When lockdown happened earlier this year there was a lot of sentiment around having captive audiences online and that somehow it would be easier to reach them. Yes and no. Yes-but only by being strategic and creative. No because there is an abundance of choice.

We are suffering from digital fatigue and cutting through the noise to capture attention is actually more challenging than ever before.

I learned a very valuable lesson about marketing early in my career. I worked for the Parks Canada Agency, the federal agency that administers a national system of historic parks and sites. You can have the absolute best product or service but HOW you communicate with your audience and in what frequency is what will move the needle. The parks and sites tell a story of Canada’s history, it doesn’t get more noble or special than that but we still had to work to attract visitors and increase engagement.

But it also goes a step further and this is key. Why is it relevant to your audience?

The old days of throwing advertising out there in hopes of something sticking doesn’t cut it anymore. At Parks, we had to connect why history and culture were relevant to our target audiences. Only then did we see an increase in engagement.

For your clients, what issues do you solve for them?

Today the bar is very high. Information is readily available and there’s an abundance of choices for consumers.

This is where your content has to be stellar. This is referred to as “content marketing” among marketers. What does this mean?

The Content Marketing Institute defines it as this:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

Today, examples of content can be the following:

Podcasts

Videos

Going Live

White papers

Blog Posts (like this one)

Infographics

Webinars

Ebooks

Customer Testimonials

Case Studies

The thought-leaders in my industry I follow online provide me with so much value as a marketer, entrepreneur, content writer, etc.. I hear people say don’t give away too much or you should charge for that information. This is an archaic way of thinking. We are here to serve and bring value and when you do that you build trust with your audience-this is ultimately what sells.

Answer these questions and start curating content now to gain market share and build your brand:

Who is Your Buyer?

Figure out who your buyer is. This is also called “buyer personas”. Do the research, conduct surveys, ask. What are their pain points? What can you solve for them?

Why You?

Answer this question: Why should they buy from you? What sets you apart? Speak to that in your content strategy in whichever format you choose.

Which Channel?

Focus on the channels where your buyers are, you don’t have to focus on every social media channel. That is exhausting and doesn’t work if you’re not being focused.

SEO:

Employ search engine optimization, meaning make sure you use trending keywords in your headings so that Google can easily find you. Use Google analytics to understand what keywords are trending in your industry and what people are searching.

Which Format?

It depends. Where are your customers and what are they consuming. It’s always a good idea to have variety in your content strategy. Blogs, like this one, are great because based on your research you can write about what your consumers are telling you they care about. Videos are great for education; a new product demonstration; testimonials; humor (if appropriate). Videos, infographics, blogs are all easily shareable content as well.

At what frequency?

Again, it depends. Blogs should be weekly and smaller social media postings should be daily. White papers and ebooks will obviously be less frequent.

We can help you curate a content strategy, get in touch today:

tanya@tanyamedia.com