Customers don’t want to be sold to.
It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? So… what exactly are they looking for? Well, according to research agency Gartner, this is what customers want:
- Customers want to trust you… but they don’t always find it easy!
- Customers want to have a 2-way relationship… a bit more like dating and a bit less like shopping.
- Customers also want a bit of independence… they don’t want constant hand-holding.
- Customers are becoming more interested in the shopping experience, not just in spending money.
- Customers want to help other shoppers make the right decisions.
So how on earth can we meet all of these needs? It’s actually easier than you may think.
Content tells your story
Content is the solution to all your problems. Well, maybe not all your problems. It can’t fold the laundry or come up with a Brexit solution. But it can pretty much solve any disconnect between you and your target audience.
So what exactly is content, and what’s meant by ‘content marketing’? Let’s start at the beginning.
Content is anything, and we mean absolutely anything that your business puts out there for people to see. A blog post? That’s content. A product description? Content. A social media update? Content. Your phone number on your website? You guessed it… content! Content marketing is about using this content to find, attract, engage, interest, and convert audiences. It offers a more well-rounded experience.
So let’s take a look at how content marketing can tick all 5 of the above boxes.
- Trust: Blog posts are a way for you to show off your expertise and establish yourself as an industry expert. What better way to instil trust than by showing you’re the best in the business?
- Relationship: You’ve got to give to get! And content is a fantastic way to give customers something valuable; something that shows you’re taking an interest in meeting their needs.
- Independence: Top notch product descriptions, how-to videos, FAQs… these are all types of content that give your customers the information they need to make a decision on their own.
- Experience: Storytelling isn’t just something for kids. Customers want you to take them on a journey; tell them a story through your content, and give them that experience.
- Influence: Here’s the good news: content creation needn’t be all up to you! Peer-generated content is pretty important, so let your customers help others through reviews, or even blog comments.
Where do I sign up?
If this sounds too good to pass up, to get started you’ll want to take a look at what your competitors are doing, analyse keywords and phrases, generate topic ideas, research industry statistics, create a content strategy, optimise your writing, plan your link building exercises, distribute and promote your content….
…Or you could just leave it all up to us! Let us do the hard work for you, creating content that gives your audience exactly what they’re looking for, and helps your business to really stand out from the crowd.
(Image Source: Flickr)
