Most business owners consider sales as the ability to get customers to patronize their business. However, right this might sound; the steps involved in getting to this point is crucial. Several marketers focus on various online and offline ads to increase sales and neglect the core of sales process-content marketing. The concept of content marketing and customer engagement has been existing for a long time. However, those who used to understand the concept of content marketing some years ago might no longer get results from it today. This is because of the constant expansion of the content marketing world and it is best to stay updated with the steps to content marketing to get the desired result.
In simple terms, content marketing involves writing content channeled towards customer engagement and sales. However, on the surface level, this might appear like an everyday task for a business owner, and it might be difficult to understand the real meaning and implication. This is why it is essential to consider the following steps listed below to fully grasp the idea of content marketing and its relationship with sales and business expansion.
UNDERSTAND THE STEPS
There is more to content marketing and customer engagement than just putting up some catchy words on your website or social media platform. The steps involved in sales should fuel your content ideas and writing process. Content marketing involves writing valuable content that will attract, acquire, and engage your audience. Seeing content as a form of attraction is pivotal to creating a relevant content marketing strategy.
The kind of content you want to create must be written from the intention of attracting new customers to your website. Beyond the attraction, you also want to acquire them, hence making them your regular visitors. Customer acquisition is potent if you factor in customer engagement to your content marketing strategy.
Keeping all of this in mind when creating content will help make content from your audience’s standpoint. Your goal will shift from “About me” to “About you.” This will help your writing’s tone and style as you will be more focused on getting informative and engaging content instead of the hard sell strategy that most marketer employs.
Proper understanding of the steps involved in content marketing will get your business farther than your anticipation. Interconnection of your content with that of your competitors and increased number of shares by your satisfied customers will help promote your business more effectively than more ads will.
CONTENT AUDIT
Another aspect of content marketing and customer engagement is content audience. You might be thinking you have enough content online to reach your audience. However, you need to be sure you are actually reaching your audience and not just creating content to fill up space.
Content auditing will help you find out what is relevant to your promotion platforms. You will also get to handpick important contents that might need to be rewritten and those you need to discard.
When auditing content, be sure to exhaust all your business platforms as every content matters. Audit the content on your website and social media platforms. Check out the business’s blogs, whitepapers, and sales materials. Ensure you check the images, videos, and infographics produced by the company. Audit the new releases and announcements and the mail content you are sending out to your customers. Your speeches, trade shows, and events, as well as your editorial content, all need to be audited from time to time.
The customer’s need is not static, and a proper understanding of this will help regulate the period of auditing. Your customers want fresh content, and they might also have varying needs. Hence, you do not want to keep old contents that are no longer engaging your audience on your platforms.
Bear in mind that customer acquisition without engagement will only amount to nothing. Your audience will get bored with irrelevant content in no time; hence, prioritize content auditing as a content marketing strategy.
SALES PROCESS
Content marketing has a whole lot to do with the sales process. The different steps a customer has to go through during the sales process should be linked to different content strategies. On the top of the sales funnel, the prospective customer is looking to gather enough information in order to make an informed decision. The business should produce informative and educational content during this step. This could be in the form of a blog post, webinar, or whitepaper. The content produced at the top of the sales funnel could also be that of a third party. It paints your business as one that is willing to help the prospective customer.
The next step of the sales funnel is in the customer trying to establish credibility and trust for the product or services the business is rendering. Case studies and testimonials will go a long way at this stage in convincing the customer. This does not neglect that need for informative and engaging content. Third-party information can also help seal the decisiveness of the customer.
Customers are close to deciding on the last step of the sales funnel. Hence, the content should be more streamlined to the business. The content should include the features and benefits of engaging with the business. Proper understanding and maximizing these sales funnel steps will help boost the business and increase engagement. It is also essential to mix pictures, videos, and infographics in each step, enhancing readability and customer acquisition.
CONCLUSION
As much as you are customer-oriented when employing the content marketing strategy, you should also consider the search engines. Sites that are ranked higher get better results. Hence, your content should be well optimized to be visible on search engines. Interlinking your content can also go a long way in displaying the relevance to the web crawler, which can, in turn, help your content rank.
Content marketing is pivotal to online business success, and it is best to employ an expert’s services to get it done. This is where I come in. As a seasoned content creator and SEO expert, I can help employ all the content marketing strategies explained above to create engaging and relevant content for your business.
Contact me today, and let’s get started!
ABOUT THE WRITER
I am John Oladokun Opeyemi. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to get access to several updates on Business, Work, Marketing, Freelancing, and How to Build a Reputable/Profitable Brand or Business on the Internet.