What Questions Do I Need to Ask Before Content Marketing?
For the starters, this is not a “7 tips for content marketing you need to know”. This is all about asking questions. I have always believed, when we learn to ask questions, we’ll gradually start to ask the right questions. And when you ask the right questions – you will start finding the right answers.
There is another great thing about questioning. It comes from curiosity. And when you learn something curiously to figure out how things work, you are more likely to absorb and understand it, than anything else. Because with ‘I have a question’ and ‘I want answers’ – it all becomes really personal and hence more relevant. Just how the psychology of human behaviour works. So, instead of inspiring you to read hundreds of blog posts and watch millions of youtube videos before you understand how to do proper content marketing, I’ll tell you how can you ask the right questions.
Are you in? Let’s dive in…
What is My Goal?
When it comes to content marketing, the idea usually is – to communicate your ‘brands value’ to your target audience. This is the founding principle of content marketing. But you also need a personal goal, the one that’s relevant to your business needs right now.
Let’s say, you want more visitors to visit your website, so that you have an increased web traffic. Now you are creating more web content and using social media platforms to communicate that and inform your audience. Almost like saying, “Hey look! I’ve created this really nice content for you today. This is free and you may find it useful…wanna come inside and have a look?”
Or, your business relevant goal can be something different. Let’s say, you want your site to be appearing on top for your niche based Google Search. So you may optimize your contents to appear on top of the search results. Does it sound all too complicated for you as a beginner?
Imagine instead, you are asking your audience – “Hey are you looking for this ‘stuff’? We got it! Wanna come inside and have a look?” And when you are saying this standing at the front row of the competitors, you audience most likely are going to notice you.
So now ask yourself- what is my business goal at the moment? Don’t just blindly follow the crowd and do whatever your competitors are doing. Reflect upon your business, your current position, your unique needs and your desired destination – before setting a goal.
When you make every decision in alignment with your business, you are likely to create a sustainable business that can withstand the test of time. This is exactly why I put more emphasis to learning to ask the right questions. That will almost always lead you towards the right answers.
Who am I Speaking To?
Imagine randomly calling somebody and telling them all about your day. And both of you have no clue who the other person is. Weird, right? This is exactly how you may appear to your audience – if you are not properly targeting your audience based on your niche.
In short, you are not asking the right question, and in this instance it’s asking –
“who am I speaking to?”
Do they need what I offer? Why do they need this? What is their ‘pain point’?
People who usually need what I offer, what are their characteristics? Their age, gender, location, educational background, profession?
These are called demographics, the relevant background data of your audience. Using this information you can gradually build a number of “buyer personas”, for your business. Buyer persona gives you a personified glimpse of your ideal audience group.
Focusing on the buyer persona as you create content, helps you connect with the right audience.
What Do I Need to Do Inside The Content to Make It Work?
A million dollar question- I’m sure, every content writer, marketer and business owner have wondered, atleast once in their lifetime. Because there is no way to learn without asking. And there is no shame in questioning.
There are few ways to work around it. Let’s have a look at the most effective ones
1. Don’t Sell
It’s important for content marketer to avoid appearing as “salesy” in their contents. Because that may push your audience further away. A marketer must understand the psychology of their audience and keep and empathetic approach towards them.
Your audience don’t spend their precious time to read through a long content so that they can find out what you are selling. They most likely already know it. And that’s why they are there in the first place. Now, they are trying to know you better. Checking the possibilities or prospects. In other words, they are looking for your value. So, you have to offer them value. This will eventually build trust. On the other hand, forcing them to make a purchase – will break their trust.
2. Optimize
Wise marketers would agree that, there is no alternative to properly optimizing your content, when it’s meant for content marketing. The latest Google update ranks the content based on the E-E-A-T algorithm.
E- Experience
E- Expertize
A- Authoritativeness
T- Trustworthiness
In 2022 update, Google have added and extra E to emphasise the importance of first hand experience in producing the content material. The factors like if it was produced with some degree of experience, such as with actual use of a product, having actually visited a place or communicating what a person experienced.
Diligently optimizing the content to the latest SEO trends as well as following the new algorithm updates on Google will certainly help you gain momentum towards your target audience.
3. Watch Your Progress
Always watch the progress you made through your content marketing practices. Google Analytics is a great tool to track the metrics of your contents. This tells you, if you are effectively reaching your target audience. This is a good way to get insight about new prospective audiences or opportunities.
Understand what your audience likes. In doing so, align your marketing attempts to better suit their taste. Use Google Search Console to check how you are ranking.
After asking so many questions, it’s time that we reward ourselves with a little bit of a clue-treat. Never shy away from adding real value to your content marketing. Make it informative with experience-based, expert point of view, keeping in mind that your content is founded in well authorized sources, links and has a high degree of trustworthiness. At the same time, make it an attention-worthy and engaging piece to read for your audience. Now, do you see it? It’s all about stricking that golden balance between structure and creativity. This surely is the recipe for a winning content marketing.
Don’t trust me, try it yourself!
Want to plan a winning content strategy? Read my blog on Content Strategy.