The ultimate aim of the game is to bring more visitors to your website and convert them to a lead and eventually generate a sale. One of the best ways to do this, is to draw potential clients in with engaging and relatable content.
There are 3 key things to consider when creating content for potential clients:
1. Who is your target demographic? Who are you creating it for?
2. Which social media platforms are your target demographic using and what content is right for that platform? Written, video or podcast?
3. What problem can you solve for your target demographic? Create a useful budgeting template? Share key points to help plan for retirement?
Once you have worked out your target demographic and the problem you can solve for them it is now time to get work on generating content to get them over to your website.
Blog Posts
Blogging is an important content marketing mechanism to create and engage your audience with your philosophies, expertise and thought leadership. It is also an easy place to start when you first start generating content for your business.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to writing blog posts for your business is that consistency is key! Whether you write once a week or once a month stick to it. You can even write a few blog posts in advance and set yourself a reminder of when to post them.
The biggest benefit to blog post writing is that it great for SEO, as it can help you be found via Google. You just need to ensure that you’re tagging your work appropriately, and what you are writing about on your blog is what your target demographic are searching for when they are on Google.
Example:If you are a financial services business writing content for your blog about planning for retirement, a potential customer searching Google for retirement planning advice might come across your business, as your blog is likely to pop up in their search. This is because you have written content that aligns with your business and its audience.
Related Article: How to Consistently Attract Your Chosen Clients
Video Content
Remember when YouTube was the site for video content? Now almost all social media platforms have the capacity for you to upload video content – YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, IGTV – the list goes on.
Video for content marketing is also really easy to repurpose and share across multiple social media platforms as well as you creating a blog post from it. Or if you record a series of videos you could split out your content marketing to have a dedicated page to video on your website.
The wonderful thing about video is that all you need is a good smart phone. No fancy camera equipment, lighting or backdrops required to create good video content anymore these days. We wouldn’t recommend it for evergreen video content introducing your business, this should be done as professional as your business is. But, the key to success for video content is to share expertise and knowledge about the subjects that will add value to your target client. You could create a step-by-step tutorial over multiple videos or record weekly tips to share on your social media platforms. The more helpful you are and the more problems you solve, the more engagement you will attract, and your audience will grow.
TIP: YouTube is a search engine just like Google. So, if you upload your video content to YouTube remember that just like Google your target client will be using particular search words so ensure you are using those search words as your keywords in the title and description of your video.
Podcast Episodes
Podcasts have really exploded and we personally love them. You can listen to them at any time – at the gym, in the car, going for a walk, or even cleaning the house. Simply put, people can access podcasts anywhere while they are doing whatever.
Podcasts do take commitment and consistency is the key to successful podcasts. If you promise your listeners a new episode every Wednesday, you better deliver!
Since the Podcast scene has exploded it is easier than ever to start one. You can even repurpose the podcast episodes as blog posts either yourself or outsource to a transcribe service like https://simonsays.ai/ , make any minor edits, add an image and then hit publish!
TIP: If the idea of a Podcast appeals to you for content marketing but you don’t want to commit to recording one regularly you can use an App like Anchor to create impromptu podcasts. This article provides a great overview of the service https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/22/anchor-revamp-as-full-podcast-creation-app/.
In closing, creating great content can really help your target audience to get to know-like-trust you in the mediums and platforms that they normally use and that they are comfortable with. This means that you are communicating with your potential clients on their level, in their preferred mode of communication, and not necessarily yours. We often as business owners get so caught up in the process of telling people about us and what we want them to know about us and what we think our value is, that we forget the key point which is that we need an engaged and interested audience to actually hear what we have to say, and not only that. Remember they are looking for solutions to their problems. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re not solving their problems, you won’t get any traction. So always use analytics to validate the usefulness of your content and gauge the cut through.
Sue Mills is a marketing, sales and digital specialist to the financial and professional service sector, and the owner of Sassy Marketing & Communications. With over 20 years of experience working for and with financial planners, accountants, brokers and advisors she shows her clients how to step up and out to be sustainable and thrive in their practices through adopting smart and valuable marketing strategies. Call Sue on 0477 468 888 for a confidential discussion or visit www.sassy.marketing.
