Content Marketing for Lead Generation: Quality or Quantity?
The answer may seem obvious, but generating sales-ready leads requires a nuanced approach.
“Quality or quantity?” — It’s a debate that will never cease to exist in any form of sales or marketing. I have worked with clients who want as many leads as they can possibly get their hands on, and others who believe having a more fine-tuned approach is the way to go.
Which approach is better? The short answer is, it depends. I’m sure all of you reading this are rolling your eyes, saying this isn’t helpful, but it’s the truth.
When I say it depends, I’m asking: what is the end game for a content campaign? What are the client’s KPIs? Is it to gather leads toward whom to market more information, or is it to hand hot leads over to the sales team to initiate a conversation immediately? Who is the target audience?
Some clients may have their own lead nurturing programs and want to gather as many leads as possible and take it from there. This, in all honesty, is fine, but it doesn’t mean we can’t help assess the quality of the leads we provide them to help speed that process along.
What is a KPI?
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs to evaluate their success at reaching targets. — Klipfolio
So, what defines lead quality?
Lead quality refers to the type of prospective buyers you attract based on specific parameters you’ve set. These leads are defined as having a clear intent to buy and also have the means (finances, authority, etc.) to do so. They are individuals or organizations who are “in-market” based on their activities, behaviors, and interactions with your brand. — Marketing Insider Group
For marketers to truly have a grasp on what qualifies as a “hot lead,” the parameters need to be set before a campaign begins. Working with a client to truly understand their target audience will allow you to create a program that not only generates a larger quantity of leads, but highly qualified leads as well. Being able to segment a list to allow clients to pick and choose the correct audience is ultimately a win-win, because you will be showing your expertise — as any media company should have — on who your audience is, and that the client is getting the exact kind of lead they are paying for.
Three-hundred leads looks better than 30 leads, no doubt about it. But if 250 of those leads do not fit the criteria for the client, they are going to be one unhappy customer. Being upfront with a client on what their KPIs are may allow the flexibility to promote to a larger, broader target audience versus going after a more niche approach.
Long story short, make sure everyone has a good grasp on the target audience before starting any program. This saves time and energy for the execution team, and will lead to a happier client in the end.
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs
