Why do some ideas go viral, while others easily get lost in a sea of ideas on the web?
Having to compete with thousands who offer the same product or service as you, you’ve got to up the ante so that your target market will ultimately consider you as the only reasonable choice. But how do you prepare your plan of action? What makes a winning content marketing strategy?
Let me let you in on a few secrets that can make customers flock to you in droves using the right strategies.
When it comes to marketing, there ought to be a formula if you want to be successful. Many businesses fail to acknowledge the importance of a good strategy. Moreover, some may have employed content marketing strategies, but the question is whether these are effective.
Refining your strategy allows you to achieve good results. This entails a documented strategy as opposed to one you just carry around in your head. Documentation allows you to have something to follow, review, and develop as you encounter new ideas along the way. A B2B Content Marketing study shows that marketers with a documented content strategy are 66% more effective.
A content plan is what arises out of this planning, and it will document particular on how you will execute your strategy. It details the topics, the action, the team member who will handle certain tasks, where to share your content, all the way down to your call-to-action.
In line with fine tuning your strategy also comes knowing the type of audience you aim to target. This will help you narrow down their persona, what they need to hear, or what type of communication strategy would work best. When you nail this down you can shepherd your audience through every step of their journey.
An essential aspect of creating targeted content is to develop buyer personas. Take the time to research and construct detailed profiles of these buyers molded out of a combination of behavioural information and demographics. Your personas should define their motivating factors, expectations, concerns, pain points, or where they stand in the buying process. This will take you to the next step, which is to ensure that the content you share will resonate with your target audience.
Remember that establishing that “who” in your content marketing strategy reveals what stories you should be telling, not only to give information, but to make a connection.
When you’ve figured out who you are talking to, you can better map out the topics that they need to hear about from you. This phase deals more with what you need to share with your audience for them to do business with you, or for them to buy your product.
Neil Patel shares that viral ideas are a sure hit. It’s no longer about generated content that pleases search engines, but content which is helpful, interesting, new, or emotionally resonant that makes your audience do a double take.
With millions of pieces of content littering the web every day, strive to produce the content that is worth scrolling back to, or the content that is worth sharing. If you go the extra mile and become viral, then so much the better!
Whether you craft or share content, or use another marketing method, never miss out on the opportunity to appeal to your audience’s emotions. This creates a connection which allows them to become more receptive to your message and to support your statement. It appeals to the subconscious to substitute for conscious thought. Decisions made at this level are often derived from instincts, emotions, or that “gut feeling,” and these may sometimes override rational persuasion.
Why do you think the emotional charge of mushy commercials takes them easily to viral status?
Make use of triggers that appeal to emotions in order to persuade your audience. When you have defined your market, then you are in a better position to determine which heartstrings to tug. You can either bank on love, fear, pity, envy, or emulation. Create emotional tension by presenting conflicting positive and negative emotions, and then come in with whatever you are selling as a solution to that dissonance.
Make use of those triggers attached to all these positive and negative emotions. You may go for views that your customers agree with, attract some controversy (although you should be very careful with this), raise brand awareness, use power words, or even post reviews.
Writing content is the meat of all your effort. It is here where you are able to define your core message for your audience. Content should not just be some empty string of words seemingly relevant to your brand or your message, because if you leave it at that, other, hungrier businesses will come for your lunch. Content becomes “useful” in the sense that it draws in your customers by offering a benefit or unique value to them.
Defining your core message and unique value proposition is what would distinguish you from other brands or businesses. Communicate a specific benefit to your customers and show them what sets you apart from the rest. You don’t have to offer something different, but if you are able to express your value proposition well, then you could be several steps ahead of your competitors. Without this, you will be more likely on the heels of failure.
Now that you have a unique message, it’s not the time to skimp on content marketing. This is where most companies stumble. Those who are willing to spend a lot on marketing are able expand their markets faster. Your budget reflects how you are prioritising your marketing efforts, and numbers show that budgets for content marketing are increasing every year since 2010.
Content marketing is no cheap effort, and this means that you get what you pay for. So, if you want results you’ve got to cash in to go farther than your competitors.
There are several content marketing companies out there, but many of them barely scratch the surface of strategy. That’s where we come in. NEO360 will help you map out a good content marketing plan tailor-fit to your company’s goals and objectives.
Since all this is just the tip of the iceberg, let’s talk more in detail and have NEO360 show you the ropes in this increasingly competitive market—and you’ll see what a content marketing strategy that wins customers ought to look like.