Great content marketing can be a huge boost to your business. When it comes to building trust, generating leads and connecting with your audience, there’s nothing else like it. It’s a cost-effective, high-performing sales funnel essential – a bridge between you and your customer.
How do you do content marketing right? Here’s five top tips.
Focus on the customer
Your customer is central to every piece of content you create. Your customer is the hero of your brand story, so figuring out who they are (the buyer persona) and what they want, is crucial.
You want them to know that, whatever problems they encounter, you have the solutions. You understand them better than the competitors, and their needs are your best interest.
The overall strategy of your business content marketing, everything from brand voice to the platforms you use, should be dictated by your customer.
Think benefits, not features
Customers want to know what’s in it for them. Attempting to razzle and dazzle them with a long line of features is ineffective. Instead, focus on their experience when using your product or service. Speak to their emotional or practical needs, and directly solve their problems.
Communicating benefits to your customers is a more memorable and effective business strategy. Telling your customers how you’re going to improve their lives, paints a compelling picture, making you stand out from the crowd.
Keep it simple
Clear, concise marketing content is key. Speak to your audience in plain, direct language, avoiding jargon and unnecessary complications. And while you want to demonstrate authority, it’s important to not condescend to an audience that might not have your level of knowledge.
Be inclusive, keeping in mind that, for some customers, your content may not be in their first language. Put yourself in the minds of your customers and write to inform, not to impress.
Use keywords
Keywords are specific terms that identify what your audience is searching for. They help to define and connect with their needs, improving the visibility of your content.
Search engines find content that is relevant and informative for the user. Relevant content will have a higher rank on the search engine results page (SERP), meaning your audience will find you before the competition.
You can find relevant keywords using Google’s keyword planner or free keyword research tools such as Semrush. Use them in your core content, meta and image alt tags.
Add helpful headers
Much like paragraphs, headers help to break up text and add structure to your content, making it much easier to read – for your audience and the algorithm.
Headers help to separate ideas, create a narrative and show development. Use an H1 header as a title to your page, H2 headers as subheadings introducing topics throughout the content, and H3 headers to further divide these sections.
Headings are also great for keyword placement, as they help to reinforce the relevance of your content to the needs of your audience.
Great content has a big impact. At Contese, we make businesses visible, with compelling business content that connects with audiences. Find out more about our bespoke business writing services.