Inbound marketing is all about targeting the right prospect at the right time during each stage of their buyer’s journey. If this seems both simple and complex to execute – that’s because it is. Many marketers feel overwhelmed by the task and tend to start with what the content plan should look like instead of taking the time to really focus on who it is they are creating all that content for.
4 Strategies for a Content Bullseye
1. Pinpoint Your Target
You can create an amazing content portfolio full of innovative blogs, white papers, and infographics and plan to distribute them strategically and frequently, but have you thought about who all that content is for? All that effort is futile if you don’t pinpoint your target and really get to know your customer persona. Begin by observing and asking. What are problems or pain points that you can provide solutions for? How do they feel about your product? Get to know their language. Understand where they hang out online and what they are saying to each other, then tailor your content accordingly.
2. Sharpen Your Arrow
That arrow is the depth of your content. Create multiple forms of content such as blogs, emails, white papers, infographics and videos that speak specifically to your personas at each stage in their buyer’s journey. For the top of the funnel, create fact-driven, short content to aid them in their research. For the middle, focus on a more in-depth analysis of their pain and close things out at the bottom with content that helps them finalize their buying decision. This takes a lot of planning, but the end results are worth the efforts.
3. Aim Strategically
Do some research on where your target market lives online and become a part of the conversation. This likely will be a combination of many social media channels, so make sure your voice and offers are compatible. Stay consistent and timely in your approach so you can easily see how your strategy is working.
4. Analyze Your Performance
Don’t stress if you don’t hit your target on the first shot; it often takes a lot of analysis and tweaking of your content to optimize your feedback. You have to be patient with your goals--they're not going to be achieved overnight. Also, make sure you are thoroughly analyzing all available data so that you can adjust your strategies accordingly.
