Understanding content types and how to maximise their profitability is a lead generation game changer. Let’s look at who’s knocked their content into shape for impressive inbound lead generation.

When we say lead generation content, what exactly do we mean? Well, to fill our marketing campaigns with content that:

Interests the right audience for our product
Holds the attention of potential clients
Shows your expertise in your sector
Proves the validity of your product or service

With this in mind, understanding the types of content out there, where they factor into a buyer’s journey, the impact they have on the audience at a particular stage and how they factor into the voyage from audience to lead, plays a key role in creating the right content for the right person at the right time.

The more leads we generate, the more sales we make and the more revenue we bring in for our business. High-achieving marketing campaigns have never been so important, so without further ado, let’s delve into which content types are best for your lead generation.

Top tip: Before making a start on creating your lead generation content, be sure to check out some relevant intent data. This is data that identifies audience purchasing needs based on the content they are searching for and is incredibly useful when it comes to identifying audience desire and need.

1. White papers and research reports

We could consider these the essays and experiments of the marketing world. Both originate in research, data and studies (that could be inhouse or outsourced) and highlight specific (often technical) sector-identified issues or problems, before offering the audience a solution.

White papers and research reports are typical examples of thought leadership content that make ideal lead magnets for email capture. Head over to our guide to find out what lead magnets are and how to create them.

Thought leadership content is content that proves to your audience that you are a sector expert. You know your stuff, you’ve done the research to back it up, and you deserve to be trusted. Thinking of thought leadership as a core value that should run through all your lead generation content would sit you in good stead.

White sheets and research reports are content types that work well during the awareness and consideration stages (TOFU and MOFU) of the buyer’s journey as they show off sector expertise and audience understanding, attracting prospects and deepening brand trust.

Top tips:

Do your research. Make sure your data is spot on and the findings of your studies are of true benefit and relevance to your target audience.
Interactive content has been proven to improve reader engagement, make sure to present your research in a way that keeps your audience’s attention and presents the facts in an interpretable way.

Who did it well: Turtl understands the power of data. Making your content count is the latest interactive research report converting our most recent study into content marketing practice and success.

Click to read The voice of the content marketer | Report

2. Articles and Blogs

Great for maximising on SEO and driving traffic to your site. Articles and blogs share knowledge, company values and build trust. They are great for the awareness (TOFU) stage of the buyer’s journey as they build brand awareness, get you on peoples’ radars and lead audiences towards your case studies, comparison pages and perhaps even your solution content.

Top tip: Make sure to maximise on SEO – turning up early on search engine results will drive more traffic to your site.

3. E-Guides and ebooks

Great for showing thought leadership at both the awareness and consideration stages of your content journey, these content types show off sector knowledge, delve deep into a subject, solve a problem and educate the audience. These content types are great for B2B.

The added bonus? If your content gives a name to the problem and the solution, chances are audiences will remember you when they come to making decisions.

Top tip: there are a lot of ebooks and eguides out there – make sure yours stands out with an eye-catching front cover and intriguing copy.

Who did it well: Grammarly understand the need for a crisp and clean cover design.

Zapier are framing their guides as courses – what better way to highlight to the audience the value of the content!. Zapier matches this hook with a simple front cover that tells you exactly what you’re about to learn.

And, if you feel like you need a little more inspiration, Column Five Media have put together a great list of 75 eye-catching ebook covers.

4. Case studies

Audiences want to see how your product works. Tell audiences who your clients are, and build trust by showing the success of previous projects. Case studies are a strong content type for the consideration (MOFU) phase of inbound lead generation as the audience can see how your product solved that issue for other businesses and pulled in results. They also work well at the conversion stage (BOFU) as over-the-line convincing content.

Top tip: Case studies are more powerful lead generators when they use hard data to show your previous results.

5. Webinars

Another great way to show off your thought leadership and gain credit during the consideration phase, the webinar is a wonderfully versatile content tool. They can be used to share industry knowledge and establish authority, introduce the team behind the brand to create that personal touch, showcase your product, reach a worldwide audience and even be saved to share again later.

Top tip: Bear in mind, your webinar could be full of insightful, business changing secrets, but it must be presented correctly. Generating enough sign-ups and turn-ups is key for lead generation. Paying attention to how you visually advertise your webinar will pay dividends in event subscriptions.

Who did it well: Mailchimp knows how to get this right, just take a look at their Getting Started webinar series to see how they cover all bases, getting the most out of the webinar for lead generation through product showcasing.

6. Customer stories and testimonials

These can be as simple as written feedback from happy clients, as spotlighted on ClickUp’s customer success page – to more in-depth success stories from/clients such as Monday.com’s video testimonial montage.

Top tip: Leads want to know exactly what it was that your service provided that bore fruit for others. Make sure your customer story gives specific, relatable examples of how your services made a difference and solved some of their problems.

Who did it well: Slack has done a great job combining the written and visual content for use in their customer stories – telling the whole story, not just their part in it!