Five Tips for Effective Content Marketing Campaigns

by Brian Chidester, Manager, Strategic Accounts & Content Marketing

No matter who you are targeting within the Government, there is a diminishing availability of reaching your audience, which makes every touchpoint you have with them important. Figuring out the type of information these prospects are looking for can be tricky, but if executed effectively can go a long way to optimizing your marketing efforts.

Here are five content marketing tips to consider when trying to enhance your marketing efforts:

1. Map your Content to the Target Persona

Companies often build great pieces of content but fail to link that content to a specific persona. It is important that the content is relevant to whoever is receiving it or it will not get read. Always keep your messaging customer focused and make sure that it addresses their problems and agency priorities and you will get the best results.

2. Break Up to the Buying Cycle

We all know the government buying cycle is long. Multiple studies have been released illustrating that your government customer is already 60-70% through the buying process before they will engage with a sales person. Because of this, it is important for you to create content to guide these buyers through this process effectively. At the top of the funnel you should be engaging prospects with high-level, “snackable” content (blog posts, short videos, data samples etc.). As they arrive mid-funnel and make their way down to the end of buying process that is where more granular and valuable content has its place (whitepaper, case study, etc.). At this time if they are engaging they should be ready to receive a demo and engage with sales.

3. Play in their Playground

Government employees prefer to interact with different content platforms and it is important to understand where those areas are so you can engage with them appropriately. Understanding a prospect’s consumption habits is important so you can ensure they are seeing your content. For example, targeting a C-level individual by posting a whitepaper on Twitter may not be appropriate, however, the end-user that works for that executive may be a good target for this platform. Consumption habits are different for all personas, so it is important to make sure you understand where they go for information.

4. Give Them Options

When driving a prospect to a piece of content, whether through e-mail, social media, or any other method, using multiple Calls to Action (CTA) is important. This gives them a reason to engage. If they don’t like the first option, they may like your second option. Perhaps you have misjudged where they are in the buying process and are looking for a deeper engagement in a certain area, or vice-versa, this ensures that you have their needs covered.

5. Always a Way Out

Be ready to give them a way out…but not how you think. You should always allow for a change in timelines and be ready to engage them with an opportunity to go straight to the demo or quoting process. If they are ready for solicitations, you do not want to miss out on that opportunity, so always offer them the ability to jump to the end if they feel they are ready. In most case this will be rare, but you do not want to miss out on a hot prospect.

For more information on how to leverage your existing content and to view some interesting statistics about content marketing you can download immixGroup’s “Government Marketing: Optimizing Content & Creating a Lead Nurturing Program” Report for FREE.