Change Marketing from a
Cost Center to a Growth Driver

While no magic formula can guarantee pipeline and business growth, the steps to deliver consistently strong results are well understood. Across industries, executing these steps effectively can drive predictable pipeline and accelerate revenue growth.

Step 3: Develop Compelling Content

After defining your target audience (ideal customer profile) and articulating what matters to them (pain points), you need a way to communicate your message. You could simply run an ad campaign and hope for the best, but creating appealing content assets is a much stronger strategy.

Why? To treat complex topic simply, content marketing works because it focuses on giving rather than selling. Instead of immediately asking prospects to buy your product or learn about your company, your initial call to action should focus on sharing valuable expertise, insights, and information. This can help you establish awareness, gain credibility, and drive engagement—all essential steps in the customer journey before you can close a sale.

The content asset(s) you offer can take many forms, including ebooks, white papers, case studies, infographics, toolkits, and video and interactive media. To decide which format to use, give some thought to the material, audience preferences, and perceived value. For complex topics or processes, an infographic, toolkit, or video may help simplify or be a practical resource. On the other hand, more sophisticated buyers may consider a white paper or ebook more appealing.

In every scenario, the key is ensuring that the content asset is relevant, professional, and valuable enough to justify someone's time to download or (ultimately) merit sharing their contact information with you.   

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Step 4: Choose the Right Channels

Information overload and advances in media and technology have made the competition for customer attention fiercer than ever. Even with a compelling message and polished presentation, you won't reach your target audiences unless you publish and promote your content via the right channels, in the right way.

Potential content channels include owned, earned, and paid platforms, and in many cases a mix of all three may be ideal. For example, you might publish a blog post on your website, email current contacts, and post to your own social media (owned channels); distribute press releases and do media interviews (earned channels); and launch paid social media, keyword search, and display ad campaigns (paid channels).

The biggest consideration will likely be which channels your target audience already uses. Ideally, you want to go where the prospects already are and present your message in a way that aligns to their existing habits and expectations. Cost and competition are also key considerations. Spending a great deal to fight for a small share of a crowded and heavily contested arena may be tempting if that's where your prospects play, but it could be more cost-effective and impactful to explore more innovative approaches. 

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