Do I really need to create ‘content’ for my business to bring in new customers?
As business owners, we live in a really fantastic time to get a strong message out about our business and our services.
Not too long ago (when I was a younger designer), you needed to be incredibly resourceful and spend lots of $ to be seen through paid advertising (newspaper, magazines, radio or TV), printed material or expensive PR where you bought your way into publications.
But… with the advent of technology, it has made marketing for small businesses quite affordable and easy to access an international audience if we want. In my opinion however, it has also made many business owners LAZY when it comes to marketing.
We invest initially in our website and then forget about it, maybe get an e-newsletter going but get no momentum with it, post up some social media sporadically, do the odd trade show but never market back to the names we collected for the database, and maybe write the occasional blog post if business is quiet… and then we declare “it isn’t working” when nothing seems to happen!
The answer is pretty simple, content marketing built on creating a solid, consistent connection does work… And if your marketing efforts aren’t working then it’s most likely too hit and miss in the messaging, not directed at the right target, or too sporadic in the delivery.
Did you know that 75% of consumers rely on social media to make their purchasing decisions, with 19% directly influenced by Facebook posts, and 18% influenced by YouTube?*
17 million Australians are on Facebook right now, and YouTube and Linkedin are fantastic business tools to share your great content and lead customers directly to your website via your blog. There are so many ways to connect with your audience both online and offline such as helpful videos, direct mail campaigns, e-books, emails to your database, industry publications, articles in online and offline publications, seminars and webinars, creating free online courses and instructional dvd’s! There is no excuse as to why you can’t produce really sensational and personalised content that is customised to your industry that gets you noticed and standing out.
OUR 4 TOP TIPS ON HOW TO CREATE GREAT CONTENT ENGAGEMENT:
1. It has to be interesting!!!
And it has to help your audience. You need to seriously think about who you are trying to talk to, and resist the temptation to sell to them. Rather, you want to provide information that people actually want to consume and will honestly make a real impact on them personally and their business.
2. It has to add real value to your potential clients.
Give them something they can use immediately and make a significant change to the way they do things now. You will always be remembered if you were the company that helped. And it breeds loyalty, trust, and positions you as the expert because they now believe that you know what you’re talking about, and they will continue to listen.
I have a client that provides free “master class” videos to their clients and potential clients on how they can get the most out of their camper trailers and caravans. They share it on their website, all social media channels, dvd’s in their showroom and shows, and email. Anybody can come and reference this free information – not just their current customers. But what a way to position yourself in the industry as the expert that actually cares!
This strategy also closes a customer when they are tossing up which company to buy from and shows the company to be proactive with their past customer service perception problems… so not only has this strategy helped in getting new customers and keeping old ones happy (and referring), it also goes a long way to helping them fix up their past brand problems.
3. Your content has to be consistent and show your expertise.
I’m sure you’ve all heard that a customer has to know, like and trust you before they will spend money with you. Well part of that process is that you also need to regularly keep dropping onto their radar for them to believe you.It’s pretty easy to build a rapport through video or friendly social media posting, but for people to bother to know more about you and trust what you tell them, requires you to turn up in front of them more than once or twice in their buying cycle.
“People can spend years researching before they make a decision, so your brand needs to be in front of them consistently for all that time to be considered when they are ready, and this could be a period of months or years.”
In Australia, it takes up to 11-12 positive touch points with your target audience before they will choose to give you their business. So if you are only sending out a newsletter once a month, or posting the odd article to Linkedin now and again… you aren’t going to stay top of mind.
Whereas a company that is posting to multiple social media platforms daily, emailing helpful, quality information weekly, keeping their website up to date with case studies and industry news, running webinars or seminars and and creating helpful videos that they can use as a source to make their life easier or more connected… is the company that is always going to win over a potential client every time because they have developed a relationship with the client.
4. It’s all about being authentic.
Thanks to social media, we are all voyeurs now! And quite often, potential customers want to know more about the people behind the business. Now I get that business owners want to be private, but as consumers, we do like to sense some kind of genuine interaction from the brands we buy from, and that they understand our problems and what we need. This means:
- Real case studies.
- Real client testimonials.
- Real stories about the good and the bad times.
- Real sharing of genuine information that will make your potential client’s lives better.
When I had a personal tragedy in my life in early 2017, I had a lovely copywriter friend send me through a suggested short message that she thought I could send out to my database to let people know what was happening in my business during this period. The thing was, it didn’t feel authentic to me to send out something very brief and impersonal, when most of my customers and those who know me, know that I’m the opposite of that!
So, I chose to send out a longer, more personal message that I wrote from the heart, sharing a family photo and personal video for those that were interested. It just felt right to be honest about what had happened and to share the next stages of the business. And it was received wonderfully. You definitely don’t have to share every last detail, there’s plenty to keep private. But by keeping it real and consistent to who you are, and your audience will recognise and appreciate it.
So if you have read this far into this email, I would say that creating quality content is really resonating with you, and you are wondering what to do next.
Firstly, we suggest that you do the following:
- Go back to the drawing board and look at who your ‘A’ clients are
- Figure out how they want to be communicated to
- Look at what their main problems are in business or their lives
- Find ways that you can provide these solutions through marketing initiatives and good content
- Set a plan to create that content and how you are going to deliver it, and how frequently!
We work with clients regularly on creating their marketing strategies, super-effective action plans with clear KPI’s, and then implementation by updating their website, their marketing material, creating blogs, social media strategies and video content. We’ve been doing it for over 18 years, and we do it really well.
And we’d love to work with you. If you want to make a change in your business and have the motivation to take the next step, we’d love to hear from you.
Melissa x
“Before I started working with Divine Creative Agency, I wasn’t absolutely convinced about the the whole concept of branding! But now that our advertising, social media, sales material and online marketing campaigns are far more consistent, strategic, and speaking directly to our target markets…
MDC Campers is correctly positioned in the marketplace as the largest and most successful manufacturers of camper trailers. We now walk and talk our brand.”
VAUGHAN HINDLEY
OWNER & DIRECTOR
MDC CAMPER TRAILERS
* https://shanebarker.com/blog/influencer-marketing-statistics/
Respect to website author, some good selective information.