Content Marketing for the Who
The two pillars of content strategy are WHO and WHY.
Content marketing is the method of storytelling that is the answer to the questions facing all businesses. How to market to people who increasingly despise advertisements? How to draw customers to a product or service when they’d rather look at memes on their phone?
The answer is focused content that addresses their concerns at each point in the buying journey without shoving products or pushy sales pitches down their collective throats. Creating that content requires a deep understanding of exactly to whom businesses sell. To better understand the content necessary to reach the people who buy, I build a Detailed Buyer Construct.
Building the DBC. Step 1
Before I start writing blogs or sharing anything on social media, I ask my clients about their mentors, their heroes, and their goals. Who do they most want to be like? Who says the things that inspire them the most? Who is the person/group in their current industry they most want to emulate?
Then I ask who’s the person they just don’t wish to be around? Who is the person whose quotes and activities drive them nuts? Who is the industry leader they avoid sounding like at all costs?
In a recent chat with a leadership training speaker, he told me how much he likes Tony Robbins and Seth Godin. Each man has qualities to admire and emulate. Then I asked the question on the other end of the spectrum. My client wants nothing to do with Grant Cardone nor Tai Lopez, and oddly enough, particular parts of Tony Robbins. I can’t blame him when it comes to Cardone or Lopez. Both drive me nuts, too.
Building the DBC. Step 2
The second step before I start tapping the keyboard is to take a look at who buys from my client. Details are important here. In fact, details separate the good customers from the great. That detail could be anything, but in the end it matters because context matters.
Each social media platform and device has its specific effectiveness for each type of customer. Blogs work well for quick hitting lists to share on Facebook and larger website to direct back to the client site. White papers work well for B2B clients. I wouldn’t put a detailed statistical break down on Pinterest just like I wouldn’t post a bunch of cat memes on LinkedIn.
Why 2 Steps?
Why are we talking two separate steps here? Because I can’t understand your customers until I understand you. People buy from people. To get the best possible picture, I need to see through your lens to understand who your customers are before I understand why they buy from you.
A Practical Example
A client I work with is a leadership and management consultant and speaker. He asked me to help him expand his reach further. I gathered his social media profiles and found he had a Pinterest account.
Pinterest has 70 million users in the USA. The average age of users is 40, and the most active users are under 40. My client’s stated interest in this platform was because he heard the majority of users were women. He wanted to target that demographic.
Interesting thoughts so I asked a follow up question: “Can you tell me how many clients you or someone you know has gained from Pinterest?” He didn’t have an answer. This is exactly the kind of belief I’m fighting as I said in my last post.
We agreed to leave Pinterest alone for now. Obviously posts about salad in mason jars and motivational memes didn’t mean the women who looked at them wanted coaching services.
Same goes for Instagram, but on a different level. Everyone and their daughter posts motivational memes on Instagram. How can we better use that platform to stand out? How can we put a face on Instagram using video? Short videos before speaking engagements and testimonials of real results. We made a plan to collect testimonials and make short videos.
All Part Of The Story
This is the first step in how I use social media to make life easier for your business growth. Once I understand who you are, I get a better grasp on who your customers are, and then I can communicate in a way that they understand WHY they buy from you.
Coming next: Content Marketing for the Why.
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