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Developing High-Performing Content, Ad Creative, and Landing Pages

for LinkedIn Lead Accelerator

 Kitty O’Connell  Marketing Automation Consultant  LinkedIn

How to Engage with Us

Got a Question? •  Submit it in the Q&A box. Follow Us for More:

•  @LinkedInMktg

Let’s Talk About…

Context: •  Creating Killer Content, Creative &

Landing Pages to Optimize your Lead Accelerator Program

Session Breakdown:

•  Identify Goals Before Content •  Content: Where do I start? •  Creative: How do I get clicks? •  Landing Pages: How do I get names? •  Additional Best Practices •  QA

Goal Setting Before Anything Else

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What Are My Goals? Successful programs have clear, defined goals

1 What will make Lead Accelerator a success? •  Examples: # of net-new names, % of MQLs, Increased engagement on content, Fuller profiles via progressive profiling

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Who is my target audience? •  Of the traffic coming to my site or the known contacts in my database, Is there a specific audience that is of higher value?

What is my goal for this audience, what do I want them to take-away? •  Examples: Position your brand top of mind, Highlight a specific solution, Highlight a point of differentiation

Understand what success looks like and who you will be speaking to before content enters the equation.

Let’s Talk Content

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Understand what content is in your library Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

•  Create a master list of your content:

•  Asset Name •  Type •  Audience •  Topic or Solution specific? •  Gated or Ungated •  Part of the funnel? •  Creative built? •  Historical performance

•  Everyone loves turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving!

•  Re-purpose long form content into more digestible, snack-able content:

•  Short whitepapers, datasheets, Infographics, quizzes

•  Whitepapers •  eBooks •  Guides •  Analyst Reports •  Case Studies •  Demos •  Free Trials •  Videos •  Blog Posts •  Webinars

Track Your Content Make Leftovers Content to Consider for LLA

ACQUIRE

ENGAGED

LESS ENGAGED

Awareness

Interest/Consideration

Favorability

Action/Purchase

Awareness/Thought Leadership: Lists, Guides, ‘How-to’ eBooks, Short White Papers, Infographics, Checklists, Blog Posts, Videos

Education: White Papers, eBooks, Product Previews, Case Studies, Research/Reports

Special Offer: Demos, Webinars, Case Studies, Data Sheets, ROI Calculators, Free Trials

STAGE OF THE FUNNEL CONTENT TYPE

B2B buyers are consuming 2-7 pieces of content from a vendor before purchasing*

Mapping Content to the Funnel

*Source: DemandGen 2014 B2B Buyer landscape

Recommended: 3-4 pieces of content per phase

Goal: Feed our e-mail nurture program with net-new names LinkedIn Segmentation: Product & Buyer’s Journey

Example Nurture & Content Strategy

Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn

Executive Playbook

5 Minute Primer: Multi-Channel

Nurture

Thought Leadership

Guide

Homepage Bouncers

What do we know about this audience?

Serve Thought Leadership & Low-

Friction Content

LLA Pages

What do we know about this audience?

LLA: Success Stories

LLA Guide

Serve Product-Specific Content

Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn

Thought Leadership

Guide

Serve Thought-Leadership, Low Friction-Content for those who didn’t convert on product offers

How Do I Get Prospects to Click?

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5 points to keep in mind when creating LLA ads Develop Killer Ads

1 Develop ads with your audience in mind: •  Where is this prospect in the funnel? Homepage Bouncer, Engaged, Known?

2 Channel relevancy •  Where will these ads appear? Display vs. Facebook vs. LinkedIn

3 Clear CTA •  Life is hectic, don’t let your ads be

4 Timely & Relevant Messaging •  Include benefit messaging– no one wants to risk being left behind: “Increase attention spans 52% with video meetings”, “Does your API suck?

We can help.” •  Introduce a sense of urgency: “Now”, “Today”, “Recruiting is evolving- are you?”

5 Hero Image •  Do you click on boring images?

AWARENESS & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Content Type = Infographic

CTA: “Free Infographic”

EDUCATION Content Type = Guide

CTA: “Download”

SPECIAL OFFER Content Type = Free Demo

CTA: “Free Demo”

Get in front of prospects with the right message, at the right time

Mapping Creative Messaging to the Funnel

Recommended: 3-4 pieces of content per stream

Awareness Interest/Consideration Favorability Action/Purchase

•  Brand Logo prominent, yet CTA is still large & clear

•  Low Friction Content: encourages user to consume content & engage with the site, position brand in thought leadership space

•  Other Content That Works: Top Ten lists, ‘How-to’ eBooks, Short White Papers, Infographics, Checklists, Blog Posts, Videos

Why it works…

LEAST ENGAGED

ACQUIRE

MOST ENGAGED

Use Thought Leadership to Engage Site Visitors and appeal to a broad audience Homepage Bouncer Creative

ENGAGED

•  CTA is still large & clear

•  Low Friction Content that is slightly more promotional/directly correlated with buyer’s interest

•  Other Content That Works: White Papers, eBooks, Product Previews, Case Studies, Research/Reports

Why it works…

ENGAGED

ACQUIRE

LEAST ENGAGED

Help Visitors Understand What You Do with Valuable Information, without Being Too Promotional

Engaged Visitor Creative

MOST ENGAGED

•  CTA is more aggressive & visually dominant: “Try Today”

•  Relevant value prop that is likely to resonate with a user that has already engaged/done research

•  Other Content That Works: Demos, Webinars, Case Studies, Data Sheets, ROI Calculators, Free Trials

Why it works…

ACQUIRE

MOST ENGAGED

ENGAGED

LEAST ENGAGED

Differentiate Your Company from Competitors by Giving Visitors Tools to Determine Fit & Need

Qualified/Converted Visitor Creative

Try Today

Consider where your audience will see each message & customize Optimizing Based on Channel

Display Facebook Newsfeed

LinkedIn Sponsored Content

Okay, They Clicked. How Do I Get Their Name?

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Create a Seamless Experience from your Ad: Provide More, Digestible Information & a Prominent CTA

Optimize Your Landing Pages

●  Visually match my ad? ●  Have a clear, compelling title? ●  Include a description of the offer

that is easy to scan? ●  Bullet point easy, digestible &

key benefits ●  Include a visual of your content? ●  Include a short form with

minimal fields? ●  Have a clear call to action button

that stands out? ●  Have minimal or no navigation?

Aka a single-purpose.

Does my landing page…

Only Include Business-Critical Form Fills & Keep Your CTA Button Big & Beautiful

Optimize Your Registration Form

No one wants to fill out a lengthy form. Only capture the information you absolutely need – this will help with conversions, especially on mobile. Marketo reports a $10 drop in CPL when shortening a form from 9 fields to 5

If you require a longer form, use Autofill to increase data quality and conversion rate

Create a Seamless Experience from your Ad: Provide More Information & a Prominent CTA after Conversion

Use Thank You Pages To Deliver Content

1. After form submit, load a thank you page with a URL different than the landing page for easy tracking 2. Deliver content via additional click ( PDF) or via email 3. Link to secondary information or CTAs for further engagement

Best Practice:

A Few More Tips to a Killer LLA Program

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Additional Tips: Wave Order Based on Content Type & Performance

1 Avoid offering low funnel content to high-funnel audiences. They won’t convert & You won’t be happy.

2 Put your best wave forward. If a lower stream wave is performing better, move it up!

Nurture Stream Performance By Segment & Creative

Additional Tips: Test, Test, Test!

1 Content Comes in Many Forms

2 You Don’t Need a Ton of Creative to Get Started

3 Use your Content to Drive Segmentation

4 Align Content with Segmentation

5 Content Can Be Gated or Ungated.

6 Optimize Ad Copy Based on Channel

7 Use Wave Order to Your Advantage

8 Lean on Social Channels if Necessary

What Else? Content Best Practices

Start simple! It’s very easy to get complex with this product quickly, so start simple and then optimize for maximum performance.

Leverage new content. Content is constantly being created, so don’t be afraid to use new content for your Lead Accelerator program.

Test and optimize. This is a “living” program that needs some love. If something isn’t working, pause it and try new content.

Give your program time. Your program needs some time to ramp-up before you make any big adjustments. You’ll want to see what works before you start to optimize and data becomes statistically significant.

A Few Final Thoughts

Help Center Links: •  Developing an Audience and Content Strategy

•  http://help.lms.linkedin.com/hc/en-us/articles/206477247-Developing-an-audience-and-content-strategy

•  Nurturing Homepage Bouncers •  http://help.lms.linkedin.com/hc/en-us/articles/204631968-Nurturing-Homepage-Bouncers

•  Nurturing Visitors to Product Pages, Landing Pages and Blog •  http://help.lms.linkedin.com/hc/en-us/articles/205741728-Nurturing-Visitors-to-Product-Pages-Landing-

Pages-and-Blog

•  Nurturing Known Contacts •  http://help.lms.linkedin.com/hc/en-us/articles/205656738-Nurturing-Known-Contacts

Other Resources •  The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to Thought Leadership

•  https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/c/14/10/sophisticated-marketers-guide-to-thought-leadership

Helpful Links

QA

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