Quantity Vs Quality And Ways To Generate Better Leads From Your eLearning eBook
The ultimate goal of strategically creating and promoting an eBook is to generate leads. When those leads turn into great customers, the strategy has done its job.
It’s not quite as simple as “if you build it, the leads will come,” though. The reality is that some leads are better than others. For B2B marketers, success doesn’t come from just generating more and more leads. It comes from the most qualified and highest-quality leads.
In a recent study, B2B marketers ranked their most important lead generation objectives. 70% said that improving the quality of leads was at the top of their lists, while the goal of increasing sales revenue, the entire reason for wanting to generate leads at all, took second place at 58%. Generating a high number of leads came in third [1].
Intuitively, marketers know that more isn’t always best. However, the survey reflects the reality that many organizations face. B2B sales cycles are typically lengthy, and leads are a key way to gauge future sales. And whether the time spent on fostering and nurturing relationships with leads is worth it.
But marketers and salespeople are increasingly recognizing that it's not just about how many leads you can get. It’s the conversion rate that matters. The challenge for many companies is connecting lead generation marketing with sales metrics and seeing results. When the two are aligned, it’s easy to demonstrate that the quality of leads drives the number and quality of sales.
Content + Searchability = High-Quality Leads
The path to securing high-quality leads begins with your eLearning eBook itself. Create content that speaks to your prospects where they are. For instance, at the very start of the buyer journey, your audience members are looking to learn. With that in mind, their biggest aversion is content that’s too much like a sales pitch. Instead, seek to use your eBook to educate and share insights with them, which will translate as more authentic and be more effective in continuing the relationship [2].
High-quality content produces high-quality leads. Think of good eBooks as in-depth magazine articles that are informative, interesting, and ideally entertaining [3]. The intent is to persuade prospects by sharing relevant, insightful information. When you do, prospective buyers see your company as an expert resource. First, you establish credibility and trust. Then, you earn their business.
Building solid content is essential. But you also need to generate the right traffic in order to produce high-quality leads. This is where your search engine optimization strategy comes into play. Today, when people have a question or want to know more about a product or service, the first thing they do is Google it. That means your eBook must be optimized to ensure it’s the first thing that pops up when someone in your target audience enters a relevant search query.
Just as you create content aligned with different stages of the buyer journey, the keywords you select should also line up with the buyer’s mindset. Potential customers in the earliest stages are looking to learn the basics like definitions. And simple explanations of key concepts, and easy-to-digest overviews of the topic they're interested in. In contrast, buyers further along in the journey will be searching with the intent to purchase. Because of this, keywords can be more specific and focus on solutions, comparisons, and even pricing.
The Keys To Leads
SEO and keyword selection are also critical for generating targeted, high-quality leads and high-quality content. As you build your strategy, put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Think about the different ways people search for information in your field. When you understand the user intent for your audience, it’s easy to identify the strongest keywords to include in your content.
Start by creating a master list of terms related to your subject, the overall eLearning industry, and your products and services [4]. Tap into Google’s Keyword Planner or Keyword Tool for help. Then, Google your list and track whether the search results for the keywords are more focused on education, purchasing, or a mixture of both.
From there, you can plot your keywords along the different stages of the buyer journey. The words that produced the more information-oriented search results will be at the top of the funnel. Based on this keyword map, review your eBook to make sure the keywords that line up with your users’ intent and the appropriate buyer stage are reflected. Taking the time to dial up keyword placements is worth it.
How To Land The Best Leads
You’ve crafted the content and determined the SEO elements of the equation. Then it’s time to turn your attention to the role your website plays in generating the best leads. As the place your prospects land, your website should build on the interest visitors are expressing when they click through from a search engine or promotional message. In addition, its design should encourage a prospect to become a lead by drawing their eye to a lead form that they then complete. But beyond these critical roles, your site can also provide a wealth of information to help you target and nurture the leads that you want to turn into conversions.
To ensure your eBook lead generation strategy is making the most out of your website's capabilities, consider using the following tools [5]:
- Lead generation software helps create lead flows that incorporate elements such as pop-ups, slide-in offers, or welcome bars to drive interaction and engagement throughout your site.
- Form-scraping tools extract the information that prospects submit through lead forms and add it automatically to your contact management database, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
- Heat mapping tracks how visitors navigate your site and provides valuable insights about what they’re looking at, where they’re spending the most time, and how they move from element to element. The color-coded maps show where visitors focus and where they don’t, which can be especially helpful when it comes to optimizing your fill-in lead or feedback forms.
- Call-To-Action templates provide guidance on how to create compelling, clickable prompts throughout your site that lead visitors to take the actions you desire.
- Niche platforms offer eLearning companies the ability to publish their eBooks on industry-related websites. These sites attract professionals who are eager to learn about best practices, trends, strategies, and solutions. Doing this aligns them more closely with potential qualified leads at a majority of eLearning companies.
The combination of tools, content, and search optimization adds up to leads. Not just any leads, but high-quality leads. These produce sales results and allow salespeople and marketers to spend less time focusing on distracting low-value leads. Resist the temptation to measure your eBook’s success on the number of leads it produces. Instead, build a strategic foundation that emphasizes quality.
eLearning marketers may sometimes feel overwhelmed when they’re in the process of finding the best ways to create and market an eBook for B2B lead generation. Download our free eBook How To Create And Market An eBook For B2B Lead Generation: The Ultimate Guide For eLearning Marketers to discover how to create and market a B2B lead generation eBook that addresses the topic with the authority of an eLearning marketing expert but in a friendly tone.
References:
[1] 70% Of B2B Marketers Want More Quality Leads
[2] B2B Marketing: How Quality Content Can Drive Sales And Build Credibility
[3] How To Generate Leads Through Content Marketing
[4] B2B Lead Generation: 8 Strategies That Work in 2020
[5] Lead Generation: A Beginner's Guide To Generating Business Leads The Inbound Way
