How to use content marketing to attract and retain clients - Part 2
Building trust with current and potential customers using content marketing
In my last blog post, the first in a series about how to use content marketing to attract and retain clients, I gave a quick overview of the benefits that content marketing can bring to a small to medium business and how you can use it to retain customers.
In this series, I'll be talking you through each of the benefits I laid out in part 1. Here's a quick recap:
If you're giving your ideal clients and current customers high-value content, these are some of the benefits you'll get in return:
Your customers will keep coming back to you for more
You'll build trust with your audience
You'll get more opportunities to engage with followers on social media
You'll generate more business
You'll increase your mailing list
You'll be setting yourself up to climb the ranks of Google
You'll establish a position of authority in your field
If you missed last month's blog, here's a link - How to use content marketing to attract and retain clients – part 1.
Building trust using content
Right, let's get down to business. This month we’re going to focus on point No. 2 —building trust through content and how to use it in your marketing.
Getting your target audience to trust your brand involves more than writing quality and engaging content.
Here are my suggestions for using content to build relationships with your ideal clients and customers helping you to earn their trust
No. 1 - Create Buyer Personas
First things first, creating a buyer persona is a great way to help you on your way to understanding your audience and gain their trust.
Buyer personas are like semi-fictional ideal customers based on data and research. By doing your research and building a persona, your ideal clients are more likely to trust you because your content will feel like you're speaking directly to them and no one else.
You'll also get more of an idea of how your target audience likes to consume content — do they like emails? Prompts on social media? Printed material? Where do they look for content? What keywords do they use?
Creating accurate personas can be a lengthy process, but it's an exercise that's worth doing. This resource from Hubspot is useful.
No. 2 - Use your analytics
Before you start creating content, you need a place to store it. I recommend that you use your own website. Because quality content marketing takes a lot of brainpower and time, you should consider placing most of it on your own site so you can control it and reap the rewards. Then you can share the content from your website to your social networks and via email marketing.
Hopefully, your website is hooked up to Google Analytics. You must be able to see what's working and what isn't. To build trust, you need to create content that your target audience resonates with. So, check your analytics and create content similar to those pieces that have had higher engagement levels and don't forget to repurpose them.
No. 3 - Avoid the hard sell.
A large part of building trust is allowing your audience to develop a relationship with you and, you can do this by producing content that educates them. You can start by answering FAQs and offer clear, honest and up-front information.
Don't over advertise your business, though. If your content comes across like a used car salesperson, you'll lose your audience’s trust and they’ll trot off elsewhere. You can still sell your business without being pushy. Use your current customers. Create some case studies and ask for testimonials. Customers who are using your product or service and are having a good experience are your best salespeople.
You could also create how-to guides. These could be in written or video format. This type of content is a great way to give your audience something for free, and hopefully, they'll see it as a valuable resource.
No.4 - Do Your Research
It's easy to write and talk about what we want and not about what our target audience is actually looking for. This is where you need to do your research.
What is your target audience looking for? Why do they need your product or service in their lives? Use your social media accounts and create polls. Ask your followers for their opinions. Ask your current clients the same questions. How did your product or service help them to overcome the challenges they were experiencing? Create content that uses this information.
Also, stick to writing what you know about. If you have a topic, you want to cover that you aren't familiar with, either put in the time to learn about it or hire someone to do it for you. Your audience can tell when you're faking it.
Writing with your audience in mind will always help you earn their trust.
No.5 - Say no to jargon
Jargon, buzz words —whatever you want to call it, your target audience and your customers don't like it, so try not to include it in your content.
Industry-speak might make you think you appear more informed, but studies tell us that it has the opposite effect.
So, if you want to build trust, you need to speak to your target audience as if you were talking to them in real life. Get rid of the 'innovative solutions’, don't ask your customers to 'reach out' about your product's new 'functionality’ — you get what I mean.
To summarise, content can help you earn the trust of your ideal clients and keep hold of the ones you've got. Take time to understand them by developing personas, using your website to track analytics and create content that they are more likely to engage with. Don't oversell your product or service, do your research, and if you'd like to create content on a topic you're not familiar with, learn about it yourself or ask for help, and finally, please, banish the jargon.