Industry: IT Security
Content: Blogs, infographics, whitepapers, video animation, social media
Highlights: 172% increase in blog traffic
Demonstrating value and building brand authority online isn’t always about selling – it’s also about your willingness (and ability) to share your expertise with those who are simply browsing. One of the most common problems faced by our IT clients – among others – is the difficulty of conveying the complex value of their offerings. This is a challenge that’s well served by educational content.
When potential buyers at the top of the funnel move further in the buying process, will they remember your company as an educational resource? If yes, they’ll work their way from blog pages over to product and services landing pages (which are critical to lead generation in B2B tech.)
An educational approach is exactly the strategy our client in the IT security space took. Here’s their story:
Problem
- The company struggled to convey the value of the service online.
- The business’ thought leaders were not friendly to writing for the web.
- The business needed more online leads.
Strategy
- Create SEO-friendly headlines and use multimedia that targets high-level problems potential customers would face. This creates an opportunity to explain the benefits of products
- Convey specific value props of IT security software through in-depth educational content on best practices.
- Solicit writers who are well-versed in the space, to create more tutorial and educational white papers that serve their audience.
Brafton Content
- Blogs
- Quarterly infographic
- Quarterly White Paper
- Video animation
- Social media
Results
- 65 percent increase in conversion rate
- 172 percent increase in blog traffic
Not only are they getting more qualified leads, but they’re attracting more qualified traffic.
Using education as a sales tool
With blog headlines that cater to the average business person interested in learning more about data security breaches and protecting their company’s online assets, we set out to create content that’s search friendly and in depth.
Know your strengths as they map to your audience
Understanding what your audience wants from your services is perhaps more important than the service you actually provide. Figure out their pain points and how you can be the best solution. To create content that answers your customers’ burning questions, you can start with question mapping.
Get away from “selling” by maintaining a clear “sales goal” that you can track through other methods
There’s a time and place for a sales brochure, but it’s not found on your blog or your resource page. Consider more than conversions, sales and leads when you’re planning your content strategy – brand awareness, engagement and thought leadership will all nurture your customers through the sales funnel, without being pushy.
Educate all types of learners
Content diversity – like a mix of blogs, white papers, infographics and videos – is not only a strong tactic for appealing to different types of learners, but also different devices. An infographic with strong data points could be an excellent resource for a mobile viewer on the go. For someone doing research on a desktop, a long form asset like a white paper will provide more depth.
5 Types of content B2B software companies need (besides blogs)
Rely on good writing
When you’re trying to educate, the art of communication is key. Sometimes your internal experts will not be the people best suited to explain that knowledge to laymen. (That’s one reason why this client turned to Brafton to outsource content writing.) Here’s what we think makes a good content writer.
Be consistent.
Timing and lack of resources to produce consistent content is one of the largest challenges marketers face. To keep projects on track and ahead of schedule, it’s imperative that a content marketing strategy is documented. Here’s how to craft a content calendar in 7 easy steps.
