The B2B funnel & how to create a winning content strategy

Transcript

1. The B2B funnel & how to create a winning content strategy Katarina Dahlin WhitePress® Speakerdeck.com/katarinadahlin linkedin.com/in/katarina-dahlin @KataDahlin
2. How to win in driving qualified leads and sales for B2B?
3. Know your customer
4. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. The B2B funnel and buyer's journey Close Nurture Convert Attract
5. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales, Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Know nothing Everyone.
6. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand. / Opportunity Clearly interested in one of your solutions Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales, Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students. Working in some lower position. Content: how to guides and videos, informational blog posts, elearning courses
7. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand. / Opportunity Clearly interested in one of your solutions Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales, Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Content: products, services, case stories, webinars
8. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales, Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Content: products, services, product comparisons, solutions, case stories
9. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales, Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution.
10. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. The B2B and buyer's journey
11. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Promoters Very happy customer. The B2B funnel buyer's journey
12. Don’t make your funnel too complex
13. Everyone doesn’t need complex multi-step funnels, this only for complex products.
14. Create a funnel and content necessary for your business and your audiences’ buyer journey
15. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Start the content creation here, where the potential buyer has a case or project and is actively searching for a solution
16. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. But do not only focus on buyers who are ready to purchase
17. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Create content for earlier stages only if needed
18. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract Need more convincing? Or do you want to create more awareness, interest and desireness for your product and brand?
19. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. So also create content that targets people earlier in their journey — before they’re actively looking to buy.
20. Whether you want to raise awareness or build long-term relationships with customers…
21. The main goal is still to create content that brings in real sales opportunities
22. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Start by developing and optimizing content that directly drives Sales Qualified Leads
23. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. By focusing on content here, you ensure that your efforts are grounded in strategies that actually move prospects toward conversion
24. The dark funnel
25. A lot of buying decisions happen outside of what we can track
26. - word of mouth - social media discussions - private research - peer recommendations All these factors influence the buying decision such as:
27. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Have content as early as possible: blogs, videos, guides Downloaded ebook or filled out contact form on page Visiting page Watched Youtube video Saw ad Called a sales person
28. so when people do their research, we’re part of the conversation and can guide them toward becoming our customers.
29. SEO and organic is very important in the dark funnel
30. Plan content that’s helpful and useful – don’t waste the buyers time
31. Plan carefully What information are the buyer actually looking for? How could we really help them at this stage of the buyer’s journey?
32. Should we have gated or non-gated content?
33. Should we always ask for contact details before giving content away?
34. No. Not all next steps should be gated. We still want potential new customers to consume our content to warm them up.
35. But we want to know when the buyer are moving into the next stage, so that we can target them with the right content.
36. Awareness Consideration Decision Referral Plan content for every stage of the buyer’s journey
37. Create conversion points and next steps that fits the content and the buyer.
38. TOFU conversion point examples • Downloading a free ebook or whitepaper • Signing up for a newsletter • Registering for a webinar or virtual event • Using a free tool or calculator
39. MOFU conversion point examples • Reading or sharing a case study • Watching a product demo • Viewing price lists • Reading product comparison pages • Engaging with chatbot or live chat for product questions
40. BOFU conversion point examples • Filling out a contact sales or request a demo form • Starting a free trial • Requesting a custom quote • Booking a consultation call
41. Produce quality content over quantity
42. Awareness Consideration Close Nurture Convert Attract Decision Interesting articles Cool video Tests New innovations Social Content Search (SEO) Advertising Website Podcasts Landing pages Tools Templates Premium content eBooks/PDFs Analyses/reports Messaging Value proposition Interactive content Email Events Webinars eBooks/PDFs Visual docs Triggered email Workflows Short case studies Videos Teaser demos Longer case studies Visual docs Sales content Social selling 1-to-1 emails Guides You can create a vast amount of different content
43. …but focus on one or a few content types to begin with, so that you get good at something.
44. Usually just a few “killer” content and conversion points drive most of leads and sales.
45. Quality over quantity always apply when creating converting content.
46. Buyer insight + great content = conversions
47. Do your content need backlinks or stronger brand signals to rank?
48. 48 Make sure your great content is ranking in Google and AI searches, and is being seen by the potential new customers
49. 49 New domains or new content clusters on your site will often need more backlinks than established stronger sites.
50. 50 Niche sites can go with less backlinks and referring domains, because it is winning with topical authority instead.
51. 51 How strong are your brand signals compared to competitors? Do you have brand searches? How much brand mentions on other websites?
52. 52 Always do the research and look at the SERP to see what is needed to rank higher than your competitors for your selected keywords.
54. 54 Order articles in 33 languages
55. 55 Order articles in 27 languages Digital PR campaigns
56. 56 Order articles in 27 languages Digital PR campaigns Get brand mentions
57. Measuring the success
58. Measure what matter, and align marketing and sales Quality leads Revenue Number of leads / cost per lead Number of MQL / cost per MQL Number of SQL / cost per SQL Marketing generated revenue Returning revenue Returning contacts that stays in your ecosystem Market Share of Search Retention & Share
59. Analyzing customer behavior, campaign performance, and conversion metrics helps you pinpoint which strategies work best.
60. The winning B2B strategy
61. Create a funnel that is necessary for your business and your audiences’ buyer journey. Know nothing Everyone. Potential buyer in the future / Lead / Contact Students, Working in some lower position. Potential buyer / MQL Working in a position where they are directly affecting buying decisions Potential buyer with a case / SQL Actively searching for a solution. Potential buyer considering your brand / Opportunity Clearly interested in your solution. Customer Existing customer, Potential for increased sales. Promoters Very happy customer. Close Nurture Convert Attract
62. Be helpful and useful, don’t waste the buyers time. Focus on one or a few types of content to begin with. Focus on Quality content
63. Create conversion point / next steps, that fits the content and the buyer.
64. → Create content for early stages as well. Make sure that your dark funnel is also working.
65. Analyzing customer behavior, campaign performance, and conversion metrics helps you pinpoint which strategies work best. ROI
66. Katarina Dahlin Senior Growth Hacker Thank you! katarina.dahlin@whitepress.com linkedin.com/in/katarina-dahlin Get my slides: speakerdeck.com/katarinadahlin whitepress.com