Content has become the hottest marketing topic these days, and for good reason: It can connect you to the right audience, build your credibility and authority, and help you get found on the internet.
However, this doesn’t mean that posting random blog posts or videos with no theme or purpose is all you need to do. Nor is having a service post generic, mass-produced content on your site. Unfortunately, there is a proliferation of irrelevant content that has no substance, which just adds to the noise and can actually have a negative impact on your brand’s credibility.
The good news for you is the majority of distributors are not doing this properly at all. This means you can be one of the few who will rise to the top. As long as it is the right content.
What makes content relevant and where can you find it?
In order to create content that your ideal clients will be interested in, you first have to answer these two questions:
1. Who are you talking to?
Most distributors have a general idea of who their target audience is, but few have actually spent the time in creating a detailed profile for their ideal buyer persona. This is very important, because the more you know your perfect client’s challenges, objectives and aspirations, the more you can communicate the value you can provide. In a nutshell, to create content that will interest your ideal clients, you need to know what interests them. Surprisingly, their priorities oftentimes are not what you think they are.
Creating your ideal client profile
The first step to develop your perfect customer profile, or “buyer persona,” is to take a close look at your favorite clients: What do they have in common? What are their ages, education, job responsibilities, roles in the approval process, do they have kids they rush to after work, how tech savvy are they, how do they spend their free time, etc.?
You also want to understand their challenges and concerns as they relate to your products and services. Therefore, you want to pay close attention to the questions they ask you, as well as what’s important to them in making the final decision—which, again, is often not what you think.
What if you have more than one type of ideal client
Most distributor businesses have several profitable segments. If that’s your case, you want to have a written profile description for each of them. However, you don’t want to have too many segments and end up with too many characteristics overlapping. For example, if you work with corporate event planners, marketing coordinators and HR managers, it is likely they’ll each have different interests and buying processes for their promotional products purchases, so it makes sense to address each of their common issues and concerns in your content. This ensures they’ll relate to your content, and see you as the expert they want to work with.
2. What information are they looking for?
Now that you know all about your ideal client, finding the information that will appeal to them is the next step. This is when keywords come into play. Keywords are a critical piece in online marketing, regardless of the medium. Whether it be for ranking pages on your site or blog, videos, imagery, paid search, etc., keywords are one of the most important components when planning your content.
So, put on your thinking cap and attempt to get into the mind of your ideal client who’s searching online. What are they typing in the browser? What is their intent? Being on top of your keywords is critical to have a clear picture.
How do you find your best keywords?
There are lots of keyword research tools out there, such as the Google Keyword Planner, which is, in my opinion, the best place to start. Plus, it’s free. There are other services, such as SEMRush, which offers a free version. These tools help you understand your market better. Among other things, they reveal what keyword phrases are getting the most traffic and what your competitors are ranking for.
Pulling it together
Once you have a list of keyword phrases identified, you basically turn each into a topic. Each of these can be addressed from different angles and shared in multiple formats. For example, in addition to writing a blog post, you can also create infographics, videos and share industry news on the topic.
Say for example you want to target HR managers, and you have identified the keyword phrase “durable polo shirts.” Content that talks about the types of fabrics for polo shirts is an obvious one, but you can also talk about the life expectancy of uniform polo shirts, types of polos for different types of jobs, top performance polos, top economy polos, etc.
Further, knowing your customers’ profile and interests will help you find different angles to the topics. Using the same example as before, HR managers are likely to be interested in distribution methods and sizing guides. Therefore, articles that address those points—without mention of the shirts themselves—are also good topics.
Additionally, you will always want to find ways to mention the advantages of working with an expert such as yourself, as well as a call to action at the end.
The Point.
Your potential ideal clients prefer to do their own research, on their own terms, before making a purchasing decision. By publishing content that provides the information people are looking for, you can be the one they connect with.
Knowing your customer’s questions and concerns will give you the opportunity to address them. The content you create will position your company as the expert that understands what’s important to your clients.
For more marketing articles, free webinars and guides specific for the promo business, visit the Resources section of ActionMarketingCo.com.
This article was first published in The Action Marketing Blog.
