Content Marketing 201: The Best Strategy To Engage Your Audience

THE SIMPLEST CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY YOU’LL EVER NEED TO CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Anything and everything you feel needs to be included in your content marketing plan.

Check out this 3 step process you can follow so that your content marketing messages, and marketing funnels, resonate with your target over and over again.

NOTE: Assumption testing – the key to getting the kind of messaging you want is to come up with assumptions and test them.

Research, Theorize, and Test

Come up with some assumptions (hypothesis) and test them.

A great question to ask yourself is..

“What problem does my audience have, that my product solves?”

Let’s say you have a shoe company – you manufacture shoes.

Light colored athletic shoes to be exact.

An assumption may be that women may find this product amazing, while men… not so much.

Maybe these shoes are really comfortable, and less for actual athletic training purposes, so we assume that older women may be more interested.

We then take this data and run test ads to look at the results.

We test everything, from the headline, to the image, to the CTA, and the landing page.

We won’t get into breaking down how an ad should look.

We test long descriptive copy and very short (maybe a sentence long) copy.

We measure the KPI’s (if on Social) through Likes, comments, and shares.

View the responses and see what people say.

• Are there positive responses or negative ones?
• Are people liking and sharing your ad?
• If running AdWords, are what do your impressions look like?
• More importantly, what about your Click-Thru-Rate (CTR)?
• Is it above average?

After analyzing your KPI’s in your analytics…

What’s your bounce rate?

Are people staying or jumping ship?

Are they viewing multiple pages or purchasing the product?

This is the information we need to know.

Optimizing Your Content Strategy For conversions

If your ads are getting clicks, positive responses, and conversions, then you’re on the right track… 

Scale those campaigns.

If they’re receiving clicks and positive feedback but nobody is converting, then you are going to want to analyze your sales funnel and landing pages.

• What is the copy like?
• Does it speak to your targeted audience?
• Have you pointed out the benefits?

Within your sales funnel, you should be thinking like the buyer.

Take them through the buying process.

Simple explanation of the process looks like:

Content Marketing Framework: Problem, Solution, Product

As stated, this is a simplified process, but understanding this will help identify every aspect of your sales copy.

From the landing page all the way to the product page and the checkout.

What’s The Problem Your Product Solves?

This is either a conscious or subconscious issue.

Visitors may know they have a problem or have a problem and don’t even know it.

The realization comes in when your target audience is searching Google, or scanning their Social Media feed and and a Facebook Ad jumps out at them…

…The ah-ha moment or light-bulb moment.

They see your ad / post and say, “Hey! I have that problem!”

This prompts them to engage.

However, if you don’t follow the steps properly, you’ll lose their attention and find yourself with an empty wallet.

So dig deep into the problem. 

What is your target audience’s pain points?

For Instance:

If their feel they’re spending too much time on a specific project, “time” is a problem, but what is really the issue here?

What about…

They want to spend more time with their kids / family.

Maybe your target audience loves surfing and want to spend more time on the beach…

…get what I am saying?

Dig deeper.

People are irrational, find those irrational dreams and fears.

What Are All The Solutions To This Problem?

At this point in the process, you are NOT selling (you’re giving).

All you are doing is discussing the different ways in which one could solve this particular problem.

If you had back pain there are many different solutions, right?

Maybe you could have surgery, or you need to stretch more, or maybe even consult with a chiropractor.

All of these are possible solutions – give your audience solutions. 

What occurs when you do this, is you build trust with them.

Because you are basically saying, “hey look…”

Here’s your problem and there are many different ways of dealing with this problem, possibly even going to a competitor – why wouldn’t they trust you now that you’ve “given away the farm“?

Building trust is a major step you’ll need in order to convert visitors into eCommerce customers.

What’s Your Product And How Does It Solve The Problem?

Once trust is built you can now move into the eCommerce product stage.

Describe your products benefits.

How will your audiences life be changed by your product?

Your content marketing strategy should plan to delve into the benefits of your product.

How this product with solve their problem and why this is a better option than anything else on the market.

Remember how we previously discussed the irrational dreams and fears, this is where you sell them on the benefits.

How will this product help them make their dream a reality or destroy any fears they may have?

Features vs Benefits

If you look at what a lot of companies do, they focus on the features of their product.

Ever bought a car? 

All the car salesmen will talk about is the horsepower, how cold the AC can get, all the nobs and switches that come with the car, etc.

They are selling features, NOT benefits.

Don’t get me wrong, features are important.

But they are only important for products in which people MUST get.

For Example:

If you own a tractor, you have to get tractor oil… It’s a must!

So the features of that oil are important.

Some features may be:

• Needing specific oil for your brand of tractor.
• Won’t have to change the oil for the next 12 months.
• Lubricates the engine with a specific kind of chemical that allows your tractor to go more miles.

Catch my drift? 

These are features…

Features are good, but focus on benefits unless you’re in a competitive niche.

Final Thoughts

Connect with your visitors on an emotional level.

Expand on the benefits…

…how is your product going to solve a problem they have?

Know what your customers are looking for, where they look for it, and how to talk to them.

Know and understand the “Why“.

You follow this process and I guarantee you’ll start to see high conversions and happier clients.

Strong content marketing, with the right content plan, and optimized for intent, equals higher ROI.

If you need help and looking to hire an eCommerce Agency, we wrote a whole post on how to vet the right one!