Customers are the lifeblood of any business, however, small or large. Wearing many hats throughout the day, week, it can be a challenge to have the time to think, plan and prepare how you are going to retain existing customers and attract new ones. The digital age demands our eyes and ears and they need to be satisfied and stimulated with content and information that keeps us interested, entertained and on a path that could lead to a potential purchase. We are all customers, we all like certain people, brands, companies. Why is that? Because somewhere along the line, we like what they say, how they do it. We feel a connection, some trust and rapport has been established. The content that they share with us keeps us enthralled. And that is what you must do as a business owner, keep your past, present and future customers enthralled.
"Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action". - Content Marketing Institute
Your content needs to be well thought out to stand a chance of making a connection with your audience and convey what it is your business does, add value and build trust. This is where small businesses can excel, you know your customer, so think like them. By creating content that is specific to current and potential customers they get an understanding of you, what you do, how you do it, how your product or service serves them better than your competitor. Would you put a shabbily crafted advert in a magazine or newspaper or send an ill thought out email to your customers? I hope the word is 'no'. What would readers think?
What should content be doing?
What is good content that small businesses could be sharing?
If you were to sit and review your day, week, month a lot happens. Some of this can easily be turned into informative content to share with your audience. How does what you do solve a problem for a customer? You have successfully sold to a customer - what was successful about it? How can you convey this? The following are suggestions that you can factor into your business on a regular basis.
As a small business you should be setting time aside to plan and prepare?
It is essential for businesses to plan the what and how you are going to communicate your messages. As a small business owner, you are in a better position to get it out there quickly, without the concerns that a larger organisation has; such as agreement, longer term preparation, which sometimes means that it could be so last week. Every business owner has a sense of what happens throughout their business year. Do you keep a basic calendar of key cyclical activities in your business? Do you review your customer's habits? How are you addressing issues and concerns? Chances are you are creating content of sorts, but are you making it work better for you by incorporating it into the suggestions mentioned above? Don't leave it to the last minute. Or worse still forget it. By regularly producing content through a variety of different ways, your audience is going to feel that you are listening and that you are thinking like a customer. Each business has is its own story to tell, it's how clever you are at stimulating the eyes and ears of your customers, past, present and future.
Yours socially
"Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action". - Content Marketing Institute
Your content needs to be well thought out to stand a chance of making a connection with your audience and convey what it is your business does, add value and build trust. This is where small businesses can excel, you know your customer, so think like them. By creating content that is specific to current and potential customers they get an understanding of you, what you do, how you do it, how your product or service serves them better than your competitor. Would you put a shabbily crafted advert in a magazine or newspaper or send an ill thought out email to your customers? I hope the word is 'no'. What would readers think?
What should content be doing?
- Be putting your audience first - past, present and future.
- Should stimulate your audience and engage and enthrall them.
- Set you apart from your competition.
- Well crafted content should be engaging, without selling and ultimately help influence your audience decision to buy from you at some point in the future.
What is good content that small businesses could be sharing?
If you were to sit and review your day, week, month a lot happens. Some of this can easily be turned into informative content to share with your audience. How does what you do solve a problem for a customer? You have successfully sold to a customer - what was successful about it? How can you convey this? The following are suggestions that you can factor into your business on a regular basis.
- Newsletters
- Email marketing
- Blogs
- Hints and tips and advice
- Case Studies
- News
- Videos
- Ebooks
- Whitepapers
As a small business you should be setting time aside to plan and prepare?
It is essential for businesses to plan the what and how you are going to communicate your messages. As a small business owner, you are in a better position to get it out there quickly, without the concerns that a larger organisation has; such as agreement, longer term preparation, which sometimes means that it could be so last week. Every business owner has a sense of what happens throughout their business year. Do you keep a basic calendar of key cyclical activities in your business? Do you review your customer's habits? How are you addressing issues and concerns? Chances are you are creating content of sorts, but are you making it work better for you by incorporating it into the suggestions mentioned above? Don't leave it to the last minute. Or worse still forget it. By regularly producing content through a variety of different ways, your audience is going to feel that you are listening and that you are thinking like a customer. Each business has is its own story to tell, it's how clever you are at stimulating the eyes and ears of your customers, past, present and future.
Yours socially
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