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Why Content Strategy is So Important in Vertical Marketing
Content marketing is the name of the game to bring organic traffic to your website where you can engage and convert customers. Many organizations have a broad array of customers they can and do serve and that requires content that can represent what you do for them in terms that are relevant and compelling.
Christopher (Chris)
Christopher (Chris) Daly is the founder and president of TBG Marketing, a digital marketing consultancy and agency in Columbus, Ohio. Chris is a 30 year veteran of database, direct and digital marketing working with iconic brands like Frontgate, Victoria's Secret, GNC, Bill Me Later, PayPal and 2CO. Chris lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a graduate of THE Ohio State University.
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Content marketing is the name of the game and your Content Strategy defines how you bring organic traffic to your website where you can engage and convert customers. Many organizations have a broad array of customers they can and do serve and that requires content that can represent what you do for them in terms that are relevant and compelling. Let’s tackle this one head on…
Digital marketing is the best tool set for hyper personalization of content to various audiences. If you go back to the days of database marketing, you can collect a great deal of information on customers and then segment and target them on attributes that are indicative of response and purchase. Now raise that to the digital world where we not only see your buying behavior, but your browsing behavior, the vertical market you work in, your background and experiences and have the ability to digitally alter and replace content blocks, images, colors and styles to appeal to you when visiting our digital assets.
Personalization in Content Marketing
Personalization is about “speaking to me” instead of “speaking at me” Get it? When speaking to people through your content you are more conversational, as if you are having a back and forth conversation in the digital space. You ask and answer questions that the vertical market customer may have to become relevant in their consideration set.
Relevance in Content Marketing
Relevance is about knowing me; my needs, wants, interests, passions, opportunities, and history. The universal truth of marketing and sales is that PEOPLE BUY, BUSINESSES PAY. When you understand the needs and wants of customers at a vertical level your relevance is easier for them to ascertain and understand the features and benefits of your offering in the context of being used in their business.
Features and Benefits in Content Marketing
Features and Benefits help customers understand what your product does and how it will make their life better, help them achieve some goal, make more money, higher profits or access new markets. The amount of content that is written on Features alone or Features and Benefits that ARE NOT relevant to any particular vertical market is spectacular. And it often fails to resonate with customers.
I routinely get propositioned on LinkedIN for business services that helped Amazon become a titan. Um. I am not Amazon, so why do I care? Or, “We offer a service that has helped American Airlines, Boeing, General Motors and Apple become more efficient.” Yeah – I am not any of those companies and they have multi-billion dollar budgets and I am small business owner and, well, don’t have a multi-billion dollar budget. Claims, features, benefits, and customers have to relevant to me which means matching my frame of reference. What works for American Airlines does not work for me .
What's a marketer to do?
So how do you customize your content so that appeals to all of your target verticals? The process surrounds the method in which you deliver your value proposition. For some verticals, Kitchen Logic works exceptionally well… “You have problem X and my service provides solution Y and we work with 100 businesses like yours across the country and would like to show you how we can do Z for you.” Other vertical markets require Brand Association: “We deliver X to multi-billion clients like…. 1,2,3,4,5 and it enables them to do X. We believe our solution will help you achieve the same or better results.”
Let’s take a look at a company selling leadership consulting services. They want to target Primary and Secondary Educators and Construction vertical markets. The Leadership Consulting services train leaders on the following:
We train leaders on Influential Leadership, a system of leading in organizations without hierarchical authority. Leaders work in three competencies: Performance, Engagement and Influence and 12 habits: Encouraging, Competent, Accountable, Results Oriented, Connected, Solution Oriented, Effusive Learning, Builder of People, Character, Courage, Empowerment and visionary. There are a ton of features but the benefits largely align to the outcomes that better communications and focus on performance accrue for an organization. Here’s how the content might be presented:
Primary/Secondary Educators | Construction Leadership | ||
Performance | Academic Growth | Quality & Timely | |
Encouraging | Supports Organization & Students | Shares Knowledge for Better Outcomes | |
Competent | Well Trained and Current | Highly Knowledgeable; Hire Pros | |
Accountable | Owns Outcomes & Work | Owns Mistakes; Eliminates Injury | |
Results Oriented | Driving Academic Achievement | Clear Expectations – Quality & Timing | |
Engagement | Classroom Interaction | Contractor Coordination | |
Connected | Empathic, Respectful | SubContractor Performance | |
Solution Oriented | Focus on Behaviors | Customer Satisfaction | |
Effusive Learner | Challenges and Stretches Others | Ahead of Market | |
Builder of People | Rewards and Acknowledges Wins | Retention & Productivity | |
Influence | Alignment | Production Management | |
Character | Open, Approachable | Transparent, Clear | |
Courage | Confident, Passionate | Takes Measured Risks | |
Empowerment | Enables Risks for Students | Trust & Enable Partners | |
Visionary | Builds Students to Autonomy | Open to Tools, Methods, Materials | |
While the core features of the leadership are consistent, the benefits and outcomes for each vertical market are substantially different. When authoring content (case studies, e-books, variable digital pages, etc) developing the content with the desired outcomes for each audience enables you to connect, relate and have customers envision their future using your products and services.
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