Content is key, king, and queen
Do you have a content marketing personalisation strategy? Sending the right message to the right person at the right time would have been impossible only a couple of years ago. The rise of big data and better data analysis, however, has made it possible to deliver personalised ads, product offerings and correspondence to a specific audience at the appropriate time. And this is also true for the content they are shown as they encounter your brand.
Our blog this week will show you why a content marketing personalisation strategy is more important than ever and the steps to implement one.
The new normal
Content marketing has risen dramatically over the last few years. Twenty, thirty years ago traditional marketing consisted of big brands controlling what we received through the traditional avenues of TV and print media. The internet and technology has disrupted this old model and made it possible for consumers to take more agency over what they want to see and hear. With the array of choice at our disposal and technology like adblockers, marketers have had to find new ways of getting their message to their target audience. One of the answers has been the rise of content marketing. In theory, this kind of marketing is perfect: marketers get their message to customers who want to hear it.
In reality, this rise has led to an awful lot of content marketing. Some good, and some not so good. All in all, there is a lot of noise out there. Getting your message to the audience who wants to hear it can be difficult. When it comes to content marketing, anyone and everyone can do it. Today it’s easier than ever to create a video, publish a blog, build a website, create a social media profile, etc.
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To rise above the noise, brands must:
- Offer value with their marketing
- Target the right audience
- Deliver their message at the right time
This is where personalised content comes in.
Personalisation is a natural part of content marketing
Content marketing is more successful at reaching your customers than traditional advertising because it’s targeted at them specifically without trying to explicitly sell them anything. Content marketing is cut and sewn to their size, providing them value rather than simply trying to get them to buy something. It’s a way of increasing your audience and, at the same time, increasing their trust in your brand.
The idea then of personalisation in content marketing shouldn’t be much of a jump in concept. It centres around using the data you collect from visitors to your website, blog, and social media platforms to provide customised content for them. For example, you could have it planned so that when a CIO lands on your homepage they get directed to an eBook about implementing a new piece of IT to boost Office 365 adoption. Whereas if a HR professional arrives at the same homepage they are shown a popup for a blog post about the benefits of automation.
It could mean a specific call to action for a specific audience or even a customized landing page based on demographics or location. We can target the right audience successfully through the data we collect and analyse all with the help of automation technology. When we talk about content marketing personalisation, we’re going way beyond including first names in a marketing email.
The importance of content marketing personalisation
Personalised marketing is a hot marketing trend for lots of reasons.
- Improves the customer experience
- Provides consistency across your CX channels
- Helps keep regular customers and attract new leads
- Boosts the bottom line
How to create the right strategy for your business
You can include personalisation across your marketing channels on your:
- Social media posts
- Web copy
- Webinars
- Automated emails
- Newsletters
- Direct mail
Get on the right content marketing personalisation path
1. Create a vision
What is it you want to achieve? More leads, greater brand loyalty? The first step is to think about what you want to achieve, and then what message to put across to achieve it. How will this change the message you send out, and what audience are you targeting? Answering these questions takes time but is worth it.
2. Get busy collecting information
So, you have a vision and the means to achieve it. Now it’s time to fill the coffers with precious data. There are plenty of ways to gather information on your preferred audience. These include:
- Surveys
- Questionnaires
- Social media data harvesting
- Focus groups
- Remarketing/internet cookies
Audience personas
This is part of understanding your target audience, using personas is a great way of getting into the specifics of what business problems your customers and potential customers have and how you can offer value to them by delivering them content that will help solve their issue.
SEO is still key
A vital part of any marketing strategy, your SEO reach and knowing the right keywords to optimise will attract the users you want to target – having a big impact on lead generation. Look at your past keyword research and analyse the data on what works. This will help you create the right content that provides the right value.
3. Reap what you sow
You’ve gathered a lot of data and information about your audience. Now it’s time to harvest the data and put your personalisation strategy into practice to achieve your vision.
Create the right content
Make your content compelling, easy to read and drenched in value. Once you know your audience this becomes a much easier task. Let the data you have collected and your audience’s needs inspire the content you produce.
Put content in the right format
Some of us prefer to read articles while others prefer to watch a video. Some want their information in an infographic, so they get a big wallop of data all in one go. Some prefer a ‘how to’ blog post rather than a ‘best practices guide’ eBook. There is plenty of data out there already about how different generations consume data. As part of your research and data collection you can understand more specifically how your target audience like to take their content.
By fitting your content into the right format based on what your audience wants you will notice an uptick in readership, traffic, leads and sales. And you can feel good about all this hard work.
Follow these three steps to create the perfect content marketing personalisation strategy. For other great tips on how to market your IT, explore our site or contact us today.