Companies don’t often think about how valuable content is in lead generation or sales unless they have a strong background in online marketing. Let’s keep it simple:
1) Use content to nurture leads. There’s nothing better to further a relationship with a potential lead than to actually give her value. If your content is valuable, then it will help her out while simultaneously drawing positive attention to your company.
2) Use content for sales conversions. If you’re working on a sale, you should know what’s holding people back. Send them an article you’ve published that supports why they would want to move forward. For example, if somebody was worried about budgeting for content marketing, I would send him a link to this article and show him how thought leadership pieces can help other marketing channels, saving him money overall.
My take: A lot of folks talk about brand journalism as if it is above generating sales. If you believe that, get over it. Brand journalism has a small window in which to establish itself as a discipline for the long term. That window will slam shut at the next recession. That's when CEOs will carefully assess what is working (that is, what is making or saving money) and what is not. If brand journalism fails to help generate leads and convert sales, it will pass into oblivion.
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