The internet is a hub of information and viral traffic, so how do you keep up with the constant demand for content and simultaneously speak to your specific target audience of potential customers?
Producing Relevant Blog Content
Consumers are demanding content they can personally grow from. More and more companies are finding that consumers believe the businesses who have proven themselves, and currently that proof is in the pudding of content marketing. Blog posts and strong social media presence are both ways in which a small business can work to connect with its potential customers and prove value.
Valuable, corporately-produced content will only produce trust and audience affection if it is:
- Correct, not assumed or sloppy
- Informative, not sales-pitchy
- Unique, not regurgitated
- Consistent, on and off again
- Emotive, not irrelevant
Location-Based Posts
With a widespread audience globally drifting across the internet into every crevice, it is important to hone in on your prospective market. You aren’t looking to sell to anyone and everyone (not that you won’t), but you have a specific customer type that you are looking to make an impression on—your favorite type of customer and the one who your product or service is designed to help. That is your target audience.
Your target audience has to reside somewhere. Perhaps several somwheres. That is your target location. You may cover three states or three counties; you may want to focus on one area one month or all of them on a regular basis. How you cover your areas is up to you, but use your preferred locations to help you discover relevant content.
Your business’s target location can be used to help you reach your target audience. Increase your presence in this local audience by covering important local news stories (like a Boston snow storm, for example) or topics specifically relevant to the area.
Is it storming? Write posts that are relevant to storms. Is it a college town? Write about college-related material. No matter what your industry is, content can be produced that is based on the location of your audience.
Marketing Trends: The Here and the Now
It’s all about what’s happening now. Everyone wants to know what trends to look for in 2014 and how things are expected go for the upcoming months. This generation of consumers has a hunger to have the most up-to-date information and the latest know-how on fads. They want tips and stories that keep them interested and are on a constant lookout for places they can be found.
- Don’t get behind the eight ball, know what’s next in your industry
- Make predictions for upcoming trends
- Cite authoritative sources to back up your own expert opinions
- Stay on top of local (and national) news stories and target any that affect your audience
- Keep the focus off of your own products and services for the most part
- Let your audience experience your knowledge and leadership, not your advertising capabilities
The business that provides this kind of content is the business they will look to for advice and knowledge. That business doesn’t need to push its product, just provide its insight; customers purchase most often based on trust.
Alethea M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
