Content Marketing is Pulling Customers Toward You
Last week we talked about the two types of marketing–push and pull. Content marketing is about pulling customers towards you. It’s not just about creating demand, it’s about creating informed customers who want what you have. Your blog is a great place to do this. Create the content people want to read. I know that’s easy to say, but it really is easier to do than you might think. When you introduce yourself to people, one of the first questions people ask is, “What do you do?” For many that’s an easy question to answer. Of course, there are those in the “If I told you, I’d have to kill you” professions, but I doubt they have blogs or are concerned about content marketing. For those who have a more difficult to define answer that doesn’t include death to the questioner, it takes a little work to come up with a succinct answer. It’s worth the work.
Here Comes The Important Second Question for Content
There’s almost always a follow up-question to the what do you do. That’s the question you need to heed. It may be, “Wow. I’ve never met anyone who does that. Why do you do that?” Or it could be, “Really?! What do you think is the best ___ ?(fill in the blank with something specific to your area of expertise)” Sometimes it’s, “Doesn’t (your competitor) have a corner on that market? Why would you bother?”
In fact Jeff Haden has a great article over at Inc Magazine about the best way to introduce yourself. It’s not only entertaining to read it’s full of really good stuff. You can read a little bit about Jeff on his bio page. Although I’ve never met Jeff I think he’d be a fun guy to have a beer with. I’d even ask him about how the cycling is going.
Don’t Waste The Oopportunity
Right there you have at least three informative blog posts. Answer each question. Be informative. Don’t waste the opportunity! But here’s the catch–you need to be positive. Don’t slam your competition. Your readers—those who loyally follow you and are great customers as well as those who have searched their way into your domain and may be customers–don’t want to hear you slam your competition. They want to know what’s what. They want to know your products, techniques, services, and information are up-to-date, accurate, and easily understood. You can compare, but don’t bash. Content marketing can start with the questions you’re asked most often. It takes work, but it’s worthwhile. So . . . what do you do?
