Content marketing could be a boon for your business if managed correctly. Informative, engaging, and relevant content helps attract new customers, keep loyal ones, and drive profitable customer actions.
The most common mistake marketers make in content marketing is creating a generic message for too large an audience. Though broad-strokes topics may work well for all audiences, there are differences between strategising content designed to acquire new customers compared to content designed to retain existing ones. It’s better to create separate strategies to ensure you’re responding to each demographic’s unique needs. Here’s what to keep in mind as you cultivate an online content strategy for your business.
The key difference between new & existing customers
Creating content for new customers is different from creating content for existing ones. This is because your existing customers already know your brand. They need content that will sustain their interest and keep them engaged.
Potential customers, on the other hand, are still learning about your products and services, and may not yet have formed an opinion. Therefore, personalisation is essential. When you gain a deeper understanding of your audience and their level of brand awareness, you can craft quality content that will widen your brand’s exposure. This can become one of your most impactful customer loyalty strategies.
Create educational content for new customers
As new customers are just now hearing of your company for the first time, you need to generate more educational content that will increase awareness and develop connections. Whether you’re writing blog articles or creating podcasts, your content should offer broader descriptions of your products or services and earn trust by demonstrating that you understand your customers’ needs. Write content that relates to the issues that have sent people in search of the products or services you offer. Explain how your business will serve their needs, how you compare to your competitors, and why they should trust your company to successfully deliver.
Write for your customers’ perspectives
When crafting your content, you should alter your message to customers who are already familiar with your brand. The message you’re delivering to potential customers will seem patronising to those who already know and appreciate your business, which is why you should develop an adjacent content strategy that explores relevant issues more deeply and expands your readers’ knowledge of your full product or service line. If you already have their attention, now is the time to upsell!
Shift the conversation from how you can provide solutions to how they can maximise their investment in your product or service. You can do this by writing how-to guides for your products or case studies based on past experiences. This content should prove your value and allow your existing customer base to deepen their bond with your brand.
Obtain data from existing customers for more context
Believe it or not, prioritising your existing customer base can prove far more beneficial than reaching new prospects. The Harvard Business Review suggests that increasing customer retention rates by as little as 5% can increase your profits by 25% to 95%!
That said, content marketing is important in answering the question of how to build customer loyalty. To provide more value to your existing customers, study your previous content strategies and examine the analytics data of those that performed well. Analyse the activity of your audience, how much time they spent with your content, and the number of conversions and engagements you earned through comments, likes, and shares. Through this, you will gain a deeper understanding of what kind of content has helped your existing customers achieve their goals.
Learn more from the people that know business
Your company can’t do marketing without the help of quality content. And it pays to know who exactly you’re writing for and to develop a message that will best address their needs. Work with marketers who can help make strategic campaigns for different types of audiences. Invest in proper tools to measure activity on your blog, social media sites, websites, and more. If you’re interested in learning more ways to reach new prospects and build customer loyalty, visit Bartercard today!
