Only your own marketing data can help you understand where you may have gaps to fill.
The most common gap we see is a lack content focused on the latter stages of the buying process. It’s not surprising that a gap there would impact your marketing performance. After all, that’s the business end of the process where decisions are made.
If you’re creating truly great content and still not getting the results you want, it could be that the content you’ve created doesn’t cover every stage of your prospect’s buying process.
We often see marketers focus their content efforts on the earliest stages of the process – on the “Know” part of “Know, Like, and Trust.” Cast a wide net, the thinking seems to go, and good results will follow.
That’s true as far as it goes, but to succeed, that early-stage content has to be supported by content that goes beyond attracting your target audience and instead focuses on engaging and converting them.
The topics your content addresses will play a big role in the types of leads and prospects any particular piece of content will appeal to, and format is an important consideration, as well, and that’s what I’d like to concentrate on here, since it’s much more broadly applicable to a wider range of businesses and industries.
Please keep in mind that “broadly applicable” doesn’t mean “universally applicable.” There are exceptions to the ideas below based on industry and based on any particular piece of content’s specific combination of topic and format. Only your own marketing data can help you understand where you may have gaps to fill.
With that grain of salt, let’s take a look at what might be a reasonable range of content to create for your marketing machine.
Marketing Content to Attract Your Target Audience
Short-form written content, infographics, podcasts.
Some of these are quick-hit formats that your audience can consume quickly. Others, like podcasts, may require more time but less attention. (Since you can usually listen to a podcast while you’re walking the dog, commuting, or prepping dinner.)
That’s important since, at the earliest stages of their process, many buyers are trying to learn as much as possible about potential solutions in as little time as they can.
Your goal here should be to impart high-concept knowledge that is quick and easy to consume and grasp. Ideally, you’ll do this in a way that begs a deeper question. (If you demonstrate that, say, 77% of buyers find success implementing solution X, you might want to lead your prospects to look for answers about how to implement solution X properly, which your next piece of content would provide.)
Marketing Content to Engage Your Target Audience
Video, white papers, webinars, case studies.
These are the content formats you might be leading your prospects to as they look for answers on nuts and bolts questions like implementation in my example above.
This isn’t necessarily the second piece of content they consume – there might be two or three or ten pieces of content that help them get to know you before they decide to dive deeper.
Once they have gotten to know you – and as they begin to evaluate the most attractive options – they’ll look for some deeper knowledge to arm themselves with. That’s where engagement comes in and that’s where content like videos and white papers are so critical.
Marketing Content to Convert Your Target Audience
White papers, webinars, case studies.
At the latest stages of the process, is likely looking to build a strong case in favor or a decision to go with one solution versus another. That can mean two very different things: either “Just the facts, ma’am.” Or, “Just that facts that are going to confirm what my gut is telling me, ma’am.”
There are instances where prospects are going to research their decisions as quantitatively as possible. They’re going to compare every data point they can to help them arrive at the best possible ROI, or lowest-risk option, or whatever value matrix they’ve created. “Just the facts, ma’am.”
But sometimes, oftentimes even, when prospects are clamoring for the evidence in favor of one solution or another, they’ve already made up their mind and are looking for ways to justify their decision.
This mix of quantitative and qualitative evaluation is what makes the full range of content, formats, and platforms so important. No single piece of content – and no single type of content – is likely to convert consistently on its own. You have to match your marketing content to your prospects’ process and where in that process they are, understanding that as they progress, their interests and thinking will change.
There are, of course, many content formats I haven’t included above, so don’t take the list as exhaustive or exclusive. You will undoubtedly convert some podcasts listeners or infographic viewers simply because you (and your content) were in the proverbial right place at the right time.
Take those wins where you can, but don’t ignore the importance of creating content that covers the full range of topics and formats likely to appeal to your target audience at every step of their buying process.
Occasional large-scale changes can re-invigorate a marketing plan that’s beginning to falter and can provide a blast of inspiration that ripples out through the rest of your marketing.
By the way, if you’re interested in hearing some of my podcast and radio appearances, you’ll find a few of them listed on the Andigo website.
Photo by elen aivali on Unsplash
