybe add a solution of your own, and offer it for download as a single piece of content.

Turn a Live Presentation into a Webinar Offer

One thing that a lot of companies don't do, but could stand to benefit from, is to record their live presentations. Whenever you offer a live presentation or seminar, make it a point to have it recorded, so that it can be offered to potential leads later. It's important to consider that not everyone who is interested in your presentation can attend it live.

Create Co-Branded Content

If you're pressed for time, why not try bringing a partner on board to help with the content creation? Maybe a co-worker or a fellow industry expert who is looking for exposure to a new audience. You could pair up and host a webinar, which would then be hosted on both of your websites and available to both audiences.

When In Doubt, Outsource

Last, but not least, is outsourcing. If you're really that strapped for time or just don't have any content to offer, you could try hiring a freelance writer to help you out. This way, you can leverage your money and not your time to keep the flow of high-quality content going strong.