The type of content and messaging you need to create really depends on where that buyer is in the sales funnel. Generally, we talk about four stages of a sales funnel or buying cycle. If you search for “content marketing funnel,” you will find many different versions. This is one version, and it should serve as a good guideline to follow if you don’t already have one in place.

When it comes to moving buyers through the sales funnel, think about your target audience, and what’s going to appeal to them, throughout these various stages.

The awareness stage, the top level, is where your first impressions matter the most. You haven’t really engaged your prospect’s intellect yet. At this point, they are basing their responses on a gut reaction, which happens below the level of conscious thought – so the most appealing content to prospects in this phase will engage them on an emotional or an instinctual level.

Actually, this is basic human psychology. The goal here is to simply make a first impression, good or bad. Surprisingly, if you want someone to remember you, making them mad can be just as effective as making them laugh. But for our purposes, since we’re talking about marketing and not picking up people in a bar, we want to make a positive first impression – and the best way to do that is to amuse or entertain your audience (which, come to think of it, probably works in a bar). That’s really what’s going to drive that initial contact, or initial experience with your brand.

For example, we ran a partner campaign recently that used a “Dummies Guide” as the content asset. Some people may be offended by being referred to as a “dummy” but the content was fun, entertaining and educational. In the first couple of weeks, the campaign reached a 20% conversion rate.

During the awareness stage, consider trying different types of content. Go for more infographics, videos, GIFs and memes, interactive tools, maybe a cool survey, or industry literature that’s entertaining and fun.

At the research stage, you are probably looking for prospects who might have some level of product awareness, but are mainly doing research to better clarify their needs around a particular solution. Content here should engage them on a more intellectual level. This is content that talks about their needs, the environment around those needs, or something else that is particularly important to them (or their bosses). This is what’s going to be valuable to them.

White papers, ebooks, blog posts or interviews with thought leaders tend to perform well at the research stage. Content should focus on the concept of what your product is designed to do or help with, but not necessarily your product itself. I would argue that any sort of mention of your product should be really, really light and sparing.

The trial stage is really where I think content marketers thrive. They finally get to tell you all about their products. Content at this stage needs to engage on a very practical level. A prospect has made some sort of decision that, “Yes, I need a tool, so I’m developing a short list of vendors that are in my price range, and have the range of features that I want,” for instance. These are people who know about the client and their product and have decided that it might be a good fit for their needs.

At this stage, remarketing (or retargeting) campaigns can work well to get people to try your product. These people have already visited your site (or your client’s site or your partner’s site), so you have already established awareness. Remarketing is a great way to drive that lower level funnel conversion. Industry reports, white papers, demos of the product, and interviews with company insiders provide great content at this stage.

Now at the conversion stage, buyers have narrowed down their choices to maybe a couple of different vendors, and are now focused on justifying a decision to purchase. Any content that helps them make that decision, that will help them view your product favorably on a financial level is going to be effective. Free trial offers also work well here. Getting them to sign up for a newsletter or follow you on social media can be helpful as well, because being exposed to your message and brand more and more strongly can help them convert to your product. Again, interviews (see a theme here?) are great, especially if they come from customers in the form of a testimonial or case study.

In my opinion, moving buyers through the sales funnel really boils down to a few key elements: a clear understanding of who your audience is, clear messaging that speaks to that audience and good content for every stage of the sales cycle. If you keep those three things in mind, the rest should follow.

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So, how would you know a campaign works, if you haven’t determined how to measure its performance? KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are a common tool used to help you do just that. KPIs are a type of performance measurement, used to evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity (such as projects, programs, products and other initiatives). Using these performance indicators can help you identify potential improvements for better success the next time around.

When it comes to digital advertising, KPIs vary in importance. You’ll likely weigh some of these more heavily than others, depending on who is asking the question (did it work?) and how you want to answer.

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of users who saw your ad (or email, or tweet, etc) that also  clicked on it. It is commonly used to measure the success of an online advertising campaign as well as the effectiveness of email campaigns.  A number of factors can impact your ad’s CTR, including specific graphics used, the choice of keywords, or the targeting of the ad to a particular audience. It is an important KPI when measuring ad performance.

Conversion rate measures the percentage of users who take a desired action. I recommend looking at three different subtypes of conversion rates. The web conversion rate simply means that someone has filled out the form and downloaded a particular asset. A marketing qualified lead (MQL) conversion rate, means that person also meets specific pre-determined qualification criteria such as company size, industry, job title, frequency of visits, specific pages visited, etc.  Finally, there is the sales qualified lead (SQL) conversion rate, which typically means that person has budget, authority, need, and timeline. When they reach this stage, they become a qualified pipeline opportunity.

Return on investment (ROI) is key when talking about pipeline revenue. It helps you measure how much revenue is in play based on the average value of the solution being promoted, and the number of qualified leads from a specific campaign. We’ll talk more about how to calculate ROI, and the math involved, in a later post.

The final KPIs to put on your radar are client or channel partner-specific. Partners have their own internal goals they’re trying to meet. They also have bosses asking them to do specific things by a specific date and time. They might also have a budget they have to spend down by the end of the year, so they can finalize a budget for next year. Recognize and consider the KPIs important to partners while setting goals for and measuring the success of any marketing campaign.

Going forward, when you think about creating a successful campaign, start by asking yourself a few key questions about what success means to you, (and your partners) and set KPIs with your answer in mind.

Let’s hear from you!  What KPIs do you think are most important when measuring your digital advertising success?  Leave a note in the comments below.

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