Consider These 3 Things When Building Content

So you’re convinced that an inbound marketing strategy is right for you and your business, and now you need to start writing kick-ass content that will draw potential customers in and convert them to buyers. How do you start? Here are a few high-level things to keep in mind when you’re creating content.

Audience

Good marketing content isn’t universal; it’s designed for the specific person you’re trying to sell to. Learn as much about that person as you can before you publish — their company, what position they hold, their personal background, and how they shop.

Does this sound familiar? It should! What you’re doing is crafting a buyer persona — a fictional, broad-strokes picture of your ideal customer, the person you most want buying your product.

We’ve talked about buyer personas in a lot more detail here, but it’s basically about making sure your content is tailored for the right people. It’s not enough to just get your content in front of them — they have to like it.

Relevance

So you’ve identified the right audience. You know who you’re talking to, but how do they want to be talked to? You’ll need to write in a relevant, engaging way if you want your content to really connect with your audience.

Find out how people really talk about your product or industry. Every day, people go online and ask questions to try to solve their problems. How they phrase those questions is key. If you’re writing about PPC when everyone’s asking about AdWords, they’re not going to find you!

Keep your finger on the pulse of relevant news stories, too. Your customers are going to be searching for answers about how new legislation or technology affects them, and you want to be first with the answers.

Buyer’s Journey

Our last tip for building good content is to keep the buyer’s journey in mind. The buyer’s journey is the process that a buyer goes through from not knowing that they need a product or service to picking the one they like and making a purchase.

Knowing where your customer is in their journey — as well as how they got there and how they’ll get to the next step — is a crucial element in content creation.

Help your customer recognize their problem. Show them that you offer a solution to the problem. And finally, show them that your solution is better than the others they’ve turned up.

If you keep all that in mind when creating content, you’ll generate better conversions, better sales, and happier customers. Now get writing!