Lead generation. It’s one of the greatest areas of concerns when it comes to digital marketing. The prospect of bringing in new customers for your business is super exciting. They are your lifeblood after all. So it’s no surprise that when you have an awesome email campaign or content offer, you want to let every “lead” you have know about it. However, as great as your content might be, it probably has a different level of value for each of your leads.
There is a common misconception that leads are leads, but that’s not the case. Not all leads are created equal. Generally leads can be sorted into one of 2 categories, Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL’s) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL’s). According to Hubspot, MQL’s are “people who have raised their hands (metaphorically speaking) and identified themselves as more deeply engaged, sales-ready contacts than your usual leads, but who have not yet become fully fledged opportunities.” On the other hand, SQL’s are people who show repeated interest in your business/products, have explored your website at length, and they might be ready to buy.
In order to successfully manage all of your MQL’s and SQL’s, it’s crucial that your marketing team and sales teams are on the same page in terms of:
- The boxes that a lead needs to check in order to be sorted into each category.
- The path that visitors go through on your website when they are moving from MQL’s to SQL’s to customers.
- The types of content that you are creating to help move leads along in their buying journey.
Your sales and marketing teams need to have a conversation about the content and messaging that you will be putting out into the world (and who it is targeted at). Sales might have information that they don’t believe should be shared with potential customers until they are on the verge of buying (and vice-versa).
An example of this could be product or service pricing guides. Sales might think that this information should only be shared with SQL’s, and marketing might think that this information would be valuable for MQL’s to have. Because different leads will be interested in different types of content depending where they are in their buying journey.
So, which types of content appeals most to Marketing Qualified Leads and Sales Qualified Leads?
Marketing Qualified Leads
Since MQL’s are people who have expressed some interest in your organization, it’s important to create content that will provide them with the information they need to move along in their buying journey so they make the jump to an SQL.
Start providing them with information on how your organization specifically can help them, as well as with ways in which you differentiate from your competitors. Some types of content that can help MQL’s make the jump to SQL’s are:
- Targeted email campaigns
- Case studies
- More in-depth blog posts
- Whitepapers
Sales Qualified Leads
For SQL’s, it’s all about creating content that will help your sales team close – content that will really drive home the strengths of your organization and how those strengths can be leveraged to help your potential customers. This may include:
- Testimonials
- Product Demos
- Free trials or coupons
- Case studies
- Product or pricing sheets
So now that you have a few ideas of the types of content that might appeal to your MQL’s and SQL’s, make sure that it’s distributed in an organized and efficient way. We have just the tool to help! Check out our Content Calendar!
