Content marketing is king because it’s such an effective sales and marketing tool. If you think all your content marketing strategy needs to include is a good blog schedule, you’re wrong. And, you’re missing out on some great opportunities. Here are seven effective ways to use your content to drive results.

1. Segment Your Prospects

Now it’s easier than ever to try to cherry pick your prospects using strategic demographic micro targeting. By segmenting your target market into specific groups, you are better able to deliver highly effective, targeted content and convert the kinds of leads you want.

2. Implement The Pillar-Cluster Model

I know, the name makes it sound like it’s going to be complicated, but it’s not really. The Pillar-Cluster Model is a great way to make sure your site has good SEO. Search engines may get confused by all of the individual content pieces shared on your website. This means your content is competing against each other rather than working with each other. This Hubspot graphic illustrates the problem perfectly:

Search engines want to see overarching themes and how your individual content pieces connect with these themes:

To implement the Pillar-Cluster Model, start by deciding what your four or five cluster topic pillars need to be. Then create a single pillar page for each that provides a high-level overview of a topic and hyperlinks to cluster pages that address the topic’s subtopics. This signals to Google that your pillar page is an authority on the topic. An added bonus? When your pillar page ranks higher, so do your cluster pages.

3. Develop A Podcast

Online audio content is gaining in popularity and is a good lead generator. If you’re going to take the time to create a podcast, make sure it’s informative and entertaining or no one will listen to it.

4. Implement Social Media PR Campaigns

If you’re still just placing your PR on news outlet publications, you’re missing a huge audience on social media. In fact, your prospects spend more time on social media now than ever before. You need to deliver content that will perform well on both social media platforms and publications. Know the audience and provide what they want.

5.  Build Your E-Mail Subscriptions

The data tells us it takes about six to eight touch points to generate a qualified lead. By getting prospects to subscribe to your e-mails, you’re building an interested audience for your content and hopefully a list of hot prospects. Make sure what you e-mail your list of subscribers is relevant and of interest so prospects will be actively engaged and keep reading each time they hear from you.

 6. Resend Popular Posts

Take a look at your blog views and see which ones are pulling the highest. Pick a few of the best performing ones and republish them with some new information added. This helps you build on your organic traffic and conversions these posts are already generating.

7. Conduct A/B Testing

The only way you’ll know which copy, ad, design, etc. works the best to generate leads is to conduct A/B testing. My blog has a few posts about A/B testing on it if you need a refresher. In general A/B testing enables you to test two variables – like two different headlines or two different calls to action – and see which one performs better.

These seven marketing techniques are sure to help you finish the last half of 2019 strong.

In marketing we often fall prey to instant markers of a campaign’s success. However, studies show that when done correctly, the content we create today may still be working to generate leads for months and years to come!

Think long-term on the content you create. It shouldn’t only address your current campaign goals. It should also address a broader message that will resonate with prospects for some time to come. You want to generate organic search traffic because it’s the strongest source for leads that are about seven-times more likely to convert to a sale. When prospects find your content via a search, you have a captive audience. Follow SEO best practices, and organic searches will help you generate leads by doing very little.

However, no message is effective unless it can be found – even long after you’ve stopped promoting it in your e-mail campaigns, on social media, and in your calls to action. Make sure you optimize your content for search engines.  Here are eight ways you can be sure you’re building landing pages that offer long-term lead generation. I don’t go into a lot of technical detail, but anyone handling your website and lead generation should be very familiar with this information.

1. Your Page Title Should be Short and Keyword Optimized

Your page title is considered the most important element for any on-page SEO. It is where you describe your web page so search engines find it. It is displayed at the top of your browser – usually only the first 60 characters show, so keep it short.

2. The URL You Use for Your Landing Page Matters

Next in importance is the URL you use for your landing page because it helps share even more information with search engines about your content. Most search engines only show about 65 characters in the URL portion – and some of these will be for your domain name.

3. Your Heading Tag Should Match Your Page

It’s important to make sure search engine visitors can figure out exactly what you’re offering on your landing page very quickly, before they lose interest and bounce back. Creating a heading that closely matches your page title helps increase your ranking and number of click throughs.

4. Your Meta Description Must be Clear and Direct

Your meta description is where you describe what is on the page. It’s where you influence prospects to click on your search result. Make it to the point, including a summary of what they’ll see. You don’t want to lose their interest. The more clicks, the higher your Google ranking, which leads to more clicks.

5. You Need to Optimize Your Images

Search engines can’t easily scan images, but you can still use them to help your page rank for certain keywords. Often search engines take clues about what an image contains from its file name and the alt text you provide.

6. Test Your Landing Page for Rich Snippets

Rich snippets enhance search engine result listings and give searchers more information on your content. Google offers a free testing tool that will scan your page and let you see what it could look like in search results. For more information on rich snippets, you can read this 2018 post.

7. Create Forms With as Few Fields as Possible

Most landing pages have forms to capture prospects’ information in exchange for content, a discount, etc. Forms serve a crucial function, but prospects don’t like filling them out – especially if they are long. If they are too long, prospects will leave your page.

8. Design Your Landing Page So Prospects Link Back to It

To get the highest search ranking, search engines check to see if Internet users are vouching for your landing page by linking back to it from a blog post, e-mail or social media.

By implementing these eight tips, you will be able to create very effective landing pages that bump your position in search engines now and well into the future. This enables you to generate leads well beyond your launch of new campaigns.