How to Find the Real Rosetta Stone for Effective Content Marketing

Above all the noise—the tips, the tricks, the strategies and the tactics—from everyone that swears they can show you how to develop an effective content marketing program, there is only one factor that really matters. There is one, simple concept that rises above the to-do lists and the must-haves to provide a beacon that every content marketing program should follow. It’s the most powerful tool to transform an idea into actual conversions and customer loyalty, and it’s been right in front of you from the beginning:

Relevance.

Relevance is the gem at the core of any successful content marketing initiative. Its importance cannot be understated because relevance translates into real value in the mind of an audience, and that value is what will ultimately motivate their behavior.

The reason this might sound familiar is that content marketing is really a new label for the tried-and-true concept that to engage an audience, you really need to be offering something they need and want.

Shocking, right?

Most marketers have known for years that all the clever gimmicks in the world can only cover a shaky foundation for so long. If you are not providing something that really is valuable, prospects will discover that fact eventually, and all that will be accomplished is a waste of budget.

How to make relevance happen

If relevance is so important, where do you find it? At the risk of sounding Zen, you find it from within. We’re all subject matter experts in our particular industries, and we all have an opinion. Well, that opinion matters to somebody—namely prospects and customers.

All great products or services address a pain or fill a need. The fact that this pain or need exists in the first place means that the audience has an area where they lack knowledge and they want to learn more about the issue they are experiencing. They want to be educated to the point where they feel like the expert and can truly understand the “why” behind this pain or need. And the business that helps them to feel like an expert is the one they’ll trust to solve their issue once and for all.

How to sharpen the impact of your relevance

At this point, you’re probably thinking to yourself: “Great, I do have an opinion, but how do I make it resonate with my target audience?” That’s the easy part: Once you have an opinion on a topic of interest that clearly differentiates you in a crowded field—an opinion that establishes you as a thought leader and thought shaper—then it’s time to turn to an expert to make that opinion sticky. A professional communicator knows how to stop an audience cold with a headline, connect your opinion directly to the needs of the audience, and reinforce that opinion through data, anecdotal evidence, testimonials and other proof-points that wind the reader up to the point where they’re actually craving a call to action.

The magic will happen when the story is there. And that story is hiding within you right now. It’s just waiting for the right expert to mine it and put it through the necessary alchemy to turn it into gold.

What Is An Effective Brand?

Let’s start with what it’s not. It’s not a logo or tagline or advertising or your Web site. Those are communications mediums. It’s the message behind the medium that counts. Spend due diligence developing your message properly, and you can connect with your prospect. Slap your message together with bells or whistles, and you’ll be lost in a sea of clutter.

You can’t make your future client work to find out the real value you bring to the table. They’ll only give you a nanosecond of consciousness to tell them why they should even care. That’s why the discovery process is essential. An effective communicator learns everything about your business…what you makes you different…what makes you special. Then, they compress a kaleidoscope of differentiating factors into one single statement of value. They raise the bar on what you offer, and fill that nanosecond with something meaningful.

Only then will you stop them cold. That’s the moment your prospect gets interested, sticking around long enough to learn about all those selling points you’ve been dying to share. They’ll read your collateral, peruse your Web site, connect with your social media and visit your booth. They will see you as the thought leader, all the while being reminded of the clear statement of value that keeps them wanting more. That’s when they’re hooked. When they’ll ask for that 45-minute presentation. That’s effective brand.

And that’s why you need an expert to do the job properly.

Tear Down Barriers to Supercharged White Papers and eBooks

For many technology verticals, meaty white papers and eBooks are content gold. But deep-dive documents can also be a content nightmare if subject matter experts are hard to wrangle and the review/approval process spirals out of control.

Normally, this is the part where you would expect “3 steps” to successfully executing engaging and results-driven content. But instead of steps, I want you to think of a shape. In this case, an inverted pyramid is the key to pulling the stress out of your content-heavy projects and producing a vehicle to connect audience to revenue.

Start Wide

When supplying background to a writer to build out the refined content you need, there is no such thing as too much. Interviews with multiple subject matter experts are fine. Reams of previous documentation—no matter how disorganized and complex—are fine. Don’t hold up the project kickoff over-thinking how to prep the writer and concerned that you’ll overwhelm them with too much information.

It’s a content developer’s job to organize multiple streams of thought and create a through-line to engage the reader and take them on a journey. What’s needed is access to raw information, but it doesn’t need to be pretty.

Tip: If you have trouble getting on the calendar with one of your SMEs, bypass their input temporarily. But you can still offer the chance to review the initial draft. When someone is too busy for a 30 minute phone call, the ability to add a few comments to a working document might make the difference.

Finish Tight

As you move along in the process, the number of internal contributors after the production of the first draft should start to shrink. Multiple opinions provide a wealth of information at the start, but those same opinions can drag the paper in competing directions if too many enter the review phase. As work on the white paper or eBook progresses, tighten the input loop continually until only 1 or 2 at most have a say on the finished product. The remaining review should comprise of individuals who know the content and business goals, and whose opinion is the voice that you want to be heard by the audience at the end.

This approach makes all the difference in simplifying what can be an intimidating project—not only at launch, but also in maintaining a tight trajectory through to a timely public release.