12 Weeks of Content Marketing Insights
This is the 7th post in our series on the current state of B2B Content Marketing with findings sourced in July 2013 from over 230 B2B marketing professionals. We’ve reviewed what types of content are most effective for lead generation. This week we’ll switch gears to lead nurturing and drip marketing – what kinds of content can keep prospects effectively engaged?
Week 7: Best Types of Content for Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is critical to keep moving prospects through the sales funnel & creating sales qualified leads. How do you keep the prospects engaged? It all comes down to content.
Increasingly B2B marketers are keeping a close eye on the data points from what pieces of content are being viewed, to clicks, page views and successful calls to action, to glean a more sophisticated idea of what works best for lead nurturing and drip campaigns.
Results from our survey pointed to social proof from customers taking first place in effectiveness for lead nurturing. 67% of customers rated customer testimonials & case studies as very effective or higher for lead nurturing.
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While customer testimonials and case studies came out ahead, microsites & whitepapers as well as videos were ranked highly in the “not used” category. Since these types of assets take additional time and money to create, it makes sense they aren’t leveraged as frequently.
Blogs also trailed in their effectiveness – with only 12% rating blogs as “very effective.”
B2B marketers continue to struggle with keeping prospects engaged in lead generation & choosing which type of content to use – especially with limited time and budget. A marketing programs manager at a marketing automation company sums up his biggest challenges in content marketing:
“Producing quality content to support inbound marketing efforts and lead nurturing and maintaining a steady and regular supply [is our largest challenge].”
Stay Tuned
Next we’ll cover what types of content are perceived as having the best return on investment.
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