9 Content Lead Generation Ideas for B2B Companies
You've most likely heard the phrase "content lead generation" in reference to some sort of overall inbound marketing program. But what does that actually mean?
Simply enough, content lead generation is the practice of generating new potential leads for your product or service by way of offering prospects a valuable piece of content.
Typically what that looks like starts with a landing page or pop up that asks prospects for their email address in exchange for a valuable piece of content.
For B2B companies, it can be challenging to come up with content that prospects will want to give up their email address for. To help out, I've created a list of ideas you may want to try:
Success stories of thought leaders. Find a thought leader in your industry and see if you can do a Q-and-A interview with them. Make it personal, entertaining and engaging. People love to learn about how people achieved success.
Quiz. This is more of a top of the funnel content give away but has proven to be successful. One way this works is to have a quiz and then make more informative booklets on what the answer means. For example, I once took a quiz as to what my predominant brand personality should be. I didn't have to enter my email address yet. When I got the answer, I was then asked for my email address for more information that expanded on how I could incorporate my brand personality answer into my business.
Best Practices. This is always a good one to give away. Even keeping it to a 2 to 3 ebook on how to tackle a common problem in your industry.
Data backed reports. This is a great one although will take some time on your end. Put together a survey or sponsor a data study to get helpful information about your industry. Put together a creative report that offers data points and your takeaways. This helps position you as the expert at the same time shedding light on data that no one else has.
Helpful spreadsheets, calendar, templates etc. Offering up free templates to stay organized or make a mundane industry task simpler. These can be simple to make but super helpful to others in your space who aren't as organized or efficient.
Create an in-depth guide. Creating an in-depth guide to a certain problem or aspect of your industry can be really engaging to someone in your industry. Take a look at the history of a certain aspect of your industry; talk about where we've been, where we are now and where we are going.
A collection of experts' advice. The Internet already has a ton of great content out there- why not make use of it. Remember suggestion #1? A lot of people have already done that. Gather some great success stories and make a collaborative book on what experts in your industry have done.
Do a giveaway. This is a great one. Can you give away your product or service for a month? a year? If not, can you give away something generally useful to your prospects like an iPad? The key for doing giveaways is making sure you have enough traffic to get enough people involved to make it worth-while. For example, if you are giving away an iPad and the entry form is a pop-up on your website, make sure you have enough traffic to your website where you'll generate enough new leads to make it worth it. ProTip: Team up with another company. Can you package your products or services? If you get 2 to 3 companies involved and agree to share the list of leads, you can generate 2 to 3 times the leads.
Host an informative webinar. Host a webinar and, if possible, bring in some industry experts. It's key to make this be an informative webinar. Not just a sales pitch about your product or service. This is another good opportunity to team up with another company or two to increase lead generation.
These are just a few ideas you could try for your B2B business today. Content lead generation is an incredibly important tactic for B2B businesses to help create a successful sales strategy. Before creating any piece of content, it's important to understand who that piece of content is for.
People are out there looking for solutions that your product or service offers, make it easy for them to find you and guide them through the process of buying from you. The key to whatever piece of content you are offering is to build trust. Be the helpful resource they need for their business.
