Let’s get down to brass tacks, content marketing is now a necessity. If you are part of the digital realm, you need to be creating and answering questions to make yourself relevant on the web. This doesn’t mean that you are selling your product or service. Content marketing (to me) means making interesting content for people who may be interested in your products or services. Content marketing is less likely to sell your product alone, but by being the destination that constantly provides great content, makes you the go-to place for when it’s time to buy. You are at the forefront of their mind because you fill their need.
How can you get there?
It is easier said than done to be perfectly honest. Being physically fit is a good example to equate it to. I am not talking about being thin because there are a lot of skinny people that don’t do any work to get that way. I am talking about having developed muscles and very little body fat. By working hard and following a consistent routine equates success. That’s what a good content strategy can do for your digital presence.
Flexing your creative muscles is the key to better content marketing. Finding where your audience is, what they like, why they like it and what is next in their journey. These are the “secret ingredients” to crushing your marketing efforts and getting the results you want.
What are the results I want?
Results like conversions, not Google rankings. Results like qualified leads, not just unqualified traffic. You have to be clear about the results that matter to you. If I just disqualified what matters to you then maybe you should reevaluate your goals. Rankings have become more irrelevant over the past 3 years in the digital space because the web is so personalized now.
For example: Have you ever searched for the term “ruby”? Well if you have not, it’s ok, but you will have two vastly different search results. If you have previous searches that include “learn JavaScript”, “programming languages” and “how to code” your results will be drastically different than if you have searched “rare jewels for sale”. In this case, one instance refers to the coding language Ruby and the other the red stone that is used for jewelry. Google remembers what people have been searching for, so thinking that you can possibly show up in the same spot for everyone, is an old way of thinking.
Okay, so maybe the results you are seeking are not ranking related. So what do you want then? You want to answer the questions that you can answer better than anyone else. Those are the results you want. You get there by making the best content to answer the questions people are asking. Find your questions by listening to your audience and tapping into the problems they already face.
Time to get interesting
Look at who has captured your own attention. Don’t forget you are a consumer yourself. You may not be the target audience that you are looking for, but you still buy things and (hopefully) find good content interesting. How do the people that peak your interest do it? Are they selling directly to you or do they identify a common problem that you may face? For the sake of time, let’s say it’s the latter. Look at how they have done it. Read and reread the way they present it. I have found that providing a fresh perspective works well when trying to answer a question, especially one that has been around for a while.
Want another way to gain insight into what your audience is looking for. Then, ask them! Go to your social media and give them two ways to solve a problem. You will be surprised how overwhelming your feedback can be. And best case scenario, both solutions work great and your audience loves it. You just produced twice the content opportunity for yourself.
Hopefully I am driving home the point that investing in your content is not going the extra mile anymore, it’s the starting line. Making your content a valuable resource that answers your audience’s questions either when they have them or (if you’re really good) before they have a question, that is when you’ll see real growth. If you want to get on the right path, give us a call and see how we can help you.
