How do you make content marketing that appeals to your target audience?

Let the customer play a key role in your content marketing

One of the most common marketing mistakes companies make is to place all their focus on themselves. The world is full of ads by companies describing their excellence and success. The question is how appealing this information actually is to the prospect or customer. You should expect your customers (current and future) to want to know more about you. More specifically though, they will want to know what you can do for them; how you meet their needs and make things better for them. If you do not include this perspective, your marketing efforts may lose credibility, and largely be ignored by important target groups.

How can you avoid this from happening? Let the customer play a key role in your content marketing. Not the only role, but a very important one. What questions do they want answered? What do their needs look like? What kind of knowledge do they lack, whether they know it or not?

Get to know your target groups – the deeper, the better. What you learn about them can help you reach them in better ways. Also, get your entire organization involved. You and your coworkers have lots of accumulated knowledge, and this is an ideal opportunity to make use of all that. Different people will have different insights on what your customers want, need, lack, what they are concerned about, and so on.

Which skills and experiences can you share with your target audiences, in order to answer their questions, meet their needs, and appeal to their interests?

What are the main points you want to get across in your content marketing?

Once you have settled on an idea for a piece of content marketing – based on the target audience – stick to it. It is often quite sufficient to present one idea, topic, or argument in your article, video, or social media post. There may be more to say about it than you assume, and too much information at once can be confusing and unnecessarily difficult to digest. Try not to veer off topic, and stick to the essential information in a clear and inclusive way. Make sure that your content:

• Describes what you mention in your title and introduction.
• Addresses and discusses the questions and needs that your target groups have.
• Encourages your audience to want to know more, and reach out to you.

What are the main points you want to get across in your content marketing? What should your customers think and do, once they have read or listened to what you have told them?

Keep your content straightforward and informative

In addition to sticking to your main points and arguments, remember to present your content in a clear and concrete way. Do not oversimplify, just write or talk in the way you want to be addressed – with clarity and sincerity. Let people contribute with their thoughts once there is a complete text draft for them to look at. Virtually every article, social media post, or other marketing text, benefits from a constructive second opinion.

What parts of your argument or presentation should you clarify? What level of insight and expertise does your target audience have?

Your content marketing should have a “human touch”

When building or reinforcing a relationship with your target group, you need to actually share something with them. Not just useful knowledge that you have, but a bit of, well, heart and soul. What you say is key, but so is the way you say it. Your tone and choice of words matter.

Again, try to think of how you yourself want to approach and absorb new knowledge. It sounds easy, perhaps even trivial, but be human. People want to interact with and learn from other people. Show your face, and those of your coworkers too. When you and your staff appear visually in your content marketing, it adds credibility and a human touch. A byline author photo underneath an article may seem like a small thing, but it can help reinforce your expertise in the minds of your customers. Moreover, it contributes to building that valuable long-term relationship with customers old and new; one of the greatest strengths of all content marketing.

I hope you will benefit from these tips on how to make your content appeal to your target audience. If you want more inspiration, make sure to read our other content marketing articles here at the Skapa blog. Want to know more about how we can help you with your content marketing? Drop us an email, and let’s talk some more!