You’ve created personas for your target audience. You’ve recruited a team of freelancers or outsourced your content generation to a content agency. You’re now ready to publish a stream of content, but how are you going to ensure it will cut through the noise of today’s content-rich environment?
Creating an effective content strategy, complete with a consistent story and voice, is clearly important here, but the shifting demands of customers are often overlooked.
Seasonal variations
Many industries experience a seasonal rhythm, and people may well be more interested in content that’s relevant to current events. For example, an article about choosing football boots may not receive much attention in July during a major tennis tournament, but it could be a real hit in the run up to the football season. Likewise, if your company has a schedule of events or product launches for the year, base your content strategy around this.
The sales funnel
It’s also important to cater to people as they move through the sales funnel. At each stage, each person will seek certain content on which to base a purchasing decision.
When people first enter the sales funnel at the discovery stage, they will be looking for overview information about your company. Lighter content such as blog posts and newsletters can be helpful here in grabbing their attention.
As someone begins to seriously consider your product or service, his or her focus will shift to finding specific information. This is where your detailed specifications, case studies, and how-to guides come in.
Finally, you need to close the deal at the conversion stage. Having already made the case for your product or service, you now need to demonstrate your trustworthiness through content such as testimonials, independent reviews, and an explanation of your processes.
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