A couple of weeks ago, I gave a webinar explaining how broadcasters could use a content marketing strategy to generate more sales leads. Here’s how it works:
Early in the buying process, clients want to learn more about advertising, but they don’t want to talk to a salesperson because they’re afraid of getting the hard sell. Instead, they turn to the internet for answers. They may look things up in search engines like Google, or they may ask their colleagues on social networks like LinkedIn. If we have content that can be found in these places, we can connect with these potential customers.
Last week, a friend of mine forwarded me a message that popped up in a Google discussion group:
Leads don’t often show up at your door gift-wrapped any nicer than this. Here’s somebody — let’s call him Bob — that’s asking to learn more about advertising on radio.
If your station had a white paper titled “What You Need to Know Before About Advertising on the Radio,” and you stumbled across this lead, emailing it to Bob would be a great way to initiate a conversation that could lead to a sale.
But even if you weren’t the one to find this lead, your white paper could still result in a sale. If somebody else in the group has seen your paper, they might forward it to Bob, leading him to eventually call your station. As you can see, creating content that is easy to share over social media can attract sales leads.
But let’s suppose nobody else in the discussion has read your white paper. It still might connect you with Bob. What if nobody responds to his inquiry? Bob’s next move will be to turn to Google. If you’ve optimized your white paper for search engines and it shows up in the Google results, he still might find it and ultimately call your station.
But what if Bob doesn’t find you white paper through the discussion group or a search engine? It still might wind up in his hands if he listens to your station and you’re promoting it. Hopefully, you’re running a sweeper in and out of stopsets that says “Want to learn more about radio advertising? go to wkrp.com/advertise.” Bob hears it, and when he navigates to that webpage, he finds the white paper. Finding the paper helpful, he calls the station to learn even more.
Create online content to answer the questions that potential clients might have. Make that content easy to share over social media, easy to find in search engines, and easy to promote on the air. The result will be more sales leads.
I’ve created a short video to show how the process works. Please take a moment to watch it:
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