The Secret to Writing Powerful Content Marketing

Creating remarkable content marketing isn’t about writing a long, informative report on the latest findings, chalk-full of quotes, stats, and charts. You don’t have to be a PhD thesis-writing machine or an A-list comedic writer to be able to craft something people want to read. What content marketing is all about, though, is being able to build relationships with readers through information they find relevant and useful. Simple.

Good content can be pretty powerful stuff and people absolutely love content. 78% of them believe that companies providing custom content are interested in building good relationships (All Twitter) and 78% of CMOs believe that content is the future or marketing (Hanley Wood, 2013). 

There is a way to create content that ignites extra readership and shareability and it all starts with your brand. Here are two things we focus on when crafting content marketing for our clients that we’d like to share with you: 

1. Focus on Buyer Personas

Often, the first thing a marketer needs to figure out is who in the world they’re marketing to. Most businesses have already figured out who their ideal customers are or their “buyer personas,” but not many know that this is the key to creating awesome content as well.

What is a Buyer Persona?

Buyer personas are a representation of your ideal customers. They’re represented as archetypes that describe the various behavioral patterns, tendencies, and goals of your ideal customer. To have that under your belt allows you to place yourself in your customers’ shoes and allows you to relate to them in a way that makes them want to read your content. Buyer personas give you the opportunity to narrow content down targeted to a specific group of people who really want to hear you.

With an established buyer persona, you can figure out: 

– The approach and format of the content

– How to solve pain points

– The tone, voice, and style of the content

– Specific topics to focus on

– The type of content that will make readers tick

An example would be Sample Susan who’s married with three kids, lives in the suburbs, and has a very busy lifestyle. She is educated and is somewhat tech-savvy. For a modern daycare service that uses high-tech software, some topics that would be relevant to Susan would be topics on kids’ activities, new app/tech updates (with an explanation), quick fix recipes, etc.

One thing to keep in mind is that buyer personas need to be updated regularly. Your audience, just like your marketing strategy, will constantly be undergoing changes and shifts. Hubspot has a great buyer persona worksheet to help those who are wanting to find or update their buyer personas.

2. Create Brand Transparency

We can’t tell our clients enough how important humanizing your brand is. It’s key to being successful in the digital world and is the mold for good content marketing. With a little glimpse into your business and company culture, customers can see what a brand is all about, which is incredibly powerful. The simple notions of being truthful, “being yourself,” and finding commonality and relating to another person is still present in everyday social settings so it makes sense that this translates into the online world as well.

An Example of Brand Transparency

A great example of brand transparency is Patagonia. Unlike many other fashion brands out there, instead of creating flashy, dramatic ads, they’ve been able to relate to customers by fully explaining every step of their product line and marketing supply chain. The company’s website, “The Footprint Chronicles,” pinpoints every single textile mill and factory associated with the brand. Visitors can click on any pin and view the location’s profile and watch videos to see how products are made from start to finish.

Other brands using transparency: Dove & Apple

The Takeaway

Content is the lifeblood of a good digital media web presence and it’s what brings both new and current customers to your business. Great content is the type of content that is made for human consumption. It’s focused on people (specific buyer personas) and relates to people (through transparency). Together, those things connect you with your customers and keeps then happy and coming back for more.

Need some help with building out a great content marketing strategy? Learn more about Small Screen Producer’s content marketing services. We’ll build a customized content strategy and content material suited for your business and industry.

About Small Screen Producer

Small Screen Producer is a full service, marketing firm located in Houston, Texas that specializes in online digital media marketing through a 4-step process. Step 1: WE PLAN a custom web presence strategy for your business through website design and development, mobile development, social media account creation and branding. STEP 2: We then POSITION your brand through Pay-Per-Click advertising and search engine optimize tactics that include on-page and off-page SEO that are Google and Bing approved. STEP 3: We then PROMOTE your brand using an Inbound marketing strategy or a content marketing strategy to help you accomplish your marketing goals. We do this through blogging, video production, infographics, call-to-actions, landing pages, and free educational offers. We help you build trust and rapport with your customer base. STEP 4: We then PROTECT your brand’s web presence with a reputation management program that monitors social media and on line reviews. Get started today with a free online marketing assessment of your company’s web presence. Your company deserves it.