Curated Considerations – Is Your Targeted Content Missing The Mark?

• Updated on: 2017-05-17
• Read original article here

It’s safe to say that at this point that we’re all up to our eyeballs in content, both as marketers and as consumers. Almost every marketing department has been getting instruction to produce more content and as consumers, we are absolutely inundated at every turn. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When done correctly, especially by a digital marketing agency like Digital Next, targeted content marketing is a valuable resource for consumers looking for information and a valuable tool for marketers to build loyalty and increase traffic. Many consumers read marketing content regularly without even realizing that’s what it is.

However, some targeted content marketing strategies incorrectly take the view of “the more the better”. Content for content’s sake is not a valid marketing strategy and won’t find you much success. Rather, a good content strategy is well thought out and deliberate, focused on the needs of your target audience and serving a purpose other than to fill a content quota.

Content marketing is about relationship building and providing useful information.

It is not about you, your company, your products or your sales pitch. Selling has it’s own time and place, but it is not for content marketing.

Rather than pushing for a sale, targeted content marketing is about subtly guiding and nurturing consumers into and through the sales funnel. Content marketing also fosters brand development, while building brand trust and authority through the dissemination of knowledge that has value to your customers.

Content marketing is a long-term strategy meant to build up a relationship and loyalty over time. You can’t expect an immediate impact on sales, but slowly, over time, it will lead to more returning customers, attract new ones and help with your SEO. Keep targeting your audience with targeted content and you will slowly see leads and sales increasing.

A customer focused content strategy aims to change the relationship between a business and its consumers. Traditional marketing and advertising made the consumer wary of businesses trying to push products on them. Customer focused content changes this relationship by positioning the business as a source of knowledge and a problem solver.

Before developing your content strategy, you need to ask yourself who your audience is and what their pain points are. Your content strategy can then be created to inform them about and ease those pain points. By providing valuable knowledge, consumers will begin to view your business as trustworthy and helpful, making them more likely to choose you when a need arises for your product or service.

Producing valuable content is also beneficial to your SEO strategy.

Knowledgeable content gives you and your website authority on a given subject. This then reflects well for search engine algorithms looking for quality, relevant content.

Knowing who your target audience is and where you can reach them are crucial for executing a good content strategy. First, you need to know who your audience is so you can tailor your content to them. Then, once you have created the content, you need to know where your audience is online so that you can get your content in front of them.

You can develop customer personas to help you envision your target audience and their needs. This can also help you figure out where you will be able to reach them as different demographics are more prevalent on different channels. Having a clear idea of who your audience is and what their habits are will help you to tailor your content strategy to best appeal to them.

Marketing content is obviously meant to be helpful as a tactic for marketers, but it should also be helpful to the consumer. A well-designed content strategy will address the needs of your audience so that they actively seek out your content because it has actual value for them. – For more information and tips on content marketing here on Bit Rebels, click here!