Content Marketing for Pen Chewers
Would you start a business without a business plan? Would you pay thousands of dollars to have an ad created and placed where no one will see it? The answer is obvious; and just as these considerations are essential to your business, so is the need to have an online marketing strategy as part of your overall market plan.
There are many considerations for online marketing and customer engagement; from website, social media, SEO, email marketing, to advertising. And deciding on what works for your business can be overwhelming. Like most companies, you are probably looking to attract more customers and to retain those you have; but the question is, how can you acquire and engage customers more efficiently and more effectively?
You’ve probably already done the basics like figuring out your market position and your sales channels, but perhaps it’s time to look at your messaging. (And if you haven’t yet figured these out, perhaps we should talk!)
The lowest common denominator to any communication, and the most vital element for any online engagement, is content. So an understanding of content marketing is essential. Content marketing is creating and distributing valuable content pertinent to your target market(s) to enable an engagement process.
Both B2B and B2C customers expect to easily find solutions through search and share them with others with similar interests. These aren’t just nice to haves anymore, they’re a requirement. In fact, not offering content that supports your client’s research and buying process may soon be the equivalent of not having a website, phone number or email contact for your business.
It’s easy to understand why it’s so important; it’s another thing to understand how. Before you begin strategic marketing discussions with defining messages, channels, and tactics – start by looking at your buyer.
• Identify and segment your buyers and even sub-segment within them to target your content and enable your messaging to be as relevant as possible. Consider the angles your customers are coming from – for example, perhaps you’re a pen manufacturer; your buyers can be writers, they can be pen collectors, or perhaps a chewer who prefers the taste of your pens. All these [potential] buyers have different needs and will need different content and different messaging to start engaging with you (comfortable grip for writers, customization for collectors, and non-toxic or soft-chew for the chewers).
Read more about this: ‘Segmentation, Segmentation, Segmentation’
• Find out what our audiences care about and how to reach them. Perhaps you can reach them through blogs they read or through LinkedIn groups they are active it.
Read more about this: ‘Social Media: Are You Drinking the Koolaid?’
• Address the questions your buyers will have based on where they may be in their buying cycle:
• Discovery phase: what issues are they dealing with;
• Consideration phase: what options address their issue(s);
• Evaluation phase: which option is best and what are the pros and cons;
• Advocacy phase: what is the ROI and what are the best practices.Read more about this: ‘The Importance of Buyer Behaviour Analysis’
• And finally, review all your content to determine which phase of the buying cycle they serve. If you notice you have gaps in relevant content for certain phases, think about it as an opportunity for new content development.
It’s hard making things easy for [potential] customers online and without effective content, it’s even harder. Let us know if you’re still not sure how or where to get started. We have resources and tools that can help, and services that can address your needs.
As always, your comments and feedback are welcome.
