If you’re like most business leaders, you spend a lot of time or money (or both) creating content for your marketing program. But are you getting results from that content? It’s not uncommon for me to hear that content results are disappointing. For example, I routinely hear that email open rates are below twenty five percent (25%) and website bounce rates are above seventy percent (70%). Are your content marketing results disappointing? Let’s talk about ways you can improve your content so it performs better.
Of course, the following tips are generalizations and not specific to your content, and these comments are made outside of a specific omnichannel strategy. I can do a more specific, complimentary content marketing review if you would like, and you can schedule that here. But there are some common things I see in content when I hear it’s not working. Since content spans every aspect of your marketing, I want to focus on the three most commonly used media, website, social media, and email.
The content on your website should be the most general content used among the three media, since you don’t always know who will see it until they come to your site. Once someone is on your site, you can tell which pages they view – and which pages they visit most – using Google Analytics. You can also drive traffic to specific pages on your site and measure the results to learn more about your site visitors (using click through and bounce rates). When you create the content for your site, make sure it is written to appeal to people who do not understand what you do. People need to understand what your role is before they can think about the value you provide.
In email, you will – or at least should – know more about your audience to segment them. This enables you to become more specific and demonstrate your expertise in the areas they are most interested in hearing about better than you can on your website. Some email marketing platforms also enable you to provide dynamic website content tailored to your contacts based on AI-aided assessments of your email recipients’ behaviors and interests. Content for your email marketing program, therefore, can be less general and should do more to convey your expertise.
On social media, your content needs to be created for more than just what your audience wants. Different rules for content length and format will drive the content you share. For example, Instagram is best for more visual content than LinkedIn, but both can be effectively used for service-providing businesses to help your audience learn more about your company. Not sure how a service business would use a visual medium like Instagram for marketing? Sign up for that complimentary discussion I mentioned above and I will share some ideas. Here’s the link again.
You will want to get your point across more succinctly on social media than in email or on your website. More importantly, you need to share content that generates engagement and interact with your audience or your social media won’t do much for you. And, as with email, your overall marketing program strategy needs to proactively determine the role you want the medium (or media) to play in generating leads.
No matter what medium you are creating your content for, you need to think about what the reader (or consumer) wants, why they might be using that medium, who that person is likely to be, and at which stage in the buyer’s journey they might be at when they see the content. Then make sure you align your content to the purpose of the medium. Start by intentionally deciding the role you want that content – and medium – to play in a marketing program that builds the relationship along the entire customer journey.
Speaking of marketing that builds the relationship, are you practicing accidental marketing? Here’s a recent blog that you may want to read to find out. It’s worth the three minutes it will take you to read.
