Content Marketing Strategy: How to Create Premium Content

Content Marketing Strategy: How to Create Premium Content

If content marketing is part of your marketing strategy, especially for B2B lead generation, you may be publishing “premium” content.

The first post in our three-part series on using premium content in marketing explained what premium content is about and why it’s such a powerful element of a smart marketing strategy.

Here are guidelines for developing premium content and seven tips for success based on our experience creating content marketing strategies. Next post: How to promote your content.

Approaching Premium Content Strategically

Premium content is original content written by an expert or authority in your organization on a timely, relevant topic of high importance to your customers and prospects.

It’s more in-depth than a blog post and typically contains information so useful that website visitors will give you their contact information to get it. You can then follow up with premium content requesters to explore their interest in your products or services.

We recommend approaching premium content strategically:

• Create a plan: Content marketing – especially publishing premium content – is like any other aspect of marketing: It’s exponentially more effective when it’s well planned. Invest the time in creating a plan that outlines your goals, topics, authors, formats, development process, promotion, and the integration of premium content with the rest of your marketing strategy.
• Publish what people are looking for: You don’t have to look very far to figure out what to write about. Listen to your customers and prospects: What questions are they asking you? What topics are impacting their businesses? What’s keeping them up at night or costing them money? Create premium content that offers authoritative answers to their most pressing questions or solutions to their most difficult business problems.
• Invest in keyword research: Keyword analysis tools can tell you which terms people are using to search for information related to the products and services you provide. Use these tools and insights from your customers to pinpoint keywords most important to your site visitors, then build content around those keywords.

How to Create Premium Content: 7 Tips for Success

If you’re ready to add premium content to your marketing strategy, here are tips for doing it effectively:

1. Develop an engaging title. You have seconds or less to get someone’s attention. Keep it short, simple, and snappy.
2. Design a colorful, visually interesting cover. The title should be easy to read at a quick glance and the design should work well as a thumbnail image.
3. Brand it well. Your premium content should be immediately recognizable as something that comes from your organization. Brand it well and integrate the design with your other marketing materials.
4. Use facts. Use original or third-party research and statistics to define the challenge, characterize the importance or impact of the issue, and/or prove your points. Be sure to cite your sources.
5. Include real-life examples or case studies. Show how your firm has helped customers address this challenge.
6. Be visual. Use diagrams, illustrations, photos, or other visuals to explain points, processes, and subjects.
7. Feature the authors. Include photos and brief bios of content authors to establish their credentials and your company’s position as an authority on the topic.

Next Step: Marketing Your Premium Content

Premium content warrants a multifaceted marketing campaign to capitalize on its value for sales and lead generation. In our next post, part three of our series, we’ll share 10 ways to promote premium content in your marketing strategy.