The Content Strategy Mistakes That Are Wasting Your Marketing Dollars

A great content strategy is like a great date — it’s relatable, engaging, tells good stories, and leaves you wanting more. Imagine this: You're out on a date with a drool-worthy hotcake … who only talks about themselves. How do you feel when they never take the slightest interest in you? Probably bored, wishing you’d swiped left and stayed home. This is where we see content creators making the biggest mistake. It’s not that they don’t have great ideas; it’s that the framework is all wrong. The problem arises when you only talk about your company and hard sell your service or product in everything you write. Your content’s goal is to evoke discussion, not commandeer it. Make your content like an amazing night out and it will reel in more leads and sales. Talk more with your audience and less about your brand. Here are some tips to make it work.

The Content-Killer Cocktail

Going on blind dates can be extremely painful. Small talk is awkward, yet those first few instances together in conversation make the biggest impression. Either you hit it off or you blow it, so how do you make those moments matter? You would try to get to know your date a little bit beforehand from friends or social platforms, right? Content marketing is the same. You can do prior research to make sure your brand’s voice will resonate with your ideal audience.Related: It’s Time To Ditch These 8 Myths About Content MarketingAsk yourself, Am I doing any research right now to understand my audience? If not, then the content you're creating may not be buzzing because it’s either:

• For the wrong consumer: Like meeting someone nice but who isn’t your type.
• Not resonating: Like being into someone that isn’t into you.

In both the marketing and the dating worlds, these situations are lose-lose. The good news is that marketers have a strategy to help you find the right customers and make them fall in love with you.

The Secret to Creating An Outstanding Content Strategy

Just like Tinder matches look at each other’s profiles before going out, marketers conduct audience analyses and create audience profiles before writing anything, from blog posts to website copy. It’s the #1 secret to creating content that resonates and grows your business. So how do you do it?

Audience Analysis 101

Conducting an analysis is a two-step process with the goal of completing an audience avatar. If you already have a grasp on your consumers, skip ahead to step two to create your avatars. If you're not sure or making too many assumptions, dive into analysis first.

Step 1: Dig Into The Data

Social media, surveys, and online stores give you a good idea about your consumers' demographics. You want to extrapolate the following:

• Average age
• Gender
• Language
• Location
• Family status
• Education level
• Income level
• Career

The data will point you in the right direction with a lot of working info as you move onto step two.

Step 2: Interview service reps and customers to inform your content strategy

If you really want to understand what makes your customers tick, then you need to get into their heads. Conduct interviews not just with customers but with your service reps as well since they’re the front line to customer inquiries. When you're interviewing, you'll want to learn information such as:

• Goals
• Values
• Successes
• Challenges
• Objections
• Pain points
• Social media habits
• Sources of information
• Role models
• Your company’s impact

Interviews are also a great way to confirm data from your audience analysis. Feel free to ask questions that will fill in any gaps in your research. Once you've compiled all your data, you're ready to create profiles.

Create Your Audience Profile

Once you have all your data, you’ll need to transform it into an easy-to-read document. You can find tons of templates online, but we particularly like Digital Marketer's format. Here's an example of what your audience profile may look like:

You probably have a handful of different audiences enjoying your product or services, so don't forget to create their profiles as well!

Audience Analysis Will Skyrocket Your Content Strategy

Who knew that content marketing would be so much like dating? The thing is, in business you're starting a long-term relationship with customers! Whether you're on a first date or already committed, continuously learning and taking interest in your customers is crucial. Regular audience analysis and updating your profiles will give you the tools to not only keep your content fresh and engaging but meet your customers’ evolving needs.Related: You Have More Influence Than You ThinkTo really tie your mission to your brand’s voice and create killer conversations with your clients, download our personal brand planner or drop us a message and let us know how we can help.

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