Create Content That Represents Your Brand and Aligns With Customer Needs
Content that aligns with your customer is the key to bringing people onboard with your business. You can write catchy titles or create 25 ways to… articles. For the moment, you may get visibility but in the long run you are shortchanging your brand’s identity. And, more importantly, you are not getting potential customers to think how your brand is a solution to their need.
Create content that is useful to your customer, uniquely the voice of your business, and is aligned with the customer’s need for your service or product.
When I think of creating content for a brand, I start by speaking to one customer for each article and speaking to them. Then I think of my client in conversation with that one customer.
Mark Traphagen of Stone Temple Consulting gets to the essence in a recent Here’s Why episode.
I think we need to think of every content piece like we’re trying to build a bridge between our business and its prospects. Start with your business goals, whether that’s brand awareness and reputation, creating community around your brand, or making people aware of your products or solutions.
Clearly State How Your Business Meets a Client Need
The content that leads to sales clearly states how your business is a solution. Clickbait titles like The 10 Deadly Mistakes That Kill Your Business may bring visitors to your site. They may read the article, but unless you demonstrate how your business solves the problem, site visitors will leave and probably not even remember your business.
The reason for your website is to promote your business to acquire more sales. Content that doesn’t clearly explain how your business helps and provides a solution is just content. Content just for content doesn’t help your business grow.
The most important concept for representing your business is to be yourself. Distinguish your business from your competitors not just with your product or service but with the way you address your site visitors.
SEO practitioner Barry Schwartz created a meme of Google’s John Mueller with the basic message: Be yourself not your keywords.
As you create content for your website think of the questions your potential clients are asking themselves and search. Enter the dialogue by answering the questions, one topic at a time.
Address A Specific Client Need
Effective content focuses on one specific topic. And, that topic addresses a client need. Using a specific topic can introduce potential clients to a concept they may not know yet. Because you know your business, you know the answers that give your clients the best solution. The unasked question gets answered.
The best way to engage potential clients is to “talk” in a conversational tone about your solution. Imagine you are face-to-face with someone who needs your product or service and start talking. Attempting to be clever, using insider lingo or industry terms all distance your site visitor. Unless you show your prospect what they will get from you that will resolve a fear or problem, you are talking at them not talking to them.
Be The Solution
Once you understand that every piece of content you create presents a solution for your clients, you’ll have no trouble creating content to address the needs of potential customers.
- Web pages for specific products or services
- Articles for your blog, guest posting, or social media
What may seem obvious to you because you know your business inside and out, is not obvious to prospective clients. Give them detailed specifics that solve a problem.
Zara Altair
Zara writes semantic web content, ghostwrites books, and guides business owners in writing content for customer action.
