To reach an audience, you have to create content that readers find relevant, unique and impactful. At the same time, you want to create content that fits your marketing strategy. If you’re trying to reach business buyers, here are five steps you can take to make sure your content is focused on the right people and topics.
- Create personas that describe the people you want to reach. Be specific about the industry, job title or function and company size. Name some examples of companies they might work for. Include your current clients, where relevant. You might also think about their education and industry experience – it helps set the level at which you communicate.
- Describe the job your targets do and their top three to five priorities in that role. If you’re not certain about priorities, consider asking a colleague or past client what keeps them up at night. You might be reassured, and you may be surprised.
- Identify what your targets think they must do to be successful in their roles. If your list gets too long, you may be overcomplicating things. Most targets have a few key things they need to accomplish to succeed at work.
- List perceived barriers, the things that get in the way of a potential client’s success. These can be external or environmental, internal or tied to company culture, or perhaps a function of an evolving market. The detail you add here will make your content more effective in addressing your targets’ core concerns.
- Finally, think about how your targets come to know and make a decision about your products or services. This can be a useful reality check. If your potential client is just starting to think about the problem that you can solve, you probably want to avoid pitching features or benefits and concentrate instead on building awareness of the problems your target may be facing.
This approach requires upfront planning, discipline in describing your targets and consistency in execution. Writing for a well-defined target audience can become second nature, but applying the understanding gained by following these five steps takes practice.
