Why do we trust Google as a search engine as much as we do? Besides the fun and engaging doodles, Google consistently delivers the search results we need on the first try, which means we don't have to waste time searching through other options. We trust it so much that when we ask Siri or Alexa for help, we'll roll with the answer they provide—the top Google search result—without a second thought.
More than ever, brands are facing pressure to deliver that same level of customization to customers. You earn their trust and maintain it when you do what Google is so adept at: deliver relevant, personalized content to your customers in a timely manner.
Delivering personalized content at scale is not easy, though. It requires a strategic effort to create content experiences that help you win across various types of marketing strategy, including inbound, demand generation, account-based marketing, and sales enablement.
Let's look at some best-practices for delivering personalized content using each of those four strategies, along with examples of companies that have mastered each approach.
Strategy 1: Inbound
With inbound marketing, content is just as critical for success as being discovered through search. Simply put, if prospects don't find content that fits their needs when they land on your site, they'll click away and look elsewhere. And if they do stick around, your job is to keep them engaging with one piece of content after another.
An effective way to do that is to include calls to action (CTAs) in the content you've provided. If they find your content valuable, and they can receive more of it with almost no effort, they'll be much more likely to take the action you're requesting.
For example, Trimble includes the CTA "Sign Up to Get Tips & Articles Sent Directly To Your Inbox!" alongside its content assets. Notice that this CTA makes sense within the context of what the customer is consuming. It wouldn't make sense for that CTA to appear on a page that's strictly videos.
When inbound marketing is done right, prospects effortlessly move from one content asset to the next, and each asset is relevant to their needs. When your company provides that kind of experience, it's easier to convert someone into a lead.
Strategy 2: Demand Generation
Demand generation is focused on increasing awareness and interest in a company's products or services once someone has shown interest. It's about driving the lead into the pipeline so they interact with more content and eventually make a purchase. So, how do you deliver a content experience that propels prospects to self-nurture?
If the goal is to get leads to consume multiple pieces of content, it's probably not best to build out multiple landing pages or blog posts. Chasing the next piece of content across multiple destinations is not an ideal content experience. Instead, you should consider housing all of your content assets in one place. Wistia provides a great example with its One, Ten, One Hundred series.
Wistia's emails send people to a collection of content that includes a series description, trailer, and access to every video on one page if they want to binge-watch. Everything is designed to let leads know what to expect and go at their own pace.
Strategy 3: Account-Based Marketing
ABM involves developing a targeted approach to landing accounts that your company has identified as important. In the early days of ABM, marketers spent more time selecting desirable accounts than they did deciding how to engage those accounts with content. Today, marketers are more strategic about using personalized content to engage with target buyers and develop that relationship.