Content. Content. Content. It’s all about generating juicy content—this according to the new rules of the web. With the evolution of smart phones, the iPad, Kindle, and social media, prospects are demanding good content to learn from and share.
This demand offers an amazing opportunity for companies because what better way to gain exposure to a mass audience than to have others share and promote on your behalf. The downside to this is that many businesses are missing out by not generating any substance or they are turning prospects off by creating subject matter that is too self-focused, too focused on their products and services.
Before I continue, let’s define what I mean by content:
- Written content: blogs, online articles, white papers.
- Images: photos, slideshows, graphs.
- Video: how-tos, informative, or funny content.
- Podcasts: replays of telecalls, Blog Talk Radio
- Webinars and Telecalls: free or paid.
So, what constitutes good content? The best way to define this is to understand what good content is not. It is not—I repeat, it is not—about your product or service. Prospects do not care about what you have to offer. They do care about how your products / services affect them, make them a better person, or make their life easier.
Prospects care about the solution your products or services provide. They want to know, what’s in it for me?
If you’re creating social objects—whether video or blog post—that is centered around your company, your products, your team, your services, your unique process, your awards, etc., you are missing the mark. Not to mention, you’re leaving a bad taste in your prospect’s mouth.
In order to generate attention online, you must begin to create content as a publisher would. This shift in thinking requires you to stop thinking like a marketer. Stop with the advertising gimmicks. Stop seeing prospects as a commodity. And start thinking as you would if you were the head of a publishing house or a magazine editor.
Therefore, you need to understand what your market wants to know, and know how they want to receive their information. Does your target market prefer video over podcasts? Do they want in-depth industry information or do they want first-person accounts?
Poll your clients and prospects. Ask questions on your Facebook business pages or on Twitter. Do whatever you can to decipher what prospects are hungry for, and then give it to them.
3 Quick Tips:
- A healthy mix of the above content list is often the best way to reach a wider audience and have social objects shared. People absorb information differently, just as people have their favorite platforms for sharing information.
- Create an editorial schedule, and integrate it into your current monthly marketing plans. Having a schedule will prevent you from repeating yourself or having stagnant, boring subject matter, and it will help you track your efforts.
- Track what topics people react to the most and the least. If you find that prospects love to share your how-to videos, then you might want to consider doing more of those.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Michelle, what an awesome post! I think every business's bias is to sell, sell, sell with their content. While making the sale is certainly the end goal, customers and prospects do not want to get pitched with every business communication that they receive. They will get annoyed and lose interest quickly. Once businesses take the time to help their customers & prospects, and develop a relationship, the sale will become a natural progression. Thank you for sharing great examples of different ways to engage target audiences with quality content. Keep up the great work!