How can you use content to drive sales?

Understanding the buyer's journey is like being their helpful guide. From "hello" to "let's do this," each step matters. Content is the guide that turns curiosity into confidence and clicks into customers. In the end, it's about building trust. With the right content, you're not just selling – you're building connections. You're not just informing – you're inspiring.

Is your buyer a decision maker? If so, check that your content is speaking to the pain you alleviate for the decision maker. While they have influence, do not exclusively write for the implementer. It can be temping to only write "quick tip" and "how-to" content, but then you're writing for the doer, not the person/people who ultimately have authority and the budget to hire you.

Content can be your menifesto before your buyer. Your promise to the buyer defined in his/her language in an engaging manner. We are all wired to hear stories at home and at work and if a peice of content can find a place there, the message is delivered well. For all this we need to know the buyer's own story first. Need gaps in his/her life shall be well understood. Whats going on what is not working well and what is working fine etcetra. Its more than just the product and the relation with it. I thinks its the whole story of the buyer.

Using content to drive sales means creating valuable and interesting information that helps people understand, enjoy, or solve something related to your products or services. This information can be in the form of articles, videos, social media posts, and more. When you do this well, it can encourage people to trust your brand and buy from you. Remember, the goal of using content to drive sales is to provide value and build relationships with your audience. When people feel that you genuinely care about their needs and interests, they're more likely to become loyal customers.

The best form of content is the content that speaks with the customers on the problems they face…Talk about the problems, let the customer relate with those, before you talk about the solution or your product. For example, when I invested in a a mentoring platform for launching an org. wide mentoring program, I wasn’t looking for a platform/ tech enabled solution. I was reading up on how to design mentoring programs for corporate. My search took me to an amazing blog that incidentally belonged to this company that had a mentoring platform. I got curious, explored more and it just worked for us.

Think of SEO as a treasure map for customers. You want to be the "X" that marks the spot when they search. Use words they'd use, craft catchy titles, and sprinkle those keywords wisely. It's like speaking their language. By using the right words and tools, you make sure you're on their map. Get seen, get clicked, get sales!

Content that is relevant to user queries and is easily found through search unlocks many advantages: 1- your brand eases the customers' pain of search for information 2- the brand is perceived to be an authority on subject matter and hence more trustworthy 3- media mileage is free of advertising cost Marketers cannot ignore not having content bank that is search optimized. A very miniscule cohort of consumers purchase anything without searching on internet first.

Despite what this article implies, SEO gets your content seen. It does not trigger sales. SEO is important in crowded industries where it is hard to differentiate what you sell (i.e., travel or real estate). But even then it doesn't sell. It merely gets your prospects within striking distance of making a sale.

SEO optimisation efforts are going to become obsolete progressively as AI will do a better job at looking at content and recommending changes. Appropriate tagging is also something that will move out of human purview. Essentially, machines will produce best what the machines consume. Humans will need to focus on the human connections, through relatable content.

I employ Google Calendar to strategize my content for boosting sales. Every week, I categorize my content into three sections: valuable posts, client highlights, and promotional material. The bulk of my posts, around 90%, consists of value content. The remaining 10% is divided between showcasing client successes and promoting upcoming sales-driving events.

Content needs to be in sync with the external events. A calendar helps in creating content for generic events in advance and leaves time to think of moment marketing innovations whenever there is an opportunity.

A content calendar is like a roadmap. Pretty much like planning a trip, jotting down where and when you'll go. This keeps your content on track. Imagine a well-orchestrated dance – every step, every move, perfectly timed. With a content calendar, you're the choreographer, ensuring each piece performs its best.

Content is essential to our business. Good l content increases our brand and it attracts others to us! I have hosted over 30 online events since the pandemic and hosting my events online rather than in-person, is the best thing for me and my business. I have used the calendar but because I am constantly on being visible on social media a calendar I does not serve me. What benefits me most is being able to schedule my post to go out. This also keeps me visible and active in social platforms. Dr. Patricia Roger Visibility Strategist

Once again, thanks to the AI intervention, people can once again move out of the structural paradigm of the sales creatives, like scheduling, and focus on the target audience. There is enough automation on the way for one not to worry about cycles and seasons.

Effective content distribution plays a pivotal role in driving sales. This involves strategically disseminating your content across platforms and channels frequented by your target audience. This is achieved by using different methods: through assets under your control such as your website and social media, through external endorsements, and through paid promotional efforts like advertisements. By mixing these methods, you make sure more people who are interested see your content, so you can sell more.

This is a continuous process where a marketer can measure responses for the same content from different media or different segment of audience or even time bands, and keep optimizing the media mix. The more one measures, the more effective is the ROI from content distribution.

Measuring and improving your content is like keeping score in a game. By tracking your content's impact, you learn what hits the mark. Analytics are your playbook, showing what's popular and what needs tweaking. Just as a coach improves plays, you refine your content strategy for better results. Also, you need to know your specific goals so you can aim for success.

Be careful when optimizing content. If you want sales, optimizing for awareness won't necessarily help you. Cat videos can win tons of awareness. They won't help you sell a single CRM SaaS subscription. And purchases are often made by lurkers instead of engagers.

One thing to consider here is what to monitor. What is the purpose of your campaign? Is it engagement? Is it loyalty? Is it brand awareness? What you’re looking to achieve determines what you need to measure. Furthermore, why are specific goals important? What is the ultimate goal here? With all of that, consider which platforms will be the most effective by considering competitors, users/clients, and requirements based on the product.

Among all other metrics of measurements, I would go for engagement as the key area while judging your content. Sometimes traffic numbers can be misleading.

Think of it like cultivating a garden. With tailored content, you guide your leads and customers on a journey. It's like giving them the right tools and tips to flourish. Through emails, social media, and more, you keep them engaged and satisfied. Just as expert gardeners reap a rich harvest, you foster loyalty and even turn customers into brand ambassadors.

Some ways to identify with your customers through content could be... 1. Are your customers joining the conversation you want to start? 2. Is your content hitting the right area of interest or its just creating noise? 3. Are we overdoing it? Is the content paletable for the customers or despite it hitting a chord, the customer doesnt want to own it?

This is where having a true customer-led content strategy stands out. You should be analyzing calls, learning pain points from your cs team, and getting in front of objections that sales hear. This is why sales, marketing, and customer success teams should always be hand in hand. Understanding all stages of the journey (your content doesn’t stop once they’re a customer) is important for creating the most valuable content. Create content that enables sales at every step of the way and can answer objections in ways that sales can lean on. Then create content that continue to educate customers on how to better use your platform.

Keep in mind, your product is only as good as the message it comes with. The content you develop needs to align with the story your brand ambassadors/influencers, organization, employees, and users/clients utilize. Consistency across all channels is key.

In navigating the journey of using content to boost sales, remember that success is a blend of strategy and creativity. Just like a well-orchestrated symphony, each step – understanding your buyer's journey, SEO optimization, content calendaring, effective distribution, measuring performance, and nurturing leads – contributes to a harmonious whole. Keep in mind that this journey isn't one-size-fits-all; customization and adaptability are your allies. Flexibility, coupled with a deep understanding of your audience, is your compass.

We generated an anthem for a lock and key brand and the marketing team and the buying agency team for the brand took a little while get a handle around it. However once we reasoned well they owned the anthem more than anyone. We were a TV media company and the brand not only ran the content on our channel but also bought space on competition channel to run it there. I am talking about Ozone the new brand of doorlocks.

In a world overwhelmed with messages, I'm a believer that quality and authenticity trumps repetition for many brands. You gotta be out there for sure, but not at the risk of boring people with inane content. If you have the means and teams to create and track what works for specific markets, then experiment!

Create content which is proactive. Think about your buyer's pain points and create material which speaks to them. Many a times, customers are unable to articulate their problems. For example, if your customer is someone who needs a website builder, what can your product do ease their experience, make it as seamless as possible, answer their queries even before they arise? Generate content that highlights these unique aspects of your product. Also, enrich your content by providing what your closest competitors are not. Learn from their content and tweak your offerings accordingly.