Content Marketing: Show People Who You Really Are

If you haven’t revisited your content marketing plan and adjusted it for today’s climate, you could be faced with some backlash, missed opportunities and ultimately a tarnished reputation.

I continue to be amazed that marketers (and businesses generally) would think receiving solicitation emails offering no value or understanding of my situation, would be met with anything other than a huge eye roll. 

These types of communications reek of exploitation, fear and insincerity. I am quickly reminded about the importance of a strong content marketing strategy as I reflect on how this type of solicitation spurs feelings of resentment and I can’t unsubscribe fast enough. 

As a trained marketer, I also know the alternative requires deep customer insight, quick thinking, faster approvals, and instant creativity. Yet, honest, authentic, sincere and timely communication is exactly what your customers are craving right now. This is definitely hard work.

The Goal of Content Marketing

The #1 goal of content marketing is to provide value to your customers by developing a trusting relationship that affirms their decision to do business with you. Therefore your content marketing strategy should always focus on serving the pains of your customer.

Content marketing, when done well, becomes an essential, systemized technique for how you develop and build relationships with customers. That relationship begins from the first moment a customer encounters your company’s content.

Content marketing has 5 key development cycles:

Businesses with established marketing and sales processes develop monthly or quarterly “content calendars.” Setting it up this way allows marketing and sales teams to scale and ultimately take a thoroughly planned out “set it and forget it” approach. 

Content Marketing Starts With Your Customer

If you are following the same sales and marketing playbook that you were using before this worldwide crisis started, it’s time to reevaluate.

One of the core principles of content marketing is that you must understand — develop and write content specifically for — your core target market. This is why companies spend so much time, money and resources researching customers, to build target buyer personas. If you don’t have this foundational knowledge of your target customer, you can’t effectively feed the content development system.

Content marketing is also how you provide value and establish a relationship with your customers. For content marketing to be successful, it has to be personalized, speak to a specific need, with a very deep understanding of his/her buyer journey. 

In other words, your content strategy must reflect a deep study and understanding of your target market. If that wasn’t enough, advances in technology make this understanding more complex to access yet more effective in building true connections with your customers. 

Content Marketing Best Practices During a Crisis

Content marketing has traditionally been thought of as an opportunity to provide something of value, to gather names, to promote your services to the right people, that will eventually end up in a sale.

Content marketing is also the most effective way to build personal connections, reassure people in times of fear, and help someone do something they had no idea how to do on their own. 

In fact, many studies have shown, after the 2008 financial meltdown, companies that continued to invest in marketing recovered 9x faster than ones that didn’t. Now, more than ever, you have an opportunity to serve the needs of your customers and cultivate strong relationships with them that will last. 

However, there’s probably a realignment regarding whose needs you serve the most right now. If you adjust your target audience, you will also need to adjust the value proposition with which you lead. 

Getting your marketing house in order now will pay dividends down the road. As you are reevaluating your content strategy, here is a good checklist to guide your decisions. Do your current marketing efforts… 

• Serve the needs & pains of your customer, today?
• Tell stories your customers can connect to?
• Build trust and rapport?
• Speak in a language your customers will understand?
• Make a strong first impression?
• Use a unique voice and tone that reflects who you are as a brand?
• Meet your customers where they want to be met?

Be intentional with your content and communications. Meet your customers where they are. This is the moment where your marketing skills will be put to the test. Rise to the occasion. Content marketing is a great way to build a reputation of service, quality, and integrity. And that is what the world needs more of right now.  

Creating Content to Fuel Your Customers’ Needs

Developing your content marketing strategy is not the same as developing your content marketing plan. A well-defined content marketing strategy focuses on your key business value and your customer needs.  

To ensure that your content marketing program stays aligned to your business goals, we encourage you to revisit your channel strategy, content topics, and team processes on an annual basis.

However, in light of the crisis, it’s important to reevaluate it now.  There has never been a more critical time for cultivating connections built on trust. This approach will also allow you to meet your customers where they want to be met. Contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you build content marketing strategies that are guaranteed to serve the needs of your customers, today.