Smart Content Strategies to Meet Your Customers Where They Are and When They Need You Most
It’s often said that content is king, and the more content you post, the more chances your brand will be shared and discovered. I’m not saying that’s wrong necessarily - it is important to stand out, but there’s immense value in thinking strategically about your content to ensure it’s seen by the right people at the right time. The internet isn’t the untamed wild west it used to be. Thanks in part to search engines, digital information is meticulously indexed and easily accessible to everyone. Artificial Intelligence now adds even more order to the chaos by recognizing search intent, the purpose behind the query, to serve you the exact information you were looking for, but didn’t know how to ask.
This is one of the main reasons why now, more than ever, a smart and intentional content marketing strategy will equate to a higher ROI than just flooding the digital world with content. This article will explain how to target your content to the right customer at the right time by thinking more critically about where they are along the funnel, and which form of content will most likely move them through it.
Top of Funnel: Brand Awareness through Search
Search is the most effective way to serve your message to a broad audience online. Pause for a minute and try to imagine what fundamental problem your customer faces in their life and how your product can solve that for them. How would your ideal customer look for that solution in a search engine? That’s exactly where your top of funnel (TOFU) content needs to be. A solid SEO strategy that reaches customers in the beginning of their journey uses original, written content like:
Blogs
How-to videos
Social media infographics
Top Ten Lists
This engaging and share-worthy content will put your website in front of potential customers who are hungry for answers to their biggest pain points. Traffic through these organic channels has been shown to be more qualified and is more likely to convert than paid search traffic. Instead of throwing your entire budget away on paid search, consider splitting it up and investing in a great content strategy and a good writer to reach interested customers organically.
Middle of Funnel: When Content Marketing Shines
The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is where content marketing takes center stage. Customers already know your brand, they just don’t know what makes you different from everyone else. They are in the prime persuasion zone where your “three uniques” mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.
Up until now, you’ve been giving away your content for free just to build awareness and interest. At this stage, you can hide your premium content behind gates in order to get more valuable customer data. These content strategies can draw customers closer and prove that you’re able to solve their fundamental problems better than the competition:
White papers
Original research
Guides and eBooks
Webinars and live events
Authoritative long-form writing can set you apart from the competition and make you a thought leader in the industry. Now that you’re selling your content in return for customer information, you now have the ability to serve even more relevant content to them later and pull them through to a purchase.
Bottom of Funnel: Click to Conversion
Now you’ve got them. Your target customer heard about you by searching online for a related product, they saw your blog post and started learning more. A week later, they downloaded an eBook that helped them see the light at the end of the dark tunnel they’ve been facing in their business. It’s time to close!
This stage is all about conversion rates. How can you most efficiently, and cheaply, reach your customer and move them to make a purchase? Because every business is different, I like to split this section into two different categories. If you have a sales team, your strategy will look a little different than if you’re using digital channels alone.
Online Conversion Tactics:
Personalized landing pages
Video sales letters
Sales Conversion Tactics:
One-to-one emails
Case studies from similar industries
Testimonials from satisfied customers
Why Content Strategies Matter
By now, you’ve seen that content marketing is a dynamic and vital component in any marketing strategy. To stand out among the noise, businesses have to think critically and drop the old, tired tactics that no longer work. It’s time to embrace a holistic approach to content marketing that caters to the diverse needs of customers wherever they are in their journey. By creating high-quality, stage-specific content that addresses pain points and guides prospects through the buyer's journey, you can effectively move your target customers through the marketing funnel and improve your conversion rates. It all comes down to understanding your customers’ most fundamental needs, developing a consistent strategy to meet those needs, and making adjustments along the way to optimize every touchpoint they come across in their journey to make a purchase.
