Traditional marketing is a thing of the past in the online world. Customers have adapted to the effects of mainstream marketing and can easily click the “close” button on pop-ups and ads. So how can you market your business when customers are so immune to traditional marketing strategies?
The answer is content marketing strategy, the marketing technique of the future. A content marketing strategy consists of indirectly engaging customers by posting online content instead of directly telling audiences to buy a product or service. This content can be in the form of articles, multimedia, or social networking, but it all achieves the same goal. By providing your users with information, you can promote your business and encourage customers to purchase your product or service by building a relationship with them. A content marketing strategy is a much more subtle form of marketing that appeals to Internet audiences.
To make the most of a content marketing strategy, you should plan so your marketing can yield the best possible results for your business. Here are a few tips on how to make the most out of your content marketing strategy:
Think about your target audience
To whom you do want to sell your product? Are they young? Are they old? Do they work in offices, classrooms, or construction sites? All of these factors make a difference when you post content because different things appeal to different people. Make sure you know your audience before you start posting content because it will affect the response you get.
Why will your audience read your content?
Once you’ve figured out who your target audience is, you need to decide how to best reach out to them. Try thinking about what problem your business can solve, and show how you do this through your content. By giving your customers a reason to read your content, you can give them a reason to engage with your business as well.
What do you want your audience to get from your content?
Now you have to figure out what you want your audience to gain from reading your piece. What will appeal most to them? What’s the message you want them to walk away with? This is the point where you can turn passive readers into active customers, and what you post can change this dramatically.
How will you keep your customers reading?
The battle is not won once you get customers to start reading. The struggle for customers’ attention continues throughout their reading experience because you have to make sure they don’t stray. You need to keep them constantly captivated, so try including interesting content such as anecdotes, multimedia, or colloquial language. It’s easy to click away from your page on the Internet, so it is important you prevent this as much as possible.
What kind of call to action will you make?
Every piece of content needs a call to action so you can direct your customers to engage with your business. Create your call to action according to your audience’s strengths. For example, a call to action to teenagers might be to share the article on Twitter or Facebook, while for an adult, it might be to email it to their friends. Cater this call to action to your audience so your content can achieve its desired response.
Promote your content through social media
Web 2.0 web sites are the main hubs for information. Internet users no longer surf the web as they used to, but go to centralized social networking feeds that will give the information they want. It is important that you catch your audience by promoting your articles on these networks because customers can both find and share information on these sites. By engaging with social media, you can spread your content and make it viral.
Request customer engagement
When writing content for your customers, ask them what they would like to see. Surveys, comments, and feedback emails are all valuable tools to which you can turn when creating your content and then marketing it. This way, you can give your customers exactly what they want and remain confident that you appeal to your audience.