A Quick Guide to the Evaluation Stage of the B2B Content Marketing Funnel
The middle of the funnel (MoFu), or Evaluation Stage of the B2B content marketing funnel is rather like the “getting to know you” part of a relationship.
Your potential client has become aware you have something to offer in the first stage and wants to know more. These are your qualified leads.
Your prospect is interested but inclined to be skeptical. He will do some investigation into your company to find out if you are who/what you say you are.
What You Need to Do
As with a relationship, you want to put your best foot forward during the MoFu. You want to show your prospect all of your positive attributes such as trustworthiness and credibility.
You also want to entice them with the benefits they can get by purchasing your product or engaging your services.
At the same time, you will want to explain the strengths and weaknesses of your closest competitors. Because you are certainly not the only one out there vying for the same prospects.
If you do it right, you’ll have the advantage. But how do you do all of that? Through awesome content, of course.
Types of Content
Providing your prospect with information is easier at this point because they are already interested.
You can present them with the following types of content:
- Case studies
- White papers
- Guides
- Videos
- Webinars
- Retargeting ads
- Emails
- Podcasts
- Checklists
- Templates
Creating effective content can be challenging, however. Most of these are long-form content types and require a lot of effort to develop.
But they are well worth it, as they are very effective in making believers out of qualified leads if done correctly. Case studies are particularly important, as they show past successes.
Source: Content Marketing Institute
You should also publish content on other platforms. Studies show that B2B buyers are more likely to trust information from high-authority third party sources.
Guides and whitepapers can give them objective information. Pack them full of insights and tips that will help your prospect find solutions to his pain points.
You should also invest in other tactics that are more effective in the B2B market. Sixty-six percent (66%) of B2B marketers use webinars because they are a very effective way to humanize a company and give the prospect a face with which they can identify.
Conclusion
The MoFu stage of the B2B content marketing funnel is your best opportunity to establish trust and credibility with your qualified leads.
You have to nurture and feed their interests with relevant content in the most effective formats to get them to the bottom of the funnel, or the Purchase Stage. If you can do that, then you are creating your B2B content marketing funnel correctly.
For more information, check out this infographic from UTM.io on, “B2B Content Marketing Funnel: A Guide to Create and Optimize.”
