Content Marketing for Professional Services Companies
What We Can Achieve Together
72%
Buyers Consume Content
72% of buyers looking for services self-educate using online content before engaging vendors.
Pandesic creates content that informs buyers and creates engagement with the company
9
Average Content Consumed
The average buyer consumes 9 pieces of content before engaging sellers.
Source: Marketing Transformation Report
We publish different types of content for each stage of the buyer journey
177%
ROI
The average content marketing ROI is $2.77 for every $1 spent. That equates to 177% profit for every dollar invested.
Remarkable content delivers an immediate ROI and continues to deliver year after year
Helpful Content Inspires Buyers
Buyers seek out online content to educate themselves before speaking with vendors. They search the Web for information that helps frame their problems, identify solutions, and ultimately develop a short list of vendors to consider.
Here’s the thing. If they don’t find content from your firm, you’re generally excluded from the vendor selection. And worse, you don’t even know it.
Here’s the other thing. Buyers seek different types of content throughout their purchase journey.
In the beginning, they search for articles based on their needs. They want to validate their problem or opportunity. They want to verify that solutions exist to fix their issue or satisfy their need. Content examples for this phase include survey results, infographics, blog posts, market trends, industry research reports and how-to content in various mediums.
They then seek out companies that can satisfy their requirements. This results in a vendor shortlist that will be compared to select the best partner. Content examples for this phase include vendor comparisons, service reviews, corporate videos, thought leadership articles and newsletters.
Finally, they search for content to reduce risk. This includes things like customer case studies, ROI articles and company brand content.
Start with a Strategy
Creating remarkable content should be done pursuant to a strategy. To be effective, content should be created according to buyer personas and buy cycle phases. It is then positioned to be found by your target audience or ideal customer profile.
If the content is helpful, and stands above competitors, your company will make the short list and the client will reach out to engage your salespeople.
Below is an illustrative extract from the Pandesix framework. This approach creates and delivers content to targeted business personas over progressive buy cycle stages.
The Samples are only for illustrative purposes. Titles and topics are tested online (using multi-variate testing for conversion scores) before content is published.
The Point is This
Content marketing is one of the most effective inbound demand generation techniques. Creating remarkable content and placing it in online locations where buyers search for information will aid the buyer’s self-education and inherently position your company as an expert and thought leader. This positioning will encourage the buyer to engage your company for continued advice and education.
It’s important to recognize that average content doesn’t cut it as it can’t stand apart from the incredible noise competing for buyer interest. Remarkable content is required. While it is difficult and time consuming to produce, it is also a durable asset. It will produce top quartile lead conversions which lower the cost per lead and achieve lead acquisition goals. And it can achieve these goals for years.
Let's Talk
We welcome an introductory call to discuss the options that best achieve your goals.
Contact us when you are ready to fill the sales funnel with inbound leads.
FAQs
Research published on the Forbes Advisor network revealed 89% of marketers report that content marketing surpasses traditional marketing methods in generating a stronger ROI.
The same report found that, on average, companies with successful content programs acquire 6 times more leads than companies without these programs.
This type of marketing program also cost 62% less to launch and maintain compared to other types of campaigns. Much of the difference is realized as content is owned media and benefits from organic reach rather than paid placements.
Research shows that 36 percent of businesses invest 10% to 29% of their budget for content creation and promotion.
Forrester reports that 48% of content marketing is outsourced to agencies or third-party companies. Outsourcing this production allows businesses to leverage specialized experts, create higher quality content and increase new prospect conversions.
The Content Marketing Institute reports that 37% of small organizations, 54% of medium-sized organizations, and 75% of large organizations outsource part or most of their content production and promotion.
87% of B2B companies surveyed use this type of campaign to successfully generate sales leads.
This reflects a clear ability to apply informative, engaging and tailored content to attract and capture the interest of potential customers.
84% of B2B companies report successfully raising brand reach and recognition.
Other uses include lead nurturing and campaigns directed to both new and existing clients.
B2B buyers are consuming content from a range of sources and using it to inform their decision-making process way before they consider speaking to a seller. Consider the below points.
- WB Research reports that 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer learning about a potential vendor through content-like articles.
- Further, nine out of ten B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on their purchasing decisions.
- Two-thirds of B2B buyers say a web search for content was one of the first three resources they use to learn about a service provider.
- 80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information from a series of articles as compared to an advertisement.
- 52% of buyers say they are definitely more likely to buy from a vendor after reading its content.
- Almost 50% of buyers read a company’s blog before making a purchase decision.