Content matters today: More people are searching for information on the internet than ever before. What’s more – prospects are out there looking for answers to specific questions and challenges, not just high level awareness. Absolutely everyone is creating content – there’s too much of it out there.
Amid this clutter, the job of a digital marketer is ever-evolving and it’s increasingly difficult to get measurable results. Just creating content with relevant keywords isn’t the benchmark anymore. Content needs to do more. And that’s where Bottom of the Funnel (BOTF) content marketing comes into the picture.
While creating content, there’s a tendency to focus on high-level topics and themes through listicles and thought leadership pieces. When the market was less crowded, this might have worked. But the prospects you talk to today aren’t the same. The professionals you are reaching out to are well aware of the products and services on the market. They’ve already read the “What X is” and “5 Ways Y” pieces.
BOTF content cuts through the clutter by going deeper into your product/service and offering users real insights into how to solve their problems with your product or service. BOTF content isn’t just about creating awareness: it’s about actively using your content as a lead generation tool.
At Flying V Group, we focus on BOTF content both on our in-house blog and for clients. Marketing research indicates that great BOTF pieces directly translate into over 50 qualified leads. This approach has helped us capture new clients and drive revenue growth by Y percent.
This piece looks at why we focus on BOTF content, and actionable tips on how can do it, too.
What’s BOTF Content?
It’s time to take another look at the all-important sales funnel. As consumers make their way down the funnel and know more about your product/service, and about the domain itself, their content needs also change. A serious prospect in your funnel may not be out there reading your listicles about 10 ways to do something better.
BOTF content is what they are looking for. In-depth content, customer case studies from businesses similar to theirs, insights and value adds that they can realize through the product/service – this is what we want to see in your content.
Why do we focus on BOTF?
There are several key reasons why we focus on BOTF content at FVG. Let’s take a look at some of them:
“Tell me something I don’t know”
A lot of our BOTF content is aimed towards a C-level, decision making audience. The people reading these pieces are either C-suite executives or small business owners who take responsibility for purchase decisions. These individuals are experts in their respective domains. They don’t value top-of-the-funnel, because they already have a sound conceptual understanding. .
The target audience for BOTF content is looking for solutions: how does your product or service solve a challenge? How does it save on time/cost or enable compliance? These are the kind of questions bottom-of-the-funnel audiences are interested in.
Purchase intent
Here’s another related reason: BOTF content is preferred by audiences with higher purchase intent than the ones searching for TOFU content. Prospects search for answers when they’re dealing with actual challenges that can potentially be addressed by your solution. The flip side to this is that traffic volume for BOTF content tends to be lower.
We have a completely different process for picking out high purchase intent keywords, as compared to high volume keywords for TOFU. A “good” monthly search volume for high purchase intent keywords can be as low as 100-200 hire per month. This is a fraction of a fraction of the traffic TOFU generates. However, you can be sure that a far higher percent of those searches are by people actively looking for a solution like yours.
Stand Out From The Clutter
Writing serious content, in-depth content for your users is never a bad idea. Your prospects remember and share content if it has helped them solve a challenge they are facing. BOTF content focuses on solving real problems. Since there’s less of it out there compared to broad, awareness-generation content, BOTF stands out and prospects are far more likely to engage with it.
Works well for targeted promotions, re-engagement, and sales enablement
BOTF content is versatile. Often, different user problems have the same solutions. This means your BOTF content can be repurposed for a range of uses. It works well for targeted promotions and retargeting campaigns for prospects who are already aware of your business. The same content also helps to re-engage lost leads and conversations that haven’t moved forward for a while.
When we write BOTF content, we often identify “value snippets,” paragraphs or sentences with actionable insights. We build these into email sequences, Instagram campaigns, and more.
BOTF content has also helped us from a sales enablement standpoint: when your sales team talks to informed clients, a BOTF-oriented blog can be a great frame of reference to answer a range of questions and objections.
If you have read up to this point, we’re sure you understand the value of BOTF as a lead generation strategy too. What’s next? Understand how to create it.
How do you create BOTF content?
Let’s take a look here at some of the things you should focus on when creating BOTF content:
High Purchase intent keywords
If you are writing BOTF blog posts, consider keywords that have a higher purchase intent. Understand what your users would want to know when they are about to make a purchase. There may be questions about implementation, or other cases where similar products or services have been used. As mentioned earlier, search volume for high purchase intent keywords tends to be lower: don’t worry if the terms have a monthly volume in the low hundreds, or even the high two digits: these are the people actually looking for a solution.
Solution-Oriented Content
Your BOTF content needs to be solution-oriented. Make sure your content provides prospects with actionable information that they can implement to solve the problem that they are facing. How-to articles, in-depth guides, e-books, etc are great examples of solution-oriented content that your target audience may find useful. You can successfully weave in aspects of how your product/service can simplify the tasks and add value.
Client stories
Present stories from your clients that talk about how they implemented your solution and the results they achieved. Social proofing is incredibly powerful: The idea is to persuade prospects by showcasing how the choice he/she is making is a choice that has already worked for others.
If you are creating client stories, try to be detailed and talk about the problem, the process by which the solution was identified, the challenges you faced while implementing the solution, and tangible numbers that show a successful outcome.
Courses
In-depth and advanced courses are a great kind of BOTF content. These courses can highlight how to solve complex problems (with or without the help of your product/service). Courses take solution-oriented content to new levels and help prospective clients gain advanced knowledge of solving their challenges. If the course is well designed, the engagement levels are quite high and can be a quick way to qualify your leads through the funnel. Gate courses and other high value material to ensure that most prospects get in the door with a certain level of commitment.
Conclusion
Content for lead generation? Yes, exactly! BOTF content flips the script by helping you leverage your content itself to qualify leads and drive sales, not just generate awareness. It also helps to build your relationship with prospects by adding tangible value and helping them solve critical issues.
At Flying V Group, we’ve successfully leveraged BOTF content to drive 35 percent directly attributable sales and revenue growth for clients. If you want to take your lead general strategy to the next level with BOTF, reach out to us today.
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