I was on a call with a prospect who was interested in hiring me to write blog posts for her clients.
She had heard me speak at an event, then she had subscribed to my newsletter and had been reading my newsletter and blog posts for months before she reached out to become a client.
As we started talking about how much blogging she would need, she went straight for my highest offer.
Not only did I not have to convince her the higher offer was better, but I didn’t even have to make the offer.
She went straight for what she wanted, and as she did, she referenced one of my own blog posts explaining why that option would help her clients get better results.
I was so thankful because this was before I had had any sales training, and I still wasn’t comfortable trying to convince people they needed my services, much less try to upsell them.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to have my content do the selling for me.
To be clear, I’m not saying sales isn’t important. I have since invested in sales training, and it has paid off, but we’ve all been on the phone with those prospects we know would benefit from our services, but they’re convinced they don’t need it/it’s too expensive/they can do it themselves/[enter objection here.]
I’m not saying smart content marketing means you never have to deal with those objections again.
I’m saying smart content marketing reduces the number of times you have to convince someone you’re an expert and not a commodity.
It can provide a kind of onramp to the sales conversation by educating the prospect on who you are, what you do, and why you’re the one to do it.
How She Went from Lead to Prospect
The other great thing about making my content marketing work for me was that I didn’t even realize this lead was turning herself into a prospect, much less a high-quality prospect I ended up happily working with for several months.
I saw her at the speaking gig, but I didn’t realize she had signed up for my newsletter. I did notice a bump in subscribers after the speaking gig, but that’s normal, which is why I actively seek out opportunities to get in front of people and talk about blogging and SEO.
But that’s the beauty of a well developed content funnel.
Getting on stage in front of a bunch of people and explaining to them all the awesome things you do and what makes you an expert in your industry is one thing, but too many people leave it at that instead of actively capturing those leads.
If people liked what you said in your presentation, they’ll be interested in getting updates from you, which makes it a great time to ask them to subscribe to your newsletter and/or follow you on social media.
That way you can continue to push your content in front of them instead of hoping they’ll find their way to it on their own.
By consistently creating valuable, high-quality content that answers people’s questions AND pushing that content in front of people who have already raised their hand and said they’re interested in hearing more from you, you stay top of mind so they don’t forget about you. At the same time, you position yourself as the go-to person in your industry so they don’t even think of calling anyone else when they need your services.
Why a Content Funnel Works
You’re content funnel doesn’t have to look like my content funnel, but you do need a content funnel.
A mistake I often see people making when they do their own marketing is they either end their pieces without any call to action (CTA) or with the wrong CTA.
By ending without a CTA, you let readers consume all the content you worked so hard to create, then disappear and forget all about you.
At the other extreme, it can be tempting to end by asking readers/viewers to reach out for a “free consultation,” which we all know is code for “sales call.”
In some industries that can work. Sometimes people read a piece and they’re ready to buy right away.
But that’s not always the case.
With the professional service provides I tend to work with, most of their businesses are either B2B or they’re technically B2C, but the buyer journey their clients go through before they’re ready to hire looks a lot more like the buyer journey of a B2B company. That means they’re selling at a high price point, so their prospects tend to take their time making their decision. They consume, on average, 5-7 pieces of content before making a decision, and there’s often more than one person involved in that decision.
That means your marketing content needs to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to convincing people you’re the real deal and that you can provide them with a level of service no one else can.
By building and maintaining a content funnel that guides people through the buyer journey while letting them work their way through the funnel on their own time, you let them come to you. That makes them feel like they’re in control, which will make them more willing to take the final step and hire you.
It also saves you time by eliminating the need to chase down leads who are, at best, not ready to hire you yet, and at worst, not interested at all.
So, whether you need help strategizing your content funnel, or you just need someone to create content to fill that funnel and deliver qualified leads to your door, let’s chat.
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