The written word is king of the marketing hill these days. Between the
intangible nature of services and the intangible marketing challenge
known as the Internet, having content that increases interest and
drives sales is a service firm imperative.
When selling services, content is your "free sample," the
equivalent of the people in supermarkets giving out little cups of
various kinds of food products for you to try before you buy. OK, well,
maybe not exactly like that, but thematically the same. Your content
conveys your company's personality (known in more stuffy business
circles as your culture) as well as your expertise, which are both part
of the criteria applied by prospects when making buying decisions.
So here's the question that constitutes the title of this article:
Is your content actually connecting? You can have loads of articles,
white papers, web pages, and email messages, but if the words in those
pieces aren't making a strong connection to your market, all that
content is worthless.
Here are some suggestions for creating connections with content:
Be context specific. A piece of content needs to talk to a specific
audience at the right level. If you market to financial advisors, for
example, assume that your reader understands the financial planning
field at least at an intermediate level if not higher. Don't write
"Finance 101" stuff for these folks. If, on the other hand, you are a
financial advisor selling your services to small and solo business
owners, assume that your reader is knowledge-deficient in the exact
areas where you shine. Content for the first group would be way beyond
the second set of readers, while content for second set would bore if
not insult the first group.
Write like you talk. Said another way, write like your company
talks. The style, voice, and tone of your content will be very
different if you have a more informal "shorts and t-shirt" way of doing
business than if you are operating out of an urban high-rise and "dress
for success" in designer duds. Keep your language and style consistent
with how you want to be perceived.
Stay away from the third person. Use first and second person in
your content. If the piece is authored by one person, as with an
article or a white paper, use first person singular; if the speaker is
the company, use we and us. Talk directly to the reader using you and
your.
Be inclusive and at the same level. Involve your reader. Instead of
saying "if one looks at this situation," say "if we look," or "let's
look." And instead of being instructive or positioning yourself as the
guru on the mountain, stand next to the reader. "The challenge we face
is..." is far more attractive in the reader's mind than "the challenge
facing you is..." Avoid potentially condescending or patronizing
phrases like, "You need to understand..." or "It should be obvious
that..."
Finally, be passionate. We are all passionate about what we offer,
and we need to be proud to show it. I, for example, think that good,
authentic content will pave the way to quality relationships with great
customers. That's why content is a practice all by itself at 4R, why I
talk about it so much, and why I enjoy creating the right content for
my clients.
About The Author
principal of 4-R Marketing LLC, is an experienced marketing consultant
and creator of the 4-R Marketing Model™ for service businesses.
Very much a "non-conformist" in the marketing world, Trish produces
measurable results with marketing that drives revenues for her
customers.
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Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run online business , matrix, internet marketing solution , online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer , computer training , computer software and personal computer
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