Your blog could feel like this… to your customers, at least!
Content marketing is a topic everyone seems to be talking about. The idea of creating content to attract, retain and convert customers is not new. But the way that people interact and digest this information online has become a real game changer for marketers.
Sadly, the numbers of companies that have mastered content marketing are few. Some businesses have gone through the effort of building a blog and posting to it regularly, but they’ve created weekly product posts that attracts few long-term visitors.
What most people don’t realize is that in order for your content marketing to be effective and attract people, it has to educate, it has to be ‘juicy’ and it has to be useful.
Let’s break it down.
Educate.
If you have a problem, where do you go? Your neighbour’s house? Do you call your mother? No. You go online. Everyone goes online. Internet search queries are so rooted in modern human behaviour, it’s become a verb—”just Google it.”
So when someone searches, finds you and clicks, will they find the answers to their problem? If they’re not going to you, you should assume they’re going to a competitor.
Be Juicy.
We say it’s okay to make it ‘juicy.’ Make it something that customers and potential customers will appreciate getting—delicious inside stuff! You don’t have to give away all your secrets, as you should save some for more content possibilities. But as you put materials together, always be asking yourself if your customers would appreciate it. If you don’t know, try asking your customers, and develop a list of top problems (see below).
Offer Useful Content.
No one has the patience to sift through content that doesn’t ask their burning questions. In fact, studies show that providing content that doesn’t answer customer questions can affect how your audience views you. One of the most critical needs of content in a learning institute is that it serves the reader.
It doesn’t have to be difficult to make the transformation from blog to institute. There are just a few steps you need to take to get there:
Learn your customers’ pains by asking them directly, if you have to.
Learn what pains your clients, in their own words.
Ask your fellow colleagues, employees or even sales force what kinds of issues pain your current customers. What are some of the most common questions they consistently hear? Talk to clients to hear those words specifically?
Let search be your guide.
Take a look at the search queries on your website. What are people looking for specifically, and how might that line up with how you can help them solve their issues? Might there be searches that you never thought of?
Ask clients directly.
This is still the best way to reach out to them. Some teams build surveys or polls on social channels, but the key is to get a sense of what the issues are—in their own words.
Now that you know what customers want, it’s time to put it together.
Your Library of Content
Don’t kill yourself trying to figure out how to make things more educational. In many cases, the traditional aspects of blogging still have a place here. Blogs are a flexible medium, so you can work and rework content based on various elements:
Layout and Format
How will people make the best use of this, as an infographic, chart, article or even video? How and through what devices are your customers engaging with your content? A mobile-using audience will respond differently to a detailed infographic than desktop browsers, or even tablet users. You can use Google Analytics to see who those folks are and what kinds of content might best work for them.
Titles
Titles and headlines are one of the most important aspects of writing. Whether in print or online, headlines are the first point at which readers make judgments on the quality of the content. Use their language, and you’ve got a better chance of earning their trust.
Categories and Tagging
Is your information organized in a way that makes it easier for potential buyers to find it? Do you have a soup of similar tags that could be reduced for easy browsing? Keep your buyer in mind when creating or managing your tags. And like the bottom of your closet, they can gather until you no longer have control of them.
Visual Content
Images can do the work of paragraphs of content. Keep this in mind while you search for meaningful images. You can also look at infographic services like Visual.ly or Canva to build images on your own terms. Colourful charts work well, too. They may seem simple, but they carry a meaningful message.
Brand Focus
Whatever decisions you make, be sure to keep your brand value and offer in mind. Providing helpful content to buyers shouldn’t cloud your brand, it should reinforce it. Think about your brand approach to the market. If you’re heavy-hitting, maybe a straight comparison of competitor offers would be useful for your customer base. If your approach is softer, or even ‘high-brow’, a chart like this might not be successful. There are always ways to express information differently, so don’t throw any good ideas out.
Remember: You’re Still Ahead of the Pack
People are getting wiser to content marketing than a few years ago, but the market is far from saturated with success stories. There is still plenty of room for your company to make great use of the principles here. Knowing that the world relies on online search for research, providing useful, educational and engaging content will draw more prospective clients who seek honest, valuable information.
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