As B2B industries in the real estate and building, and many other industries increase their marketing efforts, it is important to understand how to use content effectively. Content takes many forms—photos, video, blog articles, etc. but only qualifies as marketing if it aims to drive a profitable action.
Similar to a mosaic, each bit of content should contribute to the big picture—which looks like this:
It reaches the individual versus a buyer persona.
In a nutshell, the buyer persona is a virtual representation of a target individual. For instance, what content would "Joe CEO" or "Mary Manufacturing Manager" care about seeing? What's important to their microcosm and daily issues? Rather, by tailoring the messaging to the individual reading it by stepping in their shoes if you will, the results of a marketing campaign are much higher than if a persona is used.
It is in tune with the buyer process.
How does that individual view and complete the buying process? It's important to realize that it will look very different from one persona to the next, but can even be different within a certain subset. This process is vital to know and comes with effective research on buying habits and decisions of decision makers at many levels.
It tells a continuous story and engaging story for the audience to follow.
There must be a tangible benefit for the reader and it should never be focused on you, but them. How will they benefit? What steps are necessary to get to that benefit? Guiding the process of engagement to conversion through effective and relevant content pulls the process along rather than pushing it.
It has a call-to-action and serves a purpose in the overall objective.
If the content, no matter how well defined or usable doesn't have a clear and concise action associated with it, then it is effectively useless. What do you want the reader or user to do? Instead of leaving that to their interpretation, offering a download, scheduling a meeting or a phone call that holds a clear correlation to the subject matter is the goal. Often this is the most highly misunderstood element of content marketing because B2B businesses assume that the reader who is in business themselves will come the the correct conclusion and action the writer had envisioned.
It can be circulated across channels and creates conversation.
What good content marketing also does is create dialogue amongst not only a single vertical or product line, but many. That's not saying content shouldn't be targeted, it should. However, the adaptability it has to reach and engage new channels effectively increases its lifespan and the likelihood of future conversions.
None of these things happen on accident. Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience.
At On-Target! Agency, we know how to engage, inspire, and sell through content marketing. Take a look at the strategy, or for a more in depth conversation, contact us! If you still have questions, take a look at this...
