You may have heard the old marketing maxim, “If you target everyone, you target no one.” This is especially true for content marketers.
To succeed at content marketing, you must address the specific needs of your readers. But you can’t do that if you haven’t first identified who they are.
Finding your readers
I’m going to begin by saying something that sounds a little off-base: Who reads your content is less important than who you want to read your content.
Let me explain.
Imagine for a minute that you’re a magazine publisher. Do you publish articles about anything and everything, then wait to see who will buy them? Or do you decide on your target audience and then produce content you know they’ll find interesting?
You guessed it. As a content marketer, you select your audience.
Of course, if you’ve been marketing for any length of time, you’ve already identified your ideal prospect and most valuable customer. They are your audience. Every piece of content you write must be aimed at them. No one else.
They’re the people you want to attract, so your content must be narrowly focused on meeting their needs. Hopefully, by hitting the mark time after time, you’ll build such a strong relationship with them that they keep coming back for more.
Remember, as a content marketer, your goal is to provide information that engages your readers and builds loyalty.
Turning casual readers into regular customers
Magazine publishers can’t pay their bills if they don’t have loyal subscribers. Similarly, as a content marketer, you won’t generate leads if you don’t have regular readers.
You must continually provide content that your prospects and customers find valuable — something you can’t do if your content is vague or wishy-washy. That’s why you must find your niche and faithfully serve its needs.
One warning. You must serve your ideal reader and not everyone who happens to read your content. This is a common mistake. For instance, I know of a company that has been using content marketing for several years, but with little return on the investment.
This company sells to a very narrow niche, but since they’re committed to providing free content, anyone can subscribe to their newsletters. Sadly, that’s where they lose focus.
This company writes articles with all subscribers in mind, rather than their target audience. So instead of making their articles directly beneficial to their target market, they water down the message to be “valuable” to all readers, even the readers who don’t qualify as prospects.
Big mistake.
Since their articles don’t address the unique challenges of their target audience, readership is on the decline, their newsletters don’t generate any leads, and loyalty among long-term customers is slipping.
This company’s ideal prospects see the “watering down” of content as evidence that the company is losing focus.
Like a magazine, decide on your target audience and write content specific to their needs. If someone else finds your content useful, more power to them. But your goal is to engage your target audience. Do it well, and you’ll turn casual readers into loyal customers.
Your bottom line in content publishing
Your one focus as a content marketer is to find your niche and serve it well.
Have you been able to identify your ideal readers? Do you feel you consistently engage them? Share your success story. It only takes a moment to leave a comment.
photo credit: katerha
