Become a thought leader

To get more inbound leads, you need to give them something unique.

You need to give them valuable content. We’ve just talked about giving them the information they need, but there are plenty of other sites out there who are all happy to give out that same information. To stand out from your competition, you need more.

The first step is to produce content that’s truly valuable to your prospects. When we think of value we often think purely in terms of how much it helps your prospect achieve something important to them.

A video on how to set up your e-commerce site is much more valuable than a blog post showing off your holiday snaps.

However, value is also tied to how unique an item is. Supply and demand mean the more the items in short supply and high demand fetch a high price.

That means if your ‘valuable’ content is just recycled from the top ten results on Google, it won’t be as valuable as you might think. That doesn’t mean you can’t take inspiration from other pieces of content. However, you need to make sure you add significant value to what’s already out there.

One way to produce unique content is to put your spin on it. We’re all unique individuals, with different backgrounds and experiences, all of which give us a unique viewpoint. By leaning into what makes you unique, you can create unique content.

Of course, all the unique content in the world won’t do you any good if it’s just a thinly veiled sales attempt.

People expect you to promote your product, just as we expect adverts at the start of the Youtube video. However, if your content is nothing more than a sales pitch, people won’t stick around. When we produce content at Reply, obviously we’d love it if people who found it useful went on to sign up for a free trial. However, our goal is for our readers to always get value from our content, to learn something helpful, whether they sign up for Reply or not.

By serving your inbound leads, by focusing on their needs and pain points, you’ll be a trusted resource, a teacher and mentor that your prospects turn to when they need help.