Do you have a lot to say to your potential customers? Blog posts, web content, and social media posts just waiting to be written? Before you begin putting your products or services into words, take a moment to strategize around developing a content marketing strategy.
1. Define your target audiences.
Your goal is to convert visitors to your website, blog, or social media profiles into customers. You need to have a keen understanding of who those customers are before you begin to create content. Think of the industries you are selling to. Think of the people working in those industries who are likely to buy your product or services. Those are your targets. Write down the job title of each target, and imagine their goals, as well as their concerns and questions. Develop this into a written description of each target, called a buyer persona. Inbound marketing campaigns often make use of buyer personas to visualize each target specifically as they are creating content. This practice allows you to keep your targets and their interests in mind as you go along.
2. Be clear about your goal of converting visitors into customers.
With every line of content you create, remember to keep your ultimate goal in mind. You are engaging in an inbound marketing campaign in order to convert visitors in paying customers, and you must make sure that every blog post, landing page, content offer, or social media post is steering your visitors toward that conversion point. In a blog post or content offer, this may look like something as simple as a presentation of information with a call-to-action directing the reader to contact a sales representative. On social media, it may be more subtle, as you create social media posts that gently nudge your visitors toward the idea of engaging with your company on another level.
3. Focus on appropriate channels.
Take a look at the actions and movements of your target audience. Focus on their behavior. Do they participate on Facebook or Twitter? Are they clicking through emails to get to your site? Are they commenting on blog posts? If you see a trend that points to a preferred method of communication, use that method to get to your potential customers. If your customers do not have time to click on individual emails, but are active on Facebook, make social media your channel of choice.
Working with an expert in content creation and distribution will help you to get started and to produce quality content that is distributed successfully. A firm that specializes in content marketing can help you to kick off your campaign!
