So, you have recently started your own company, and you are now facing the raw realities of the markets. It seemed easier to attract your clients way back then when sales were done door to door. But know, in this globalized world, it looks a little bit harder to make people pay attention to your product. Potential clients are looking at theirs screens surfing the net constantly, but your business is not giving them the right signals to make them look and stop to consider buying your product or service.
It is not your fault, the available content in the web in overwhelming for many clients, so the searching strategies have shifted throughout the years. There is so much information that people do not know where to look for first or what to pay attention to. You need to get to know the web jungle you are getting in so that you can attract more clients with your content marketing. Here you have some important tips on how to make your small business content marketing successful.
1. You have to know what type of content potential buyers are looking for
Buyers are always looking for information before actually purchasing a product or service. It is very common to browse forums and social media to obtain the information they need. To succeed in your business, you have to know What They Need. Maybe they are looking for other people that have previously used your product to ask them how it went; maybe they want reviews written by professionals, maybe they want to know the specific details of your product’s settings. You have to get in touch with them, listen to what their social media says, and create surveys. Once you know what specific information they are looking for you could start blogging about it and create content that answers their questions even before they asked them.
2. Develop messaging architecture for the content marketing team
Now that you have successfully identified what your potential clients are looking for you are ready to deliver that information right away, is that so? Not quite. Delivering content without a framework to hold it as a base is no use. Within the infrastructure of your business you need to have solid grounds for the construction of content and to be coherent with the mission, vision, and values your company aims to. What would be the use of having excellent core values if they are not properly shown to the audience through a solid messaging architecture? This step involves all the team you work with, not only the marketing team because the messaging architecture involves not only the content marketing but also every aspect of communication within the company. These content words need to be part of every group member’s breath.
3. Create brand awareness
Competition is hard. And your product or service may be competing with a large number of brands. So you have to make sure you are the one being remembered and thought of as reliable and immediately associated with quality. Buyers need to consider you a brand, not just a business offering something (because those are everywhere). A lot of consumers prefer to spend more money on a brand they already know than trying new products that may be cheaper but they do not know if the product is going to fulfill their needs. So content marketing plays a very important role in creating brand awareness in the minds of your clients of buyers. The more clients remember your brand’s name, the more sells you will have.
4. Prepare creative briefs for your content campaigns
Once the product is done most entrepreneurs forget about it and leave the sells to run on their own, which is a big mistake. Products, services or projects do not sell themselves most of the times, they have a large and creative group of people working on them coherently and at the same pace towards the goals intended for this particular product. How do you get everyone to work towards this common goal? The brief of your content campaign is the key. It involves the whole team and let you set clear goals, timelines, aspects and strategy. It can also help get rid of any misunderstanding before the team starts to work. It also acts as alignment tools for the team and the complete vision of the service and product being released.
5. Find out what your customers value about your business
You may have already found out what piece of information your customers were looking for; you are sure by now they recognize and remember your brand clearly. But, is it for the correct reasons? It is very important to understand what customers and potential clients think of your business, what they value the most and what their problems with your brand are so that you can work on solving those problems. They want to be heard, and they want their needs to be taken care of. If you can show that you care about their opinions and that your business is willing to make an effort to solve their individual needs, then there will be no chance of failing this time. How to find out will depend on how your customers prefer to be reached. Maybe surveys are a good option, web-based of on the phone, emails or social network forums. You need to dig into their resources to find out their true opinions and make the best out if this information.
As you can see, content marketing is just a part of the vital communication flow with your customers and also with those who can be your future customers. It is a very important part nevertheless. You have to know what people are looking for and you also have to develop the right messaging architecture to deliver this information correctly and according to the core values of your business. Everybody in the marketing team needs to be aligned with
these objectives so that briefing them is extremely important so that everybody works towards the same direction. Once you have done that and find out your customer’s real impression and opinion you could know if you have created a solid brand awareness to succeed in the business.
Thank you Vincent Hill for this amazing post!
vincent hill
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- How to make your small business content marketing successful - July 1, 2017
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