Content marketing is going to explode in 2019. It will become easier, more profitable, more trackable.
But it won’t happen the way most people expect.
I predict that the major expansion in content marketing will be in widening out your sales funnel.
Let me explain …
A sales funnel is simply a series of pages that lead a visitor through the process you want them to take.
Let’s say you want them to buy something.
If that is your goal, your funnel might look like this.
Squeeze page –> sales page –> order page –> thank you page
That is the most basic of funnels … and it works.
But where I believe the content marketing sweet spot will be this year is in what are called bridge pages.
So what is a bridge page?
Just like a real bridge helps you go from one place to another, a bridge page helps your visitor go from one place to another.
But they do more than that.
- They establish authority.
- They build trust.
- They make more sales.
- They create happier customers.
In the case of selling things online, you want a person to move from not being sure they need what you offer to saying YES! I must have this now!
Hard to do when you are just pitching more and more reasons to pull out the wallet.
Easy to do when you are providing helpful content.
So an improved funnel might look like this …
Squeeze page –> sales page –> BRIDGE PAGE –> BRIDGE PAGE –> order page –> thank you page
That’s one way to do it that works well.
The reason it works well is that they still see your offer right up front, which means eager buyers can buy now.
But MOST buyers are not eager.
So you send them follow up emails and direct them to your bridge page.
On the bridge page you give them helpful content, a way to ask questions, and a big ol’ call to action button leading to the order form.
This is selling after all. 🙂
If you want to know more about how this can work for you, click here to see how I can help you.
Thanks,Charlie
P.S. Content marketing starts with a blog. But not just any blog! You want a blog optimized for selling.
Did you know I build and host blogs like this?
If you want to know more about that, click here.