Writing great content is a key strategy when you’re looking to attract visitors to your website. Making sure that your content gets to your customers, using the right channels of distribution, is just as important. What’s the use in creating valuable content if you’re not reaching your customers and targeting that content toward them?
Identify Buyer Personas
Your first step when deciding which channels to use, is to identify your buyer personas. If you’re selling manufacturing equipment, your target buyer personas might be facilities or operations managers, engineers, or procurement professionals. If you’re marketing a line of fitness apparel. Your buyer personas may include online retailers, health and fitness clubs, and consumers in the demographic who might be most interested in your product’s design, style, and function. Once you’ve identified your key buyer personas, you can speak with your web design firm. One, ideally, that specializes in inbound marketing, to determine which channels are likely to reach people your buyer personas.
Understand Distribution Channels
Next, you’ll want to understand the three different types of distribution channels, to make choices regarding which channels to use. Owned media is the media your brand is in control of, including your website, blog, and social media accounts. These media target your existing customers and followers. It should be a key part of your content distribution strategy. Paid media is promoted content on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Paid media also includes pay per click and display ads on search engines and other websites. Earned media includes shares and mentions of your social media and blog posts, reviews, recommendations and content mentioned on 3rd party sites. In order to “earn” this type of media, you must create compelling content, build a stellar SEO strategy, and engage with your customers via social media.
Utilize Experts
Your web design firm can help to develop content and strategies necessary to distribute through the channels that make the most sense for your company. Analyzing your customer base, creating unique content, and targeting current and potential customers, should be the cornerstones of your plan to build your customer base.
Look for a web design firm with an understanding of SEO and inbound marketing. Hiring a creative team with expertise in building dynamic new content, you’ll be well on your way to developing your business online.