In this third video
of the B2B marketing lead generation stages.
Today, we are going to talk about middle of the funnel.
We will cover the objectives,
different content types you can use,
and also how to use marketing automation
for nurturing leads.
Hello everyone.
If you're joining here for the first time
I am Waseem Bashir.
I'm an agency owner and B2B SaaS founder.
Here I make videos on B2B marketing and landing pages.
Let's dive into today's episode.
(upbeat music)
In my last video, we covered top of the funnel stage
and how to place different content in front of your audience
who have a problem and are looking for a solution.
Now, there are two paths
through which prospects get into
the middle of the funnel stage.
The first path is if prospects interact
with your top of the funnel content,
and that's how you capture the email address.
The second part is when prospects directly interact
with middle of the funnel content
using specific channels like Google ads.
We will cover both these parts shortly.
In the middle of the funnel the objective is to build trust,
authority, and persuade prospects to take the next step
of either booking a demo or a free consultation.
In the middle of the funnel stage
your prospect should have the theme of how
you can solve your prospect's problem
and also position your brand as a solution
to your prospect's needs.
Your middle of the funnel content should be educational,
problem-solving, differentiating,
persuasive and personalized.
Let's continue our example of insurance for freelancers
from our last video.
In the top of the funnel stage,
we saw prospects would be searching for information,
information like what insurance do freelancers need,
types of insurance, various covers,
or things I need to consider
when buying freelancers insurance.
Now, let's bring those two scenarios back
we talked about earlier.
In the first scenario,
a prospect interacts with your brand by downloading a PDF,
which could be a guide to insurance for freelancers
in exchange they give out their name and email.
Now, in the middle of the funnel stage,
the brand nurtures that information qualified lead
by clever marketing automation.
Using tool like active campaign
brands can send targeted nurture emails
and score prospects based on the level of interaction.
If the prospect interacts with various content items,
they get a high score, and if they don't,
they're marked as disengaged.
So that's the first scenario.
In the second scenario,
a prospect skips the top of the funnel stage
and directly interacts with the brand
and becomes a marketing qualified lead.
This happens when a prospect
is looking for a solution provider.
For example, in our freelancer insurance example,
the prospect could be typing in the keywords
like freelancer insurance company
or freelance insurance provider.
These keywords show higher intent.
To convert prospects into marketing qualified leads,
you can use high intent keyword campaigns in Google
and send qualified traffic to your landing pages.
Here's an example from Bequest,
where prospects who are interested in life term insurance
convert directly into marketing qualified leads
by skipping the top of the funnel stage.
So you might be thinking,
why not skip the top of the funnel stage
and directly engage with middle of the funnel prospects?
Well, that's a good question,
and it all comes back to the cost.
When running Google ads,
high intent keywords have a high cost per click,
which means you need higher ad budgets
to compete against the big players.
It's crazy, but sometimes high intent keywords
can go up to a hundred dollars per click.
So, but targeting low cost top of the funnel keywords,
you can effectively reduce your cost per lead
or cost per acquisition.
For any successful marketing campaign,
you need collateral to compliment your marketing activities.
Here are some examples of middle of the funnel content
that you can use as part of your nurture sequences.
For a B2B consulting companies,
I would recommend advanced eBooks, case studies,
white papers, webinars, frequently asked questions,
pillar pages, landing pages, and reviews and testimonials.
For a B2B SaaS companies,
my recommendation would be to use case studies,
comparison sheets, evaluation guides, demo videos,
and success kits.
Marketing automation is that the crux of converting
information qualified leads into marketing qualified leads.
We talked about what content types should you share,
but now let's talk about the emails you should send.
If you know your prospects industry,
you can send them industry specific case studies
and use their jargon.
You can showcase your process
or behind the scenes methodology.
You can share information on what proven systems
or steps do you take to produce results.
You can always include a call to action to the next stage.
You can also plan a form abandonment campaign.
This campaign kicks in when your lead doesn't click through
or doesn't book a demo call, just like an e-commerce
when the visitors do not complete checkout
and abandoned the site,
this tactic can be used to re-engage with these audiences.
Now, you have your content ready.
Let's start promoting it.
If you already have your prospect's email address,
you can easily email these information qualified leads
and send them more valuable content.
In the scenario where you want to send direct traffic
to your middle of the funnel stage,
then you can run social media ads from Facebook,
for example, and send them to your landing pages.
Speaking of landing pages,
you can also run high intent Google ad campaigns
integrated with keywords like your service,
and then supplier, agency, consultant, developer.
You get the gist.
Here are some bonus tips to consider.
Always include a call to action.
The next step is to end your middle of the funnel
marketing content with a call to action
that tells prospects what to do next.
Segment your marketing qualified leads.
Group marketing qualified leads into buckets.
Match each bucket with a target audience or a persona group.
When matched you can create marketing messages,
which can resonate with a particular persona group.
Create funnels within the funnel.
Break down your middle of the funnel content
into smaller funnels, organized by prospect data.
Use segmented lists to deliver only relevant content
that matches the prospect's needs and wants.
Great stuff!
You know now how to generate marketing qualified leads
at the middle of your funnel.
In the next video, we will talk about bottom of the funnel
and conclude our marketing funnel series.
Before you go check out this mind map,
which shows various examples of content you can use
at each stage.
I hope you found this video useful.
Check out my other videos
on lead generation and landing pages.
(gentle music)