Are you a content marketing super hero?
When everyone is inundated with nearly obscene amounts of content across every conceivable digital channel, how do you create content that is going to stand out and grab the attention of your future customer? By being a content hero! Learn to deliver content that moves, solves problems, and incites action. In the dizzying world of content marketing, never has being heroic been as relevant and important as it is now.
To be clear, I’m not thinking of the mighty-superhuman hero, Superman… or referring to the hero sandwich, quite obviously. I’m picturing your more everyday super-hero, like Spiderman: regular guy-Peter Parker, turned hero. Other than the very exceptional and impressive ultra-strong-web-spinning-wrists-trick, and the sticky-finger-building-crawling-thing, what relatable, yet hero-like, qualities does he possess? Here are few that come to my mind as I envision that webbed wonder: Entertaining, humorous, memorable, timely, strong, brave, powerful, helpful, and approachable.
I’m no Spiderman, only inasmuch as I do spin webs of content and hope they’re sticky. And I am no Superman either, yet I try to stop the speeding train of the information super-highway long enough to get someone’s attention. But with regards to the other merits that heroes possess, and in relationship to content creation, I think we all have the ability to demonstrate at least some of those everyday hero-like qualities.
In today’s ultra-competitive content world, there are some very specific things to keep top-of-mind when working at being a content hero. The goal here is to delight your prospects by providing what they really want, and a be a hero to your sales people for using content so strategically that you set them up them to seal the deal.
So, what can we do to be content heroes?
You might not be able to fly, have x-ray vision, spin webs, or teleport yourself (yet) but you can learn to be someone’s hero as you create content across the entire customer journey. Like all heroes, you must take some risks, take the lead, and hopefully – become legendary.
From attracting and nurturing leads to closing the deal and then on to inspiring brand advocates, here are five ways you, and your content, can be heroes:
#1 Make it entertaining, and make it memorable
During the first phase of the buyer’s journey, your content needs to be bold, to surprise and dazzle, to gain attention. I don’t know about you, but I am innately drawn to– and will stick around for – content that makes me laugh, cry, and even perhaps wince. Whether it’s funny or beautiful, scary or edgy, you need to distinguish your content from the pack to catch the attention of – and inspire engagement from – your prospects. Be bold and brave; create content that is so special, your prospects can’t wait to learn more about you by engaging further, or even better, sharing your content with their circles of influence.
#2 Make it enticing
Once you’ve attracted your prospects, you need to design content and/or offers that are so irresistible, so intriguing, that they can’t help but want to give you their information (by way of a form) to get what you’re offering. With their data in hand, you are now on your way to delivering the education and information they crave, becoming their new hero!
#3 Make it informative and relevant
Like any hero, your content has vital jobs to do. It needs to be an educational resource, providing timely and relevant value to your target audience. It needs to make your brand look spiffy and smart and trustworthy. Ultimately, it must capture quality leads for your sales team. Imagine if Spiderman always showed up late, in droopy tights, and to the wrong location.
- He helps no one.
- He would not solve any problems.
- He would definitely not be a respected hero.
Mission NOT accomplished. To be a content hero and capture your prospects, you need to deliver the right information at the right time, through the correct channels, to the people who need it – your potential customers. If you don’t do this, your buyers are going to look elsewhere to solve their problems or get their answers. That’s an open invitation for your competitors to become their hero. Don’t let that happen.
#4 Make it personal
Heroes are idolized because they make people feel important, supported and valued. Don’t you want your potential customers feel the same? Nobody wants to feel like just one of the pack, so create content that addresses your prospect’s specific needs or solves a particular problem. Sending personalized, targeted email campaigns to specific people at specific times can accomplish this goal. It will move you closer to hero status, first in the eyes of your prospect, then in the fond regard of those sales reps who will get better-qualified leads as your prospects interact with your inspired, custom-made, personalized, irresistible content.
#5 Make it last
The savvy content marketer understands that the buyer’s journey doesn’t end after the sale. This is where the content marketing hero sets him/herself apart from the crowd: making the customer continue to feel important, special, valued long into the future. If this stage is handled with as much care and respect as all the others that precede it, your customers will hopefully shout your glory from the rooftops for all the world to hear. Ok, that last part might be a tad dramatic, but the goal here is that the hero – your brand – will be valued, cherished, admired … and remembered. Make your customers and clients fans for life by continuing to nurture that relationship.