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As an agency – do I really have to convince you how important content is?
Whether its ads, SEO or social media, content is a core part of what you do for clients.
Yet I’m willing to bet everything in my bank account that you don’t create content for your own business.
Before you start, I know all the excuses (can’t write, no time, bad on camera).
The market doesn’t care. If you want to attract more clients, better clients, you need to be creating content to promote your agency.
We publish articles and videos every week for WEBRIS, and across our social channels. This content is the main driver of sales pipeline, and also the highest converting.
You don’t need a ton of content, you can get away with 1 – 2 pieces per month if it’s the right content.
In this post, I’m going to lay out the 5 pieces of content your agency should create every 90 days to keep your pipeline full.
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Solve problems, make 💰
Before anything else, you need to understand 1 thing about your content…
If it doesn’t solve a problem, it’s not worth creating.
That means put down the keyword research tools and start thinking about what keeps your clients up at night.
They come to you seeking a solution to one of their problems. Your content needs to speak to those problems.
We like to steal from Jobs To Be Done Framework (JTBD) when it comes to content ideation. This framework helps us focus on outcomes, as opposed to features.
For example, your clients don’t hire you to do deliverables like keyword research. They hire you to get them more customers..
The graphic below spells this out pretty clearly.
This JTBD approach can be used for content marketing as well:
- Instead of starting with a list of keywords, start with a list of problems. I go into detail on this in our Offer Design guide.
- Use your content to show them exactly how to solve their problems
I get it, if you’re thinking: “Hold up! You want me to teach them how to get results? Why do you want me to give the game away?”
Because content marketing is the most powerful way to position yourself as THE expert who can solve their problems. It’s not enough to tell them. You have to show them.
On top of that – they’re not going to do it themselves. Trust me – they will hire you to do it for them.
I know you’re busy, that’s why we’ve stripped this down to a simple framework with the 5 core types of content you need to create.
The 5 pieces of problem solving content your agency needs to create
At the end of the day, the more content you create the better. If you can create 5 pieces per month, do that.
However, you don’t need to. I’d rather you have 5 pieces of great content than 500 pieces of good content.
Let’s walk through the 5 types…
- Content that explains HOW to solve your prospect’s main problem
- Content that explains HOW to solve your prospect’s ancillary problems
- Content that provides useful templates / tools that help to solve your prospect’s problems
- Content that provides high level (interesting / entertaining) information related to your prospect’s problems
- Content that showcases case studies / proof that you are capable of solving your prospect’s problems
I realize this means nothing to you right now, but stick with me!
Let’s jump in to each to give more context + examples.
1. How to solve your prospect’s main problem
In this piece, give away the whole kitchen sink.
- If you’re an SEO agency, show them your exact process / strategy to ranking a website.
- If you’re an ads agency, show them your exact process / strategy to scaling profitable campaigns.
- If you’re an SEO agency that works with attorneys, show them your exact process / strategy to get them more cases.
Give them a deep look into your systems, your processes and your strategies to how you solve their problem.
This type of content can generate a ton of leads if you build it properly.
Let’s look at some examples to give you context.
Example 1 – WEBRIS
At WEBRIS, we help B2B companies get more leads from Google search.
We put together a 30 minute video that breaks down our strategy, step by step. It gives an immersive look at how we would solve their problem through examples of past clients.
The video was published on our YouTube Channel, written into a blog post and also published as a podcast episode.
When your content solves problems of value, it holds more value. This allowed us to “gate” the video with an email capture form. After they submit their email in exchange for the video, they get an automation sequence offering a consultation call.
Example 2 – Rankings.io
Rankings.io helps personal injury law firms rank 1st in their markets.
They put together an exhaustive guide that lays out their plan of attack for getting results.
This post directly ties their business offer into a chunky piece of content that brings in leads on autopilot.
2. How to solve your prospect’s ancillary problems
I define “ancillary” as a smaller problem, or one (or many) problems that make up the larger problem.
For example….
Main problem:
- Helping personal injury law firms rank 1st in their market
Ancillary problem(s):
- Getting editorial links from legal websites
- Ranking within search results on sites like Avvo and Justia
- Getting reviews for local rankings in GMB
The previous piece of content attacks the main problem head on. This one allows you to attack multiple smaller problems that prospects need help with as well.
Example 1 – WEBRIS
SEO has a lot of moving pieces – technical work, keyword research, content and links. Each of those move pieces (we like to call them sub-pillars) are worth unpacking with content.
This type of content makes up the majority of what we create, as there’s countless topics and angles to attack.
Here’s a few examples:
- How to Handle Issues With Faceted Navigation
- 19 Link Building Strategies That WORK
- Topic Clusters: Maximizing The Success Of Your Content
Example 2 – Directive Consulting
Directive is a performance marketing agency specializing in driving more pipeline for SaaS companies.
They’ve done a tremendous job positioning themselves as experts in their field through the use of this type of content.
3. Tools / templates that help to solve your prospect’s problems
Templates act as a high-level, emotionally-driven way to bring people in from cold audiences. Use a low-cost paid traffic campaign.
Grab email addresses in exchange for the value you’re providing. Get new sales leads in the funnel. Nice and easy, and simple to automate.
They’ve been an essential part of my content strategy for years – people go crazy for them.
They rank great in search or make a great offer to grab email addresses.
If you can build an actual piece of software, great. If you can’t no worries, you don’t have to.
My best performing stuff is almost always a Google Docs or Google Sheet. As long as the template solves a problem, the medium doesn’t matter.
Let’s look at a few examples.
Example 1 – WEBRIS
The Traffic Projection Tool started is a simple template that has generated millions in revenue for our agency.
It’s a simple Google Sheet that builds SEO forecasting models.
You give it some data from Google Analytics and SEMrush and enter a few assumptions. It spits out a beautiful Google Data Studio report that clearly communicates organic traffic projections.
It started as a blog post but we quickly realized it was far too valuable. Now we offer it as a consultation – it generates leads for us like crazy.
Example 2 – Barracuda Digital
Losing traffic is a major problem. In fact, losing traffic is a much more powerful motivator than gaining traffic.
The websites that want more traffic are likely operating fine without it. The website’s who lost it are likely in disarray.
The team at Barracuda Digital built a tool that overlays Google Algorithm updates on top of your website’s organic traffic. It allows you to assess if your website is losing traffic due to an algo update.
Example 3 – The Blueprint Training
You don’t have to build a custom piece of software to get this to work.
Here at The Blueprint Training we give away all sorts of templates that help agencies to deliver better services to their clients.
They’re all in the Google Suite – nothing fancy, but damn effective.
4. Case studies showing you’re capable of solving your prospect’s problems
Case studies are one of the best ways to move traffic into prospects.
The problem is, the standard case study format is boring. No one wants to read about YOU, they are seeking information to help themselves.
We need to create case studies that are written in the format of a blog post.
The blog post format allows you to give more value to the audience, instead of just talking about how great we are.
It’s a much more engaging format that can get a ton of traction when done properly.
Example 1 – WEBRIS
This is a technique we’ve used for years. Back in the day I created a video that walked through how I grew my ecommerce store’s organic traffic very quickly.
That one video drove over $50k in pipeline per month over the course of an entire year (see below).
8 years later, we’re still doing the same thing.
Check the timestamps people – I’ve been doing this for a long, long time!
Example 2 – Siege Media
Siege Media gets it. They do a masterful job telling client success stories through the lense of value.
The post isn’t about them, it’s about the tactics used to get a real website results.
Example 3 – Diggity Marketing
Another masterful example of how you can promote your business without being overly promotional, through helping prospects solve their problems.
5. High level roundups related to your prospect’s problems
Roundups are an engaging format that are essential to breaking through with colder formats. They are easier to skim and digest, they’re also the easiest format to create.
Example 1 – KlientBoost
KlientBoost is a performance marketing agency specializing in acquisition through paid traffic.
They’ve nailed this style of building content, it drives a ton of traffic for their site.
- 61 Genius Call-To-Action Examples Everyone Clicks [Tested]
- 40 Brilliant Landing Page Examples That Convert
Example 2 – WEBRIS
With this post, we rounded up 10 examples of high-impact B2B content marketing articles and pieces of content from companies that are crushing it.
It was fun to create, and clearly demonstrates the types of B2B content companies should create to increase web traffic, rank higher, showcase authority and expertise, and pull in more sales leads.
With this type of content, the aim is to break through to cold audiences. So, roundups are easy-to-read, more digestible, and should drive top-of-the-funnel traffic.
It fits with any funnel
These 5 pieces of content are all you need to fill your any marketing / intent funnel.
- Templates, tools and high level roundups are the optimal format to break through with “top funnel”, colder audiences. They’re engaging, easy to consume and are always of interest to audiences.
- Case studies and the how to content maps to the middle and bottom funnel. This is the content is essential to picking up qualified leads.
The best part is, all of these types can drive customers because they are all focused on solving problems.
Anytime someone consumes content that solves a problem for them, the likelihood of them becoming a lead is much higher.
Key takeaways
I know I’ve covered a lot in this post, so here’s a quick summary . . .
- Content is CRUCIAL for agencies
- Posting regular high-quality content (videos, articles, podcasts, social media, etc.) is a powerful and effective way to generate and convert sales leads. It works.
- Content works best when you follow the Jobs-to-be-done approach (JTBD):
- Show clients you understand their pain points, that you can solve these problems, and teach them how.
- To get results create these 5 types of content:
- Show clients HOW you can solve their problems
- Show clients HOW you solve specific roadblocks they need to overcome
- Publish useful templates that solve problems for clients
- Publish and promote client case studies
- Create and promote high-level, interesting roundups
Are you ready to start producing amazing content to generate and convert more sales leads?
We can help you do that. Book a time to talk to a growth advisor about how we can work 1 on 1 to grow your agency.
