It might sound too simple to be true, but optimizing websites and creating digital content with customers’ needs and desires in mind can yield the best content marketing results. MarketingSherpa recently published a case study about B2B mobile solutions company Good Technology. The business was seeing success with current marketing programs, but wanted to improve its performance forecasting.
Good Technology returned to the heart of its content marketing strategy – the customers – and learned more about buyers’ journeys through the sales funnel. During this process, the company discovered it had lost touch with its customers.
Clients didn’t trust digital content produced by Good Technology, such as ebooks, which affected the company’s lead scoring and qualifying practices. Prospective customers preferred more recognizable forms of web content like white papers.
Julie Gibbs, vice president of marketing and communications at Good Technology, said “We talk about digital, we talk about social, and they are critically important, but nothing replaces sitting down and having a conversation on a regular basis … building the relationship and understanding your customer’s point of view.”
When the company overhauled its collateral and took other steps, such as revamping its post-sales process, it recognized significant improvements in lead generation. Lead quality increased 130 percent and qualified leads that were accepted by sales jumped 40 percent. Overall, the company realized a 30 percent increase in return on marketing.
38 percent of B2Bs say content marketing is their most successful strategy for lead generation.
A lesson in customer-centricity might benefit other marketers who use custom content to score and nurture leads. Brafton previously reported on an Ascend2 and Research Underwriters survey, which found that 38 percent of B2Bs say content marketing is their most successful strategy for lead generation.
Web content can drive sales, but marketers must understand what types of media their customers want to engage with to generate the most powerful online campaigns.
