Content is King – the hook to attract, inspire and educate your customers.
Content is at the center of everything you do. It is the “hook” that helps you with Lead Generation. You will offer content on your website, in your email marketing, on your social pages, in your lead nurturing programs and even in your traditional media promotion.
Content sets your company up as the Trusted Source, Thought Leader, Industry Expert. Content comes in many shapes and sizes: Video, eBooks, White Papers, Top 10 Tips, Essentials Guides, Infographics and more. Everything you do centers around content and education – but first, you have to understand who your ideal customer is, what their needs and wants are – so you can develop content that appeals to them and helps them make better decisions for their business, home, family and lifestyle.
Content is king if kept relevant to your customer audience
Make it about your customer – not you. Your mantra should be ‘Education’.
Start with Research
What are the issues or concerns that keep your customers/prospects up at night? Their challenges are your key to writing meaningful content.
Deliver content in a variety of venues:
White Papers, Video, Webinars, In Person Seminars, Top 10 Tips, Essentials Guides, Blogging, monthly newsletters.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, instead “repurpose” your topics
For instance, one day, you might blog about a particular topic of interest to your customers, and then decide it’s worthy of expanding upon that topic and turn it into a white paper or an ebook. Then, take that eBook and promote it on your social pages, website and also recirculate that eBook back in your blog again.
Consider outsourcing some of your content development/writing
Perhaps your internal team doesn’t have the writing experience, or more likely the time, to create valuable content. You could consider outsourcing content creation to an outside partner. But be available and prepared to provide guidance during the writing process. While time (or lack thereof) is the culprit when it comes to writing content, nobody knows your customers and business better than you.
Create an Editorial Calendar and Roadmap
Figure out your topics, determine best venues for delivering topics/content, assess how much time each deliverable will take, determine best timing for each topic (around a new product launch, trade show, etc). Layout a content roadmap that will guide your efforts and keep you on track throughout the year.
Maintain a consistent flow of information/education
One blog post doesn’t cut it. Get your prospects and customers accustomed to hearing from you. Perhaps a monthly newsletter, weekly blog post, quarterly white paper, quarterly webinar, etc. And when random thoughts hit that you think might be helpful to your audience, you can always add another blog post.
Expand your reach with media partners
Determine the journals, publications, website audiences that your customers are engaging with. Network with the editors and inquire about submitting contributed content.
