Creating content that resonates with your audience means publishing posts that make an emotional connection. You have to solve readers’ problems with content that’s easy to unpack and understand. That calls for in-depth market research, extensive content planning, and disciplined execution of strategy.
Market research is the first step in creating content that resonates with your audience. What problem are you solving, and which kind of people need your solution? What matters most to them? The other half of the work involves curating and sticking to an effective content strategy.
Of course, it goes much deeper, and a whole post is necessary to unpack the intricacies of content strategy. So, let’s get into the details!
1. Always Start With Audience Research
You won’t be writing for yourself; you’re doing it for people with likes and dislikes, specific needs, and wants. That’s why we insist content is crucial in a digital marketing strategy.
As such, it’s essential to understand your audience before creating content for them.
How to Identify Your Target Audience
You’ll need to envision and even create user avatars that represent your target audience. It will help you determine the tone, style, and even language to use when writing your content. Here’s how to do it:
A. Use Demographics Information
Demographics are statistical data that describe a group of people, including their age, gender, income, education level, and other relevant characteristics. This information will help you understand the general target audience traits and tailor your content to meet their needs.
These demographics affect the purchasing power, lifestyle choices, and interests of your audience.
For example, if you’re targeting millennials, use more casual language and incorporate pop culture references in your content. If your target audience is professionals, using industry-specific jargon may be appropriate.
B. Conduct Surveys or Interviews
Another way to get a better understanding of your audience is via surveys and interviews. Gather feedback from your current audience or conduct market research to gain insights about potential audiences.
Some questions to consider asking in a survey or interview include:
- What topics are you interested in?
- Where do you typically go for information on these topics?
- How often do you consume content related to these topics?
- Which content format do you prefer (e.g., articles, videos, podcasts)?
- What challenges or pain points do you face related to these topics?
Tools & Methods for Identifying Your Target Audience
You’re spoilt for choice with tools and methods for identifying your target audience. Consider the following options.
A. Surveys
Again, surveys are a great way to gather data about potential audiences.
B. Social Media Analytics
Your brand should be present on social media platforms like X, TikTok, and Meta, as these platforms offer exceptional insights into user traits and interests.
C. Social Listening
Use AI-powered social listening to keep tabs on social media conversations featuring keywords related to your industry. You’ll gain a better understanding of the interests and behaviors of potential customers.
D. Website Analytics
Similarly, website analytics tools like Google Analytics can show you the demographics and behaviors of visitors to your website.
E. Community Feedback
Engage with your community and collect feedback via public forums, customer support interactions, and focus groups.
F. Market Research Studies
Get free or paid access to market research studies conducted by professional firms or organizations.
2. Conduct Market and Competitor Research
Remember, an effective content strategy must align with market dynamics. You need to ensure your publishing is sustainable and rewarding.
Conduct thorough market and competitor research to gain a comprehensive understanding of your industry, market trends, and competition.
Which Content Are Your Competitors Publishing?
You can’t be moving exactly like your competitors and expect to have an edge over them. Your competitors are publishers within your niche who target the same audience you’re trying to reach.
You need to pay attention to their content and see what they’re publishing to get an idea of what’s working for them and what isn’t. Additionally, it will help you identify market gaps that your competitors may have missed.
How Often Are Your Competitors Publishing?
Another essential aspect to consider is how frequently your competitors are publishing new content.
It will help you understand the expectations of your target audience regarding frequency and consistency.
Analyze Content Gaps and Opportunities in Your Niche
Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and BuzzSumo can also help you identify any content gaps in your niche that your competitors have missed.
These tools help with market research and provide insights into popular topics, keywords, and backlinks for your competitors’ content.
You can use this information to create even better and more comprehensive content that fills those gaps and attracts potential customers.
3. Curate a Strategic Content Plan
You need to be guided by long-term goals to guide your content plan. A strategic content plan helps you stay focused on your objectives and ensures that each post works towards achieving them.
Map Content Types to Different Stages of the Buyer’s Journey
As we talked about before, creating content has to have economic value. Once you have established your target audience, map out its buyer’s journey and determine the different stages they go through before making a purchase.
A. Awareness Stage
At this stage, customers are looking for information to identify their problems or needs. Your content should focus on addressing these issues and making you a niche authority.
B. Consideration Stage
At this stage, customers know what their problem is and are actively looking for solutions. Your content should provide detailed information about your product or service and how it can solve their problem.
C. Decision Stage
At the final stage, customers are ready to make a purchase decision. Your content at this point should focus on copywriting techniques that can persuade customers to choose your brand over competitors.
Editorial Calendars, Content Pillars, and Themes
Your content strategy should diversify its topics and formats. Use an editorial calendar to organize your creation process for a steady stream of high-quality content.
A. Content Pillars
These are wide content categories that align with your niche, and they help build your content strategy foundation.
B. Themes
Themes are crucial for content planning as they provide specific topics for your content. Themes vary from educational to entertaining to promotional, depending on the target demographics and your business goals.
C. Formats
There are numerous formats you can use for your content, like blogs, videos, infographics, podcasts, social media posts, etc. To stay in front of today’s hyper-digital audience, having an omnichannel and omni-format approach is increasingly becoming essential for any forward-thinking business.
D. Content Distribution
Putting out high-quality content is only half the battle. You need an effective distribution plan for a broader reach. Consider sharing your content on relevant online communities or partnering with influencers with a large following in your industry.
4. Do Smart Keyword Research
You’re creating content for an audience, and you want it to have a huge, relevant reach. For this, you need to do smart keyword research before creating your content.
You already have an intimate understanding of your audience’s needs, so it’s time to figure out what keywords they’re using to search for solutions.
Keyword Research Uncovers Intent and Trends
You know your audience, but you don’t know where every person in your audience is along the buyer’s journey. Keyword research empowers you to find every person in your target audience at their point of need.
Before you start writing your content, do thorough keyword research to uncover intent and trends. User intent is the key to unlocking successful SEO. It’s the driving force when users go to search engines and key in their queries.
Remember, you’re not just optimizing; you’re contextualizing as well.
Tools for Conducting Keyword Research
You’re spoilt for choice with free and premium keyword research tools like:
- Google Keyword Planner.
- SEMrush.
- Ahrefs.
- Answer the Public.
- Moz’s Keyword Explorer.
- Ubersuggest.
Use these tools to gain insights into search volume, competition levels, and related keywords.
5. Craft Value-Driven, Audience-Focused Content
The best way to create content that resonates with your audience is to strike a balance between storytelling, authority, and problem-solving.
Storytelling
Most marketers and publishers use storytelling because of its power to evoke emotions. Storytelling is the perfect tactic for humanizing your brand so it’s relatable to your target audience.
When you tell a story through your content, ensure it’s relevant to your brand and aligns with the message you want to convey.
Authority
How do you position your brand as the niche authority so users trust you?
Post informational content that showcases your expertise and knowledge in your industry. Do it by answering commonly asked questions or providing in-depth insights on a particular topic.
Solving Problems
You already know your audience’s pain points and challenges, so use that to your advantage. Publish posts addressing these issues and recommend solutions (products and services.)
Consider offering discounts, promotions, or special offers to incentivize people to try your products.
Tips for Tone, Format, and Structure
- Use a conversational tone to help your audience feel connected to you.
- Break up large text chunks with subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists.
- Utilize images, videos, and other multimedia to break up the monotony of plain text. Here’s why you should start using video for content marketing.
- Keep paragraphs short for easy readability.
- Use internal and external links to back up your claims.
6. Promote Content Through Targeted Marketing Channels
Overview of Content Marketing Channels
You have multiple effective marketing channels at your disposal for promoting your content.
The following are some key channels that you can utilize for effective content promotion:
A. Social Media Platforms
Repost your content on different social media platforms, and keep the content format appropriate for each platform.
B. Email Marketing
Share your content via newsletters from time to time, and expand your email list with opt-in forms.
C. Influencer Marketing
Collaborate with other publishers to reach their audience and gain credibility for your content.
D. SEO
Tweak your content with relevant keywords to boost search visibility and web traffic. Here’s a basic guide to SEO for beginners.
E. Paid Advertising
Make a budget for paid advertising, as it helps drive qualified traffic to your content.
F. Guest Blogging
Publish posts on other blogs to tap into their readership and attract new followers back to your own site.
Align Channel Choice with Where Your Audience Lives Online
Do your homework, and find out where your audience lives online. Then, serve them your content on the channels they use most.
Be strategic and picky about which social media platforms, blogs, or websites you choose to promote your content on for the greatest impact and reach.
Repurposing Content for Different Formats
After identifying ideal platforms for your audience, consider repurposing your content for different formats.
Turn your blogs into many smaller social media posts. Additionally, consider converting them into videos, infographics, or podcasts to expand your reach by capturing different types of learners.
You can also turn multiple related blog posts into an e-book or whitepaper to provide valuable information in a more comprehensive format.
Repurposing content can also save time and resources while still reaching a wider audience.
Continuous Improvement Using Real Feedback
Make a habit of asking your audience for feedback, and use it to improve your overall content strategy. Ask for comments, reviews, and suggestions on your blog posts or social media platforms.
Consider conducting surveys or polls to gather specific feedback on what topics or formats your audience enjoys the most.
Effective Content Strategy Pegs on Empathy, Strategy, and Adaptability
It’s important to have content marketing goals and equally essential to have empathy, strategy, and adaptability. Take time to understand and relate with your target audience, then do everything else we’ve discussed.
If you’re too busy to write or create engaging content for your audience, work with me. I’ve been helping hundreds of businesses since 2008, and I can do the same for you.
