November 10, 2015

Customize Your Content Strategy to Your Business Strengths

When developing a content strategy that’s right for your business, you can’t simply apply the same old cookie-cutter techniques that everyone else is using. Businesses are as distinctive as the individuals who run them, so you need to customize a strategy that highlights your company’s uniqueness if you expect to stand out in today’s crowded marketplace. However, before deciding on content, you first need to answer these three questions:

1) How is your business unique? Do a Google search and compare your features with other companies in your industry. Identify your products and/or services that aren’t being duplicated, along with the benefits your customers will receive from you, and that’s what will set your business apart from the competition.

2) What are your objectives? Establish what you expect to accomplish throughout the year by listing your goals for both your business and customers.

3) Who is your target audience? Develop buyer personas for the people you most want to engage. Your content needs to speak to their interests, buying habits, careers and behaviors. To create effective content, you also need to understand the customer demographics that compose your buyer personas.

Your answers will help give your business its voice, enabling you to tailor your content to the ideal audience. Armed with this information, you’re now ready to plan your content strategy.

Content is all around us in words, videos and images; it’s anything that evokes a thought, compels a decision or simply makes an impression. How you choose to deliver and shape this content is your content strategy.

Blogging, though still a valuable tool, is no longer the be-all and end-all of content creation. There is an expansive list of content forms to choose from, including:

  • social media posts
  • press releases
  • white papers
  • e-books
  • podcasts
  • email newsletters
  • videos

Though it’s tempting to try to create content for all platforms, that could prove just as detrimental to your business as not doing enough, i.e., only blogging. Instead, you need to selectively decide which platforms are better-suited for your industry, target market and brand.

For instance, Facebook is a valuable tool for consumer businesses looking to develop relationships with their customers. Dove is a phenomenally successful example of a brand using Facebook optimally. Its inspirational campaign videos that they share via this social channel gave consumers something they could connect with and, as a result, have garnered millions of views, likes and shares on Facebook. In contrast, other businesses, like B2Bs, don’t always find Facebook as profitable in terms of return on investment. Since they’re dealing directly with other businesses, B2Bs should, instead, prepare white papers and email newsletters to experience rewarding outcomes. Identifying your target audience’s habits and researching what your competitors are doing are two great ways to hone in on which platforms you should be integrating into your strategy to achieve the greatest impact and reward for your business. 

The recipe for creating successful content strategy is not just to create content, but to create and customize your content in a way that not only reflects your company’s values but also appeals to your target audience. Compare it to playing a game of darts. Grabbing a handful of darts and wildly throwing them at the board probably won’t score too many points. In contrast, by hand-selecting each dart, taking careful aim and methodically tossing the dart at the center of the board, you’re much more likely to score that coveted bulls eye or, in business terms, make the sale.





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