Best top-of-funnel content strategies

Chris Homer, SEO Manager at Intuit Mailchimp, delves into prepping for the future of generative AI and SEO. Reaching individuals who haven't yet encountered your brand or solution requires a strategic approach. This is where top-of-funnel content strategies come into play, serving as the initial touchpoint that ignites the customer journey. Today, Chris discusses the best top-of-funnel content strategies.
About the speaker

Chris Homer

Intuit Mailchimp

is a little camera shy

Chris is SEO Manager at Intuit Mailchimp

Show Notes

  • 02:05
    MailChimp's content strategy for SEO
    MailChimp begins its content strategy with a topic mapping exercise to identify the topic pillars most important to the business for topical authority. Based on these pillars, they construct a detailed keyword map on all the areas for authority building, guiding content strategy decisions.
  • 04:27
    Aligning content strategy with customer needs
    Leverage customer research data and customer personas from other marketing teams to understand your target audience's interests, needs, and pain points. This enables SEO to create content on topics that resonate with consumers, driving meaningful traffic and conversions.
  • 07:40
    Challenges in SaaS SEO
    Ranking for commercial intent keywords can be difficult due to SERP dominance by aggregators and review sites. MailChimp focuses heavily on top-of-funnel strategies and targets informational keywords to build authority and gain the most visibility possible.
  • 10:22
    MailChimp's top of funnel content strategy
    In addition to email marketing, MailChimp covers related topics like websites and CRM, establishing itself as a comprehensive marketing authority. By supplementing already ranking content with takeaways, they drive prospects further down the funnel into MQLs and sales.
  • 13:58
    Measuring top of funnel content success
    Focus on site engagement metrics like click-through rates and bounce rates, in addition to non-brand traffic to evaluate top-of-funnel content effectiveness. In addition, set expectations with management about the functions and capabilities of top-of-funnel content.
  • 17:28
    Convincing leaders of top of funnel contents value
    Leverage competitive data to showcase competitor visibility and missed brand awareness opportunities. Frame SEO strategies in terms of the number of online conversations around key topics your brand is missing out on, and opportunities to feed prospects into existing funnels.

Quotes

  • "If you're not doing top-of-funnel content, there are millions of conversations happening online and you're not part of any of them. So your competitors are getting more consideration than you are at this point." - Chris Homer

  • "If you google marketing automation tools, the top 5 positions are probably Capterra, or likewise. Top of funnel strategy is crucial due to tough competition for high visibility on commercial terms." - Chris Homer

  • "Don't just stop at ranking for a term. Aim to move prospects one step closer to conversion. Offering takeaways is a great path into eventually driving these people into MQLs and maybe even sales." - Chris Homer

  • "The goal with top-of-funnel content is not to sell somebody. Its to get them to sign up for our newsletter so we can continue to market to them. If you're looking at top-of-funnel, it should be about those things." - Chris Homer

  • "It is easier to do top-of-funnel if you have an action plan for what you can do once they arrive on the site." - Chris Homer

About the speaker

Chris Homer

Intuit Mailchimp

is a little camera shy

Chris is SEO Manager at Intuit Mailchimp

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