Most large companies create ‘marquee’ content like white papers, reports and tools which, all too often, get spammed out to a massive email list then forgotten about. I have put together a few ideas on how to wring as much value as possible out of your assets.
For this article I am assuming that the asset is a white paper and the end goal is lead generation as this is a very common type of campaign.
Content
Obviously the content should be well researched and written, but this could be a whole series of blogs in itself and I won’t get into that now, but here are some ideas that should be considered when you have an idea for a white paper or even the finished article.
- The gate that the content sits behind can be a huge factor in the number of leads – more fields to fill = less leads. Make sure you are not asking unnecessary questions and consider using software like Demandbase to append information to the lead in your database
- Split the paper into multiple parts or sections so you can release each one in turn and leverage the content for a longer period of time. Perhaps you could release part one without forcing people to enter their email addresses, then gate parts 2 and 3
- Change key parts of the white paper – such as the case studies and to apply more to certain verticals, job titles or demographics
- Translate the asset to make sure it’s available to all languages, and make those language versions are easily accessible from the form page
UX and website
- When someone returns to see the white paper again they shouldn’t need to fill in their information again in order to see it so implement a cookie-based redirect for these visitors
- Consider LinkedIn autofill for the form page
- Push people to the white paper from your home page, blog pages and other top landing pages across your website
- Personalize the landing page to show relevant copy, images and white papers for the visitor’s segment. This can be done easily if you have a DMP connected to your site content, but can also be achieved creating separate URLs for each customer segment, but remember to canonicalize these pages for SEO reasons..
SEO
The white paper should be gated, so won’t be available to Google. Therefore there is no need to optimize the white paper page or PDF itself, and I would argue that the form, or gate, page shouldn’t be considered and SEO landing-page either. However, here are a few ways you can get some SEO benefits out of your asset:
- Make a series of infographics and blog posts based on the white paper information and utilizing graphics, surveys and other information from the white paper. These can all act as SEO landing pages and can be targeted at a range of keywords
- Some of these blog posts can also be offered as guest posts to other websites in order to get backlinks and leads from other sites
- Infographics should have an embed code, including a link back to your site, so bloggers can easily add it to their own site
- Include links in any press releases you release about the white paper
Social and paid social
- Make sure you have a selection of creative ready for each social media platform (see cheat sheet below)
- Prepare a variety of social posts aimed at your different customer personas and different stages in the purchase funnel
- Push these posts to key groups using paid social media targeting
- Consider pushing people to the blog or infographic pages rather than the gate page – few people will fill out personal details when they come straight from social media to a form
- Link to your blog posts and asset from forums, LinkedIn groups and other social communities
- Create a Slideshare version of the asset
Paid search
- Again people are unlikely to come straight from paid search into a form page and fill out their details, so consider taking them to a blog or infographic page
- Create a keyword list around the asset and blog posts and bid on these keywords if you need an extra push
- Put the white paper in your paid search sitelinks for brand searches
- Split your database into segments and use slightly different subject lines and versions of the whitepaper for each segment
- For all the people who don’t open the email, change the subject line and try again!
Video and webinars
- Film a live webinar about the information held in the white paper. If you use a webinar platform such as BrightTalk this can get extra leads for you
- Create an edit of this webinar to put onto YouTube, leading people to the white paper or full webinar gate pages
- Use this video to retarget the people that came to your blog posts, infographics or white paper form page without becoming leads with YouTube retargeting
Programmatic
- Retarget visitors who didn’t enter their information with ads leading them to the form page. This is a good way to get the most out of the money you spent on traffic acquisition
- If you have access to a DMP create custom audiences based on location, vertical, job title, business size etc. and hit these different groups with different creative. When these people get to your landing pages you should personalize the experience so the copy, imagery and white paper you present to them applies to their segment
Channel and affiliate
- Use affiliates to drive leads with an affiliate CPL program
- Another way to reuse important assets is to rebrand them and hand them to your partners or affiliates
For more information or advice on any of these points please don’t hesitate to get in touch!