Use Compelling Marketing Messaging to Capture Your Customers’ Attention

The Secrets of Compelling Marketing Messaging

On the internet, there is so much information and content for a user to consume一your small business marketing needs to find a way to stand out. Compelling messaging that encourages engagement and action from internet users is the key to creating impactful advertising and online content that captures the attention of your target audience.   “A brilliant marketing plan starts with messages that create the connection in the customer’s mind between what the customer wants and needs (right now!) and what you have to offer,” Geoffery James, wrote in an article for Inc.com.   Compelling messaging, the fifth pillar of BizHack Academy’s proven Lead Building System™, is critical when drafting a digital marketing ad or piece of content that will garner attention from online users and encourage them to take a chance on your small business. Our program teaches small business marketers how to craft customized marketing messaging that is guaranteed to build a relationship with their customers and genuinely shares their company’s purpose. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind.   
TL;DR Breakout Box

TL;DR: Craft compelling messaging by using these tried-and-true methods that will take your digital content to the next level. 

Creating a content-driven small business marketing campaign can be time-consuming. However, with a few simple steps and fool-proof methods, small business owners and marketers can begin producing ads and other pieces of digital content that cater to their target audience and their customer journey. 
    • Connect your digital content to what the customer wants and needs now. Your small business can produce blog posts, social media posts, videos, ads and other content. However, ensure that these pieces of content exist in the space between what your customer wants and what you hope to achieve as a business, while staying relevant. 
    • Leverage persona-based marketing by creating hypothetical individuals that you view as your ideal customer. As you conduct your content marketing campaign, create media that you feel will resonate with these types of people. 
  • Organize your content into each stage of your customer journey, giving it a specific purpose. The goal of your campaign is to move your customer along in their experience with your company. 
  • Use a variety of different channels to make sure your content gets to its best audience. Leverage the different characteristics of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and email marketing to reach the prospects that have the best chance of converting to customers. 
As you craft your compelling messaging, remember that the most effective content is authentic, transparent, and, often, vulnerable. This honesty will lead to stronger connections with your current and potential customers. Tap into your business story to help create authentic connections.

How Do You Create Compelling Marketing Messaging?

Digital content can range from a blog post, to a social media post, to an advertisement. Its goal is to move buyers along in their experience with your business. As you create your content, ask yourself, “Where does this piece of content fit in the buyer’s journey and how do I want to deliver it to them?”  Online, you will best serve your customer and your small business if your marketing and digital content exist at the intersection between what the buyer wants and what you want as a business owner. Existing in this space where both parties benefit, while staying relevant in the modern digital universe, is critical.  Successful content marketing is deeply connected to persona-based marketing, in which marketers create a target audience that consists of hypothetical individuals with specific characteristics and needs.  Take the example of Say What, a hearing aid company. This company conducted a sophisticated content marketing campaign after constructing six personas on which they based all of their content creation.  As they created their content strategy, they produced content and advertising that supported each step of the buyer’s journey for each persona they created. They made a complex diagram that illustrated this strategy and incorporated both paid advertising and organic search with plans to produce website pages, articles, catalogs and other assets.

Compelling messaging connects with the customer journey. 

While small business owners may not have the time to invest in a large-scale content marketing campaign like the one Say What conducted, keeping your customer’s journey at the forefront of your strategy is a simple, yet effective way to ensure your content is compelling.    Your small business content marketing needs to help buyers:
  • Discover relevant content that addresses their needs. 
  • Learn how you can help them with their needs. 
  • Try or experience your offerings that solve their needs
  • Buy your offerings in a frictionless way. 
  This is compelling messaging in a nutshell. Content is the fuel that powers the buyer experience, whether it is paid advertising or organic content.

Compelling messaging is honest.

When you begin to create your compelling digital advertisement or piece of content, keep in mind that it should be:
  • Authentic
  • Transparent
  • Vulnerable (when appropriate) 
  These three traits, when leveraged well, can aid small business marketers in creating digital messaging that uses honesty to connect with its audience.    With the help of your company’s unique business story, this messaging should reflect the purpose and values your small business was founded on. These genuine and relatable company characteristics are the first step to gaining your audience’s trust.

Compelling messaging answers potential customers’ questions. 

As you continue to draft your online content, ensure that your messaging is comprehensive and fully communicates the idea or offer you want to share with your audience.    Make sure your messaging answers these questions for your potential customers:
  • What is your company offering?
  • How much does it cost?
  • What’s in it for the customer?
  • Why should they believe in you? 
  When you answer these questions in your online content, you are more likely to build confidence in your brand and generate leads who are interested in engaging with what your small business has to offer.

How Do You Drive Prospects to Your Marketing Content?

Small business marketers can use a variety of media to share their content online.    The best content-driven digital marketing uses a combination of different platforms:
  • Search Engine Marketing consists of both organic and paid search results. Marketers work to capitalize on prospects’ expressed interest by optimizing their content to ensure it appears at the top of search result pages. 
  • Social Media Marketing involves listening to and understanding market interest and engaging with market influencers.
  • Advertising (or performance media) is programmatic and is always on display. Marketers can share their content on third party websites or use an auction or volume pricing model. 
  All three of these approaches are essential and complement each other in a well-planned campaign. Natural search results can get your business followers on social media, while paid search can help you boost organic search visits. Social listening can help you understand the topics and keywords prospects are interested in. By leveraging each aspect of content marketing, you will have a well-rounded campaign.

Use the right marketing message to compell your personas to action.

As you devise your small business’ content marketing strategy around each medium, ask yourself, “Which content experiences are best suited for engaging my personas and how will I compell them to action?”   Different marketing content can correspond with each phase of the customer journey:
  • Customers in the discover stage can be introduced to your company through a  LinkedIn post, a blog post, a sponsored tweet or an infographic.
  • Customers in the learn/try stage can be encouraged to engage with your company further with a YouTube video or whitepaper.
  • Customers in the buy stage can be pushed to make a purchase using an online demo that shows how your product or service works. 
  Remember to conduct content marketing based on your set personas. Plan pieces of content within the customer journey to create a clear strategy based on your personas and which types of digital media appeal to them. Always ask yourself, “Who is the persona and what do they want at each stage of the journey?”

Maximize Your Digital Marketing Investment With Compelling, Content-Based Messaging

In the modern digital world, every company must become a media company. Through digital marketing campaigns based on a compelling message and content, small business owners can maximize their digital marketing investment.
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