It’s no secret that content is king when it comes to digital marketing. We know that blog posts, videos, infographics and the like are the best way to get in front of your target audience and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. However, many people aren’t using content strategically enough. The main purpose of content is to start conversations and build relationships with customers, so let’s take a look at how you can leverage your best material to start conversations that lead to sales.
Show Up As Much As Possible
Each time you show up in front of a potential client is a chance to start a sales conversation with them, so it’s important to reach as many people as possible.
This doesn’t mean creating generic content and trying to be all things to all people. It’s about posting frequently across as many platforms as possible to maximise the chances that you will be seen by your ideal client.
If you want to start conversations with potential clients, it’s vital that they know who you are. This means using your name and profile image on all of your profiles and being consistent across all platforms.
You should show up every day if possible. Scheduling tools such as Buffer and HootSuite make this easy to do, as does repurposing content.
Call-to-Action
Your content will be much more valuable in terms of generating conversations if you include a clear and compelling call-to-action at the end.
The best calls-to-action encourage people to engage with your content or share it on social media, which is exactly what we want when we’re trying to start conversations with potential customers.
This is especially important when you’re using content to make connections with people who don’t know you. You need something compelling to encourage them to engage, so avoiding generic calls-to-action like ‘click here’ or ‘read more’. Ask questions, start polls or encourage prospects to comment a certain word or phrase below to find out more.
Start Conversations, Not Sales Pitches
Your content should always be geared towards starting conversations with potential customers.
This means you shouldn’t use your content to push people further down the sales funnel too quickly, otherwise they will see through it and completely disengage. You need to start slow and build a rapport before pushing for a sale.
Content should always be valuable and helpful. Remember that content tells, copy sells. Your aim is to nurture your potential clients or customers and build a relationship with them. Then, by the time they are ready to buy from you, you won’t need to go in for a hard sell because there is a respectful and trusting relationship already in place.
Speak to Customers, NOT Competitors
A mistake many business owners make is connecting primarily with their peers online, rather than their ideal buyer.
If you want to start conversations with potential customers, it’s important that your content isn’t aimed at competitors and industry peers.
Your best prospects will be those who don’t yet know about you or haven’t heard of the work you do. They should see things in your content they can relate to and learn from as well as opportunities for them to engage with you.
Summary
If you want to use your content strategically, there are a few things you can do to start more conversations.
Firstly, you should show up as much as possible and post frequently across all platforms so that potential customers know who you are and what you offer.
Make sure that each piece of content has a clear call-to-action at the end to encourage prospects to engage with the content or share it on social media.
Finally, make sure that your posts aren’t sales pitches. Instead, focus on starting conversations by providing valuable information in an interesting way. This will allow for deeper relationships between them and help foster trust before asking someone to sign up for something or purchase one of your products or services.
