“Yo, You there. Look here”, “Buy now!”. For years, we’ve been bombarded with this type of mindless message. If not outright damaging, at least annoying and utterly useless, as only 1% us is ready to buy a particular product at any given time. Fortunately, content development has come to our attention, and new processes focus on the customer’s need– rather than our own.
1) Direct your communication to a specific persona
To whom are you targeting your communication? Select a specific persona and find out as much as possible about their passions, pains, wants, needs, behaviour, business objectives, challenges, through which channels to reach them most effectively, etc.
2) Target your communication to specific phases in the customer journey
Your persona has different needs in terms of content depending on whether they are in the inspiration phase, are considering a few products or if they are about ready to hit that “Buy” button and just need confirmation that they are making the right choice.
3) Offer your expertise!
Consider their challenges and goals, and offer your expertise to help them overcome their barriers and make an informed decision.
4) Format & structure
Consider how best to communicate your content to your persona. Would they prefer an eBook, a whitepaper, or are they better served with a lighter format, like a checklist, a quiz or an infographic? What would work best in terms of structure: A how-to guide, an FAQ or something else?
5) Headers & keywords
How will they happen upon your content? What keywords would your persona be likely to use in searches. Choose a primary keyword, and find long tailed versions and niche words for higher ranking and more precise targeting. Use keywords in your header and url.
6) Objective
Set clear goal for your communication, Is the purpose of your content to attract new leads or conversion of existing leads. When keeping your customer’s needs in mind (instead of your own), your content is much more likely to succeed.
Learn much more about content development and how to optimise your conversion path here
