The days of long, tedious sales letters are a thing of the past – or at least they should be. In our current market the greatest online success comes from regular, consistent and engaging interactions between you and your potential customers.
Understand the Digital Consumer
Consumers of the modern world have a voice. Whether you post an article, launch a new video on your website or hold a contest for free product giveaways, customers who come across your latest content marketing initiative want to make a comment, share the post, spread the word or write a review. They want their voices to be heard. The companies who build content marketing strategies that revolve around customer interaction are those that achieve the greatest results.
Be Patient
The traditional long-style sales letters are designed to sell a customer in minutes. Don’t think, don’t wait – buy now. Sure, your sales letter may earn you a sale today, but what about building loyal, recurring customers in the future? For this, you need to deliver fresh content on a regular basis. Remind your customers that you still exist, that you have something of value to say and that when they’re ready to buy again they should think of you first.
Make it Revolve Around Your Customer
Your content marketing strategy should be a direct reflection of your target audience’s wants, needs and interests. Build your articles, posts and videos around them. Make sure the content is unique, practical and relevant in some way. Ask yourself:
- Can people use this information?
- Does it solve a problem or answer a question?
- Are my readers likely to share this with their network?
- Will they come back tomorrow to see my next post?
Form Relationships
Think of your content marketing strategy as a way to create relationships with existing and prospective customers. Like any relationship, it takes time to earn trust and see results. Slowly, you’ll begin to build followers of your company, all the while leading up to and achieving your final goal that never once was out of view: to make the sale.
Sell Softly, Yet Directly
Consumers don’t have time to waste, meaning there is little patience left for companies who only push the hard sell for their products and services. Be direct, but make sure you’re providing value too so that even if your readers aren’t planning to buy just yet, your content is, nevertheless, engaging and well worth the read.
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