Different marketers have
different views of
content marketing,
and some differing names for the relevant funnel stages and how many there are. But
Jewel advocates a B2B content marketing funnel with three stages -- awareness,
consideration, and lead-gen.
Awareness content talks about a problem or issue your customers face. Consideration
content either mentions the solution or discusses it (when the solution is you), but it
doesn't ask the reader for contact details, while lead-gen content makes that ask. And
some
content pieces do more than one of these jobs.
Awareness Content Discusses Issues Facing Customers
Awareness is top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content. Your prototypical pure awareness piece
is a
blog post that either talks about a problem your prospects are having, or it might be
some type of
thought leadership,
research, or news that doesn't
necessarily mention a problem, or at least not a problem your company solves (i.e., it
talks about issues your customers face instead of problems).
And sometimes awareness content will discuss both a problem and its solution when the
solution is free advice, information, or guidance (and not something you're selling).
Awareness Offers Education Without Tricks
From the reader's point of view, the purpose of awareness content is usually education and
nothing more. And by "nothing more" I mean that when the reader reaches the end of the
content, they can leave at this point satisfied that they've learned something.
In other words, they don't need to follow another link or fill anything out to get the
information promised or implied in the content's title.
But There May Still Be a Prompt To Go Further
Once the educational or informative part of the content is over, awareness content might
include a prompt saying something like "To learn more about our solutions for blah, blah,
blah, follow the link." Or it might omit such a prompt.
In either case, pure awareness content does not mention one of your products by name,
nor does it try to sell you on a particular type or category of your products.
If it does, it's not purely awareness anymore. It's also consideration.
Consideration Content Talks About You
Consideration content is usually about one of your products, or a category of your
products, or some feature or technology related to your products (explicitly).
It might also be about an advantage your brand has more generally (reflected in some
advantage in what you sell).
Pure Consideration Isn't As Common As You Might Think
In the real world, consideration is often paired off with awareness or lead-gen. But
when it does exist, pure consideration content might be a blog that introduces a new
product feature (or software update) that's being rolled out.
Or it might be a piece that educates readers about how different categories of your
products compare to each other (i.e., how your enterprise line of products differs
from your SMB line), or it might be a piece that focuses on some proprietary
product feature you offer.
Or it might be a piece focused on a particular model and the problems it solves (i.e.,
"Five Data Recovery Problems Solved by the XYZ"). However....
Mentioning a Problem Doesn't Make Consideration Content Awareness
Consideration content that happens to mention the problem being solved is not
necessarily also awareness. The "Five Problems Solved by the XYZ" blog mentioned
previously isn't, because this article's focus is the product, not the problem.
But when a blog is about the problem (i.e., "Five Common Problems in Data Recovery")
and mentions the XYZ briefly at the end as the solution, then it's awareness and
consideration at the same time (and we'll get more into this content category a little
later).
The same logic also applies to any piece of content that would also be considered
advertising.
But remember, consideration content (that isn't also lead gen) doesn't ask for contact
details directly, and it doesn't try to steer you or direct you to the "Contact Us"
page either (though it might steer you to a landing page or another piece of
consideration content).
In other words, pure consideration sells, or at least it talks about what you sell,
without asking for more (at least not explicitly).
Lead Generation Asks Prospects To Come Closer
Lead-gen content either explicitly asks for contact details, or it explicitly directs
you to the "Contact Us" page or somewhere else with a contact form (i.e., "follow the
link to contact a representative").
The Ask Matters, Not the Topic
I did not use the word "product" or "solution" in the previous section, which means you
can, in fact, skip directly from awareness to lead-gen without consideration, and there
are content pieces that do this (more on this later).
In fact, unlike with the other two funnel stages, there is no such thing as pure
lead-gen content, because the ask is what makes it lead-gen, and you either talk about
what you sell along with that (consideration) or you don't (awareness).
At this point you may be wondering whether all explicit content-related contact detail
requests are lead-gen, even if the ask gives no intent of leaving the awareness stage (such as when a prospect signs up to read an awareness-level
lead magnet). The answer is yes and the reason why
is the prospect has no way of knowing what you'll do with their contact details.
Maybe you'll send them sales materials, even if they're not asking for them. Maybe you
won't. It's the ask that matters. The prospect is placing trust in you. They're willing
to take their relationship with you to another level (even if they're not currently in
market).
But Not Every Ask for Contact Details Is Lead-Gen
If your website is designed in such a way that a contact form is present at the bottom
of every webpage, be aware that this doesn't automatically make every page lead-gen
content, because the ask isn't actually part of the content, it's part of the website
navigation (which can be thought of as the content's background or surroundings).
Awareness + Consideration
This is a piece of content (typically a blog article) that talks about a problem or
issue most of the way and mentions relevant solutions (which happen to be products
you sell or a category of products you sell) at the end, usually with a link to a more
product-focused page.
Doing this occasionally is okay, but doing it every time will make your brand seem
overly salesy.
Awareness + Lead-Gen
This is awareness content that makes an explicit ask for contact details. It might be
a whitepaper (original research) or e-book (expert advice). Or it might be something
more practical, like a template, checklist, or instructional course. Or it could be a
webinar or podcast with some influencer. It could be a lot of things.
But regardless of the format, what's offered is often gated content, the wisdom of
which is a highly contentious issue, especially when gating awareness. So think about
it,
carefully.
Consideration + Lead-Gen
Many public sales materials tick both these boxes (most assets designed for print will
steer people towards an ask), but online content can be thornier.
When on the same page as a product overview or case study, it can be hard to determine
what qualifies as an explicit ask for contact details and what doesn't.
But in short, for consideration content to also be lead-gen, the contact form must be
integral, prominent, or both.
Integral Contact Forms Seem Connected
How do you know when you've reached the bottom of a piece of written webpage content?
Usually it's when you reach a menu. Either a menu for social media following/sharing,
or a menu offering more content to consume or pages to visit. Or it might be the bottom
website navigation menu itself.
If there's a menu separating the bottom of a piece of content from the contact form,
it's not lead-gen. If there's nothing separating the contact form from the content (not
even a line to make it look like a separate section), it's lead-gen.
Prominent Contact Forms Stand Out
If there is a line or other visual divider separating the contact form from the content,
one could argue that it's still lead-gen, because you haven't offered anything else for
the prospect to do or anywhere else to go. But, I would take this on a case-by-case basis.
Do the contact fields feel like part of the foreground (i.e., the content) or part of
the background? Do they seem like they're being presented or are they "just there?" Do
you sense special effort being made on the page to get contact details or just nominal
effort? If it's the former for any of these questions, it's lead generation.
Awareness + Consideration + Lead-Gen
This is the content marketing
triple Axel. Something that talks extensively about the
problem, your solution for it, and asks for contact details. Typically this is presented
under
the guise of a whitepaper, report, or e-book.
One that has a title that is not explicitly commercial, promising knowledge and not a sales
pitch.
Whitepapers Offer Data
If it's a whitepaper, it will often lead with some original data (perhaps survey
results). Then it may get into the general type of technology needed to address industry
problems. Then maybe it'll offer a case study mentioning a specific model of one of your
products.
Reports Offer Hot Takes
Reports will often be structured similarly to whitepapers, except the first part won't offer
original data (i.e., data you gathered or paid someone else to gather) and will instead offer
hot takes from third-party experts, first given while presenting their own original data
(perhaps at an event you hosted).
E-Books Offer Guidance
E-books focus on practical expert advice. So they'll often lead with some kind of
step-by-step guide addressing some problem in the target industry. Then they'll get
into what type of tech is needed to carry out that advice. Then maybe they'll offer
an overview illustrating the range of specific solutions or models you offer.
Don't Gate This Content
Whether you're offering a whitepaper, e-book, or report, don't gate in this scenario. Put
the ask for contact details at the end.
The data and/or insights being offered will attract too many low quality and out-of-market
leads when they're gated.
Don't Be Cheap Either
Don't cut corners in this scenario. Any content piece that covers all three stages
of the funnel is going to be epic, and epics are best served in an attractive PDF format
with nice figures, tables, and illustrations.
Create a content asset charming enough for the audience to shrug off the fact that you
failed to disclose your sales intentions on the cover.
How Does Brand-Level Content Fit Into This Funnel?
I've been talking about marketing content up till now. But what about brand-level content
that talks about your company? Your employee stories? Your CSR activities? Your history?
Brand-Level Content Typically Isn't Awareness
Brand-level content is often labeled "brand awareness," but it may not work like awareness
content as defined here, because it's rarely the first step in a customer's interactions
with you.
Audiences often consume this content after they're already familiar with you. And it rarely
talks about problems or issues faced by customers.
Brand-Level Content May or May Not Be Consideration
Brand-level content typically talks about you, but it's often focused on audiences other
than customers (such as jobseekers or investors). And it might not mention what you sell,
or include information relevant to it or your company's "sellability."
So in terms of content marketing funnel scorekeeping, I'd only count brand-level content
if it also happens to perform a funnel-related function.
In other words, if it happens to mention a customer problem you solve, or something
about your products, solutions, or you as a company that's relevant to why prospects
should buy from you, even if the content wasn't made with a marketing or sales focus
in mind.
This might include certain content discussing your brand or company specifically, or
perhaps your CSR or compliance efforts.
Marketing Might Not Even Own This Content
At this point you might be wondering what use the content marketing funnel is if
certain things don't count. Well, even though content marketers may be asked to
lend their resources to the creation of brand-level content, such content may not be
part of their KPIs or formal responsibilities.
Such content, if anyone is formally responsible for it, is often owned by
media relations,
or perhaps by a corporate or
brand-level content team. But even in this case, the
content may still have marketing utility.
If a piece of content is good, it very much matters to the funnel, because good
content is brand building, and brand building
helps every funnel stage, making
them all function better, even if the influence of any one piece of content, or
even all of them, can't really be measured.
Your Content Marketing Funnel Should Be Funnel Shaped
Nobody knows what an optimal balance of content is in terms of all three funnel
stages, and anyone who says they do is lying. Even if they've figured it out for a
certain situation, it'll rarely apply to others.
But in terms of the bare minimum for each stage, I'd say that you want your
content marketing funnel to at least look like a funnel. That means if you have one
piece (x) that does lead-gen, you want at least two pieces (x+1) doing consideration,
and three pieces (x+2) doing awareness.
And this goes for your overall mix, and for your high-value products and solutions
(though it may be impossible to do this for all your products and solutions).
Of course, as stated earlier, some pieces can do more than one job. And
some consideration or lead-gen pieces can work for more than one product. But
you at least want your boxes ticked in this ratio.
If they're not, your content marketing funnel will turn funny shapes, and might not
perform as intended. To learn more about these issues, click
here.
You Want More Awareness Than Consideration
Since only
5% of your prospects are on the buyer's journey at any one time, and
many of the ones that aren't won't be on it for years, you'll need quite a bit of
awareness content to build and maintain mindshare until they're ready to buy.
You won't need as much consideration content, because consideration is mostly about
the buyer's journey (though it can have big-time brand building utility when served
in
branded media asset form).
As previously mentioned, if all your awareness content is trying to move
people down the funnel, your brand will come across as too salesy (which will
discourage people from subscribing or following you).
And despite what you might read about awareness being dead, because search is moving
down the funnel, awareness content is about demonstrating to potential customers
that you understand them.
It does not exist to support your SEO.
You Want More Consideration Than Lead-Gen
Content is one path to lead generation, but it's not the only one. Not everyone
who reads a piece of consideration content will be authorized to contact you. And
not everyone who reads a consideration piece will be ready to contact you at the
moment they read it, even if they're on the buyer's journey.
For instance, they might be putting together a list of vendor candidates, and once the
list is complete and signed off, then they contact you through your Contact Us page.
And as just mentioned, consideration content isn't always consumed on the buyer's
journey. When you launch a new product, someone who's already following you on
social media might choose to read the key details, even if they're not ready to
buy just yet.
And consideration content that isn't specific to a particular product but does
product education more generally (like for a product category or some competitive
advantage your brand has) might not be consumed on the buyer's journey either.
How To Start Building Your Content Marketing Funnel
Once you've got a nominal funnel that has an amount of consideration and lead-gen
content that you're comfortable with (start from the bottom and work your way up),
try widening the top (i.e., go big on awareness), because you can never really
have too much awareness.
Then add more consideration, because B2B buyers are increasingly delaying talking to
sales in favor of doing their own
product research, and it helps to diversify your product
content for different types of prospects, such as technical versus non-technical.
This Funnel Isn't a Content Strategy On Its Own
A
content strategy is a planned
user or customer journey using content. And the funnel model discussed in this
article sketches out the terrain for such a prospective buyer's journey, but you
still need to carry out the planning.
The channels you're going to use. The metrics you're going to measure. The types
of buyers you're going to create journeys for. These sorts of things.
For a full-blown content marketing strategy, this funnel is only one slide in the
deck.
Some Parting Thoughts
Keep in mind that your brand's marketing funnel and content marketing funnel are
usually not the same thing.
A marketing funnel may include brand-level content that serves no content
marketing function (like recruiting content). And a marketing funnel will often
include stages below lead-gen, or even below sales, that orthodox content
marketing generally doesn't include.
And if you're wondering why this funnel model doesn't continue below lead-gen
(i.e., has no sales level), it's because in cases where the B2B buyer's journey
happens entirely online, there is no third stage. You either sell at the end of
consideration or you don't.
Whether you mention money or not doesn't matter. Neither does prompting the
prospect with a chance to buy. The reason why is, and there's no gentle way to
say this, when the buyer's journey happens entirely online, your brand is not a
B2B vendor, you're a vending machine. An immediate chance to buy is always implied.
And in cases where sales takes over after a lead is generated, that next stage
is sales enablement, not content marketing (even if the same content marketer is
making the content).
Content marketing is a process where the content marketer guides the prospect
(or at least we try to). While sales enablement is more like a conversation,
where sales does the guiding, while the content marketer plays a support role
(if we play a role at all).
Well, that's it. We've reached the end of this particular piece of content, which
would be considered awareness + consideration using this model (since I do sell
funnel-related services).
If you're still hungry, follow the links to our drilldowns on the
awareness,
consideration and
lead-gen stages of the content marketing funnel.
