Whether you’re looking to produce a lead magnet, a podcast series or you just need inspiration for your blogs, talking about what your customers are interested in will always increase the chance of it being read or listened to. That all seems very obvious. But how do you locate that winning idea that will resonate with your clients? Here are all my secrets for how to write great content…
Online Research
Gut instinct can seem like a powerful thing, but it ultimately is just guesswork. The best way to know that you’re getting the right content is to do research. You might find that some blogs tell you to look at something like AnswerThePublic, a tool that reveals what people are searching for. While this could be a good place to start, I don’t recommend completely relying on it. For starters, you know absolutely nothing about the people or the context of why they’re searching. It’s a start point, but it’s very, very generic.
What is far more effective is to walk in your customers’ shoes for a while. Think like the people you’re trying to connect with. What do they read? What do they listen to? What are the hot topics being discussed in their world? Are you thinking more personal or business related? Until you see the world through their eyes, you’ll never be able to talk to them effectively. So think like them as you do your online research.
Ask
One of the best ways to get to know anyone is to talk to them. Literally ask them what matters to them. You could do this as a social media poll, a series of discussions with your network, or a full blown questionnaire. The possibilities of how to gather first hand data is enormous, and I bet you’ll learn things that you simply weren’t aware of. If you’ve never actually asked your potential clients what really matters to them, then I recommend getting it on your priority list.
Use Your Data
With so much of our modern world being online, it means that data is always being collected and you should use that to your advantage. This doesn’t have to be looking at anything personal. It’s more about looking at trends. For example, when was the last time you really explored your Google Analytics? Over time, it will reveal why and how visitors are coming to your website, and it will tell you what they’re interested in. Which of your product pages are the most visited? Which of your blogs are most read? Use Google Console to explore the keywords that are driving traffic to your site.
The more you know about why and how people are interacting with you, the more you’ll learn about them. And then you can put that knowledge to good use.
Value Proposition
If you’ve never done a Value Proposition, then I highly recommend doing one. You can find out how to do this in my previous blog.
A Value Proposition will highlight the pain points your customers have and identify how you can resolve them. You might have all this knowledge in your head, but when you actually put it down in a structured way it can be very revealing. Creating content around the pain points you actively resolve could be incredibly useful for you and your customers.
Knowledge
If you haven’t got the gist already, what I’m trying to say is don’t guess. If you want to create content that really matters to your audience and will make them want to read and engage with it, then you need to know your clients really well. You need to see things through their eyes and make sure that every word you put down resonates with them.
When was the last time you did proper market research? If it’s been a while (or never), why not spend an hour or two giving it a go. What you find could be very revealing.
Or why not outsource? We help clients all the time gather research and knowledge to improve their marketing. If this is something you’d like to explore, please get in touch.
