AFFILIATE MARKETING
5 Types of Content That Will Attract Ready-to-Buy Prospects
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They say that content is king — but not all digital content is created equal. While most digital content can help increase awareness for your brand, the most valuable content is designed to draw in warm prospects who are ready to make a purchase from you.
Of course, even the best content isn’t likely to result in a purchase on the first exposure. The marketing rule of seven indicates that consumers must be exposed to your messaging at least seven times on average before they decide to make a purchase. While this may often be the case, strong digital content will go a long way in lowering this total.
Related: 5 Digital Content Types Prospective Buyers Love to Engage With Online
1. Email campaigns
Email marketing remains one of the most effective methods for communicating with warm leads and staying in touch with existing customers to ensure they will buy from you again. Not only are emails far more likely to be read than other types of content, but their average return on investment towers over other options.
According to the HubSpot Blog, most marketers see an average open rate of 46-50% and a clickthrough rate of 2.6-3% — numbers that far outpace the engagement levels of social media and other popular forms of content.
Even if they are mostly comprised of previous customers, email lists are an essential marketing tool because they are made up of people who agreed to receive additional messaging from you. This fact alone already makes them far more qualified leads than someone who randomly stumbles across your blog.
2. Personal engagement on social media
While the overall engagement and reach of many social media platforms have declined, there is still much to be said for the potential these platforms offer for fostering one-on-one engagements with your warmest leads.
When marketers comment strategically on other people’s posts, actively participate in relevant groups and conversations, and respond to the comments and messages they receive, it helps create a meaningful dialogue with their target audience.
By pairing this personalized engagement with relevant, authoritative content (including videos, polls and more), you can leverage social media to nurture warm leads.
3. Cost calculators
Most companies have at least some kind of on-site content marketing strategy, which usually revolves around blogging. A blog can be undeniably beneficial for building SEO and domain authority, but depending on the type of content you create, it isn’t always going to create warm leads.
However, if your website content focuses on the customers who are ready to buy now, you can greatly increase your own sales potential — and one of the best ways to do this is with a cost calculator.
From calculating the cost of shipping a car across the country to determining how much it would cost to build your own website, these tools are inherently targeted at warm leads who are ready to make a buying decision. In this case, providing useful budgeting and planning information directly influences the user’s purchasing decision, providing a powerful way of reaching warm leads.
Related: 4 Steps to Writing Content That Converts
4. Webinars
Webinars have become an increasingly popular digital content option, and for good reason. When webinars are promoted to the right audience, they can become far more engaging and attractive to warm leads than a blog post covering the same topic would be.
The simple fact of displaying content in an audiovisual format helps make the webinar feel like an event in its own right. With an engaging topic and professional presenters, you can build a large audience. And when the topic of the webinar itself ties into your offerings, you can create a natural segue into how you can help viewers solve their most pressing problems.
Webinars can be even more effective when paired with other content, such as an e-book or follow-up video lessons. When done right, webinars can be an excellent resource for collecting email addresses and other information from warm leads who are most likely to be interested in your services.
5. Software demos
Admittedly, this digital content option doesn’t apply to every industry. However, there is a wide range of companies that offer software services, addressing everything from tracking logistics and customer relationships to managing the back end of a website.
A software demo gives warm leads the opportunity to try the service before they commit to a purchase. Firsthand interaction and experience with the software is ultimately far more convincing than a series of sales calls could ever be, as this helps buyers clearly determine whether or not a particular product works for them.
It should be no surprise, then, that opt-out free trials see an incredible 48.8% conversion rate. It’s worth noting, too, that companies that don’t sell software can use similar “trial” options, such as a two-week trial for their services. Trials and demos appeal to the warmest buyers, who often use them to finalize their purchase decision.
Related: 5 Steps for Creating a Content Marketing Strategy That Drives Business Results
While regularly updating a blog or social media profile can be useful as part of your content marketing strategy, it is essential that brands in every niche focus on the types of content that are poised to deliver the greatest return.
By focusing on the types of content that are most likely to capture warm prospects in the first place, you can turn more leads into sales and maximize the success of your content strategy.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Apple Adds AI Writing to iPhone 16 for Texts, Emails
AI can write emails. AI can write songs. AI can suggest writing improvements that go beyond spelling and grammar to word choice.
As big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple roll out their latest AI features, one use case of AI keeps coming up: AI can write. It’s sometimes so good that job seekers have asked it to write their resumes and cover letters, and new technologies have rolled out to detect AI’s presence.
Related: These 4 Words Make It Obvious You Used AI to Write a Paper, According to New Research
Easier writing is a key selling point of Apple’s AI, Apple Intelligence, featured in the new iPhone 16 released Monday. Apple Intelligence is “built into your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to help you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly” according to its product page.
Apple said the AI can help upcoming iPhone 16 users draft emails and texts.
iPhone 16. Credit: Apple
Apple isn’t the first to focus on writing as an AI use case: Google ran an ad at the Olympics last month about how its AI could write a fan letter from a child to her Olympic hero — sparking conversation about what would happen when the Olympian held a stack of fan letters that sounded the same.
“As more and more people rely on AI to generate their content, it is easy to imagine a future where the richness of human language and culture erode,” Shelly Palmer, professor of advanced media in residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications wrote in a July 28 blog post.
Though Google ended up pulling the ad after public backlash, the future the ad portrayed — of young people turning to ChatGPT instead of puzzling through how to say something themselves — is fast becoming a reality.
ChatGPT has over 200 million weekly users, over 60% of which are under 34 years old. Nearly one in three users are under 24 years old.
Related: Can ChatGPT Help Start a Business? I Tried the Latest Version, GPT-4o, to Find Out.
Research published earlier this year shows that university students who rely on ChatGPT experience poorer academic performance and memory loss. A separate study found that the top uses of ChatGPT were creating content, responding to emails, writing cover letters and resumes, and coming up with ideas.
AI opponents point out AI’s writing abilities may be based on copyrighted works used by big tech companies without credit or compensation awarded to the people who wrote these works.
“To add insult to injury, the bot is being trained on pirated copies of my books,” author Margaret Atwood wrote in a 2023 article for The Atlantic last year about the issue. “Now, really! How cheap is that? Would it kill these companies to shell out the measly price of 33 books? They intend to make a lot of money off the entities they have reared and fattened on my words, so they could at least buy me a coffee.”
AI supporters say that the anti-AI group is “classist and ableist.” The organization behind National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) defended AI writing last week, for example, by saying that “not all brains have [the] same abilities” and some need “outside help or accommodations” to write. Disabled writers took issue with the remarks, as well as NaNoWriMo sponsors, and the organization has since changed the wording of its stance and apologized.
Related: Klarna CEO Says AI Could Help Reduce Company Headcount By 50%
Then there are more neutral issues with AI, like estimates that AI systems could run out of free training data within the next two years, leaving open the question of what kinds of data to use next.
AI-generated content has steadily risen to the top of Google searches, doubling from about 7% in June 2023 to 14% in June 2024.
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One $40 Payment Can Get You Lifetime Access to Microsoft Office Professional 2021
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
For entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small-business owners, managing software costs can be quite the balancing act. While subscriptions such as Microsoft 365 offer things like cloud storage, they also come with an ongoing cost that can be hard to justify.
That’s why Microsoft Office Professional 2021 can be a terrific option. It offers a comprehensive suite of productivity tools with a lifetime license—and for a limited time, it’s available for just $39.97 (reg. $219) through September 29.
Unlike subscription models, Microsoft Office Professional 2021 is a one-time purchase that lets you access all the essential Office apps you need—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher, and OneNote—without worrying about recurring fees or future price hikes. This means you can use these tools indefinitely on your Windows PC without needing to renew your license each year.
One of the biggest advantages of this lifetime license is that it allows you to avoid unpredictable subscription renewals. It’s perfect for professionals and entrepreneurs who want to keep their budgeting simple and predictable, with no surprises down the line.
Additionally, owning your software outright gives you a greater sense of control and security. There’s no need to worry about losing access to your Office suite if you decide not to renew a subscription or if prices change in the future. Once you’ve purchased Microsoft Office Professional 2021, it’s yours forever, offering peace of mind and stability in an ever-evolving software landscape.
Keep in mind that this offer is only available for Windows users, and you’ll need to have Windows 10 or 11 to activate the license. If that sounds like your setup, this is your chance to invest in a software suite that has been trusted by millions for decades—all for a fraction of the regular price.
Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows for just $39.97 (reg. $219) through September 29.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
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Invest in Yourself with a Lifetime of StackSkills Courses for $29.97
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
As a busy professional, finding time to invest in your education can be challenging. But what if you had lifetime access to an online learning platform that lets you learn whenever and wherever you want? That’s exactly what StackSkills offers—and right now, you can get lifetime access for just $29.97 (reg. $600).
StackSkills is an intuitive, user-friendly platform that’s perfect for anyone looking to enhance their skills without committing to a rigid schedule. Whether you’re a parent returning to the workforce, a business owner looking to gain new skills, or simply someone looking to keep up with ever-evolving industries, StackSkills provides the tools and flexibility you need to stay ahead.
With instant access to a pre-selected library of more than 1,000 courses—with new courses added monthly—there’s something for everyone. The platform’s range of beginner to advanced courses covers professional topics like IT, development, graphic design, finance, business, marketing, and more.
There are even personal growth topics like mindful meditation. And with more than 350 of the web’s top instructors, you’ll be learning from some of the best in the business.
One of the greatest advantages of StackSkills is the flexibility it offers. Instead of being tied to a specific time or place, you can access the platform from anywhere and learn at your own pace. Whether you have 15 minutes during your lunch break or a few hours on the weekend, StackSkills is designed to fit seamlessly into your busy life.
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Get lifetime access to all of StackSkills courses for just $29.97 (reg. $600) through September 29.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
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