We’ve all been leveraging the same types of core content for years! However, new trends with each have emerged as digital media and consumer preferences continue to evolve.
The top-performing core content types, some for direct lenders mortgage industry B2B companies, continue to be:
• Emails
• Blogs
• Video
• Direct mail
And you can add the following that are pretty much only used for B2B companies:
• Infographics
• Whitepapers
• Case studies
Quality content developed and deployed consistently through automation, in addition to having a strategy is the key to success.
What are the latest trends for each of these top-performers?
Email content: One of the key elements of a successful automation strategy is email.
Here are some stats to consider if you ever thought email was on its way out (many have):
• “73 percent of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email.” (Hubspot)
• “Marketers who use segmented campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue.” (Campaign Monitor)
• “78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months (Not Another State of Marketing, 2020)”
Given that email is alive and well, despite many predicting its eventual death, being good at it is essential to your overall marketing strategy in 2020.
According to 2019 research by Demand Metric, competition for inbox attention and email deliverability were a couple of the biggest email marketing challenges.
Here are some pointers to follow as you work through developing your email pathways and cadences for automation to help your deliverability and attention levels.
Prime your IP. If you have a dedicated IP, you need to start campaigns by delivering small batches of emails to your top engaged prospects or customers. Slowly ramp up every day. As your emails are opened by more and more of your recipients, IP trust will be built.
Check your Sender Score. Your score has a direct impact on the deliverability rates of your emails.
Create narrow audience segments to provide a highly personalized experience to the recipient.
The recipient must understand that you understand them, the company they work for and the struggles they have.
For B2B segmentation, use firmographics including titles, business size, location, origination volume, origination channels, tech stack and more depending on what you’re selling.
This provides a basis for personalization. One of the biggest reasons for email blocking and complaints is irrelevant emails.
Personalization by recipient name and company is no longer enough. According to Litmus’ 2019 State of Email survey, 89% of companies personalize by first name and company already, which means it’s expected.
To stand out, make better use of firmographics and use behavioral data as well. Examples of behavioral data include past interactions with your website, past interactions with your company and other first or third party data that can be woven into the message.
This level of enhanced personalization helps your open rates which builds IP trust.
