Over half of U.S. adults have relied on the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Pew Research Center. Trapped indoors, people are spending more time plugged into the World Wide Web, which could be a boon for your business.
To grow your business during a global pandemic, you’ll need a marketing content strategy suited for the new norm. This means ramping up your online content and spreading your brand message across virtual platforms.
However, you don’t want to start flooding people’s newsfeeds and inboxes with random advertisements. To succeed in marketing your company, you’ll need to think ahead and create a well-structured plan of attack.
Are you ready to amp up your marketing game but unsure of how to begin? Read on to learn how you can win over new customers with thoughtful and timely content.
Define Your Audience
To grow your customer base, you need to understand who you’re targeting in the first place. If you don’t know what your customers want, you’ll struggle to produce content that speaks to their needs.
Demographics such as age, location, and social media habits are great indicators of who your customers are. These traits will also tell you how to reach out to customers.
The last thing you want to do is cast a huge net and try to catch as many fish as possible. You’ll waste a lot of energy chasing people who aren’t interested or who don’t need your services.
Concentrate your efforts on people who fit your ideal profile, and you’ll have a leaner yet more loyal base of support.
Map Out Your Industry
It’s easy for people to ignore you if you’re a small fish in a big pond. But if you’ve surveyed the terrain and know how to make use of certain niches, then you can craft content that makes ripples everyone will notice.
What are similar companies talking about? Which companies are experiencing the most success with their customer bases? What have competitors failed to discuss?
Studying the industry and your competitors will allow you to create knowledgeable content. By knowing what people in your industry are talking about, you can develop a list of keywords and bolster your SEO marketing approach.
At the same time, observing gaps that companies have yet to cover is just as important. Offer a mix of popular topics and new insights to generate cutting-edge content that’s sure to turn heads.
Establish Who You Are
Once you have a solid understanding of your industry, you need to figure out how you’ll adapt to it. You want people in the industry to recognize you, so you’ll need to fashion a brand for your company.
Whether you’re producing social media posts or web copy, your tone and voice should be consistent across all platforms.
The format may change, but your voice shouldn’t. The more people feel like they know your company, the more they’ll trust you and seek out your content.
Diversify Your Marketing Content
While you want people to recognize you, you don’t want to become one-dimensional. Connecting with people in ways that they understand can help you form lasting relationships with customers.
Old-fashioned written content still resonates with people today. If your company has little name recognition, a blog is a great way to introduce yourself. People can get a sense of what your brand is all about and the kinds of products or services you offer.
However, don’t be afraid to dabble in new forms of communication. Not everyone has time to read blogs, but they may still want to learn about your product. A podcast serves as the perfect medium to reach people who are always on the move.
No matter what you decide to do, be sure to consider different mediums for spreading your content. Some people prefer reading, but others have different formats that speak to them.
People will appreciate you communicating through a method they’re familiar with, and they’ll want to get to know your company as a result.
Take Advantage of Social Media
Selling someone a product or service can feel a little stiff, helping to loosen things up by working within a casual context.
Social media platforms are the perfect space for connecting people to your brand in a low-stakes environment. Just remember that people like to scroll fast, so your copywriting needs to stay compact while packing a lot of punch.
To simplify things, center your post around one key point or action item. Links and surveys are ways to get people to interact with your content and your brand.
As long as you drive home interesting points and sticky content, you can build a social media presence that attracts future customers.
Follow a Schedule
Focused content is much more effective than a flurry of content. Your marketing strategy should follow a strict timeline to keep your brand relevant and avoid customer burnout.
Depending on your products and the platforms you use, you’ll need to determine how often you market to customers and the best times of the year to do it.
For example, a winter coat company should ramp up their marketing in the fall months, leading to winter sales. Posting once a week on Instagram and Facebook will help generate interest among their customer base.
Knowing when, where, and how often to post content will sharpen your marketing campaign and create an appealing brand image.
Put a Positive Spin on Things
Keep in mind that you’re not sending marketing materials out into a void. The world is going through a global pandemic, and people are looking for ways to stay upbeat.
So give people something to look forward to. Post about online platforms and ways your company is embracing a virtual world. Timely content is aware of its context, and you have the opportunity to be a positive force in a difficult time.
Read on here for an excellent example of a website posting about technological developments and keeping spirits up in the age of COVID.
Stay Several Steps Ahead
It’s impossible to read people’s minds, but you can come pretty close with informed and organized marketing content.
Understanding your audience and industry can help you find future opportunities to spread your brand. And as you keep producing spot-on content, people will start to think you know them better than they know themselves.
Every business wants to forge stronger customer relationships in an interconnected world. To stay several steps ahead of the pack, check out more of our articles, and keep your marketing strategy at the top of its class.