You’ve heard it again and again: Content is King. If you use content marketing, your brand will be recognized, your website visits will increase, your trust factor will grow and your sales will go through the roof.

 

All that’s easy enough to say, but with so much time, work and money involved, why should you invest in content marketing?

 

The Why is Why You Need Content Marketing

People do business with people — not companies. If you’re selling anything more complicated and valuable than something that can be bought anywhere, your prospects want to know why they should choose you over someone else.

 

You can create a short purpose or mission statement to fulfill this need. But you know it’s more complicated than one sentence. Why your company started begins with its founders, the problems they sought to solve, the obstacles they overcame along the way, and so many other variables. This is the company’s story — the Why.

 

People love stories. They learn from them. When you use stories in your marketing, readers  easily become emotionally involved with the characters. Good stories serve several purposes: they attract, engage, and delight the reader. With so much information constantly bombarding us, it’s more important than ever to create content that resonates with the reader.  When you create content that is interesting to your customer, they will read it. This acquaints them with your brand, so they achieve the first step in the “Know — Like — Trust” route.

 

This is also the first stage of the buyer’s journey: awareness. In your content marketing strategy, a comprehensive resource that educates about your overall offerings is the best place to start. This can be a ‘Guide to Natural Supplements’ or an ebook about the nutrition deficits of modern food.

Creating Content for Your Buyer

While it’s important to have a consistent company voice, which you can accomplish with a style guide, it’s even more crucial to communicate with your buyer. Who are they? Why do they need your solution?

 

The easiest way to consistently do this is to create buyer personas. There may be more than one if you your product or service fills the needs of disparate demographics and psychographics such as: male and female millennials to baby boomers. Often the same content will appeal to different generations or genders, but there may be instances when you want to specifically address their concerns that your product will solve.

 

This is definitely a case of, “It’s not about me — it’s about you.” Putting yourself in their shoes, their lives and creating content that is relevant for their situations will make you a friendly voice who has their best interests at heart. This attitude helps get you to the second phase of the “Know — Like — Trust” progress which is also known as the consideration stage.

 

What information will help your buyer to understand the value of your products? Blog posts about specific nutrients and how they affect overall health or specific deficiencies will continue to hold interest and keep them considering your solutions.

So How Does All this Content Lead to a Sale?

Now that your prospect knows your company, is beginning to like you, it’s time to start developing trust. This is the decision stage where they’re getting ready to make a purchase.

 

This stage requires the proof. Throughout your content, you’ve been offering information based on research. Now is the time to prove your case with those great testimonials you’ve been collecting. Case studies are invaluable as proof because customers want to believe your solution will work as well for them as it has for others. These success stories also give your prospect clear expectations for using your solution.

 

If you’re creating useful content, does it mean that you never sell? Definitely not! You can, and should, have some kind of call to action in all of your content. It shouldn’t be a big red Buy Now button or other hard sell, but a soft sell suggestion with a link to your specific product page will seem logical and even helpful to your readers.

 

When you use your blog content as information in your email marketing, remember the 80/20 Rule and give your readers four useful messages for every one sales message. If all you do is sell to your list when they believed you would be providing helpful content, they will ignore or delete your messages — eventually hitting that black hole Unsubscribe button.

 

Would You Like to Talk About Your Content Marketing?

 

Whether you have tons of content that could use some organization to increase your SEO or are just starting out, please schedule a free call to discuss improving your content marketing strategy and creation.