Abby Buchan-Howard
Hosted by Marcus Sheridan at the Inbound 2018 conference, Contagious Content was all about how to understand your buyers and to ensure that your content is answering the questions that they need answering in order to get them to come on board with your brand.
The aim of the talk was to takeaway the ideas and steps needed to move your content marketing process forward so that the sales AND marketing needle starts to shift for your company.
Marcus Sheridan
Marcus is a best-selling author of the book They Ask, You Answer, documenting his experiences with introducing inbound marketing to his swimming pool company.
The story of how he protected his company River Pools from the 2008 economic crash has been told by many prolific publications including the New York Times.
Business Is Based On One Principle: Trust
When customers come to company they are saying "you are the company for me". They have already formed a sense of trust between you and your company.
Trust is the building blocks of company and customer relationships. This will never go away or trust; it will be relevant to your business for years and years to come.
The 7 Steps
Openly Talk About The Negative
If you are open and honest with your customers, even when it doesn't work out or if you make a mistake, they will form a sense of trust with you.
This isn't an easy step.
Admitting to the problems with your company doesn't mean standing up in front of a crowd and listing all the things that can go wrong. It's producing content that explains the problems people may experience and demonstrate how to overcome them.
If you don't answer those questions, somebody else will and they will be more likely to get the business from that customer looking for a solution or reassurance in your product rather than you.
Share Your Not So Secret "Sauce"
Less than 1% of manufacturers share the process of production for their products with the customer.
People like to know exactly what they are getting when making a purchase. When they see every single stage of a process the conversation that you will have with them is completely different.
Customers will feel more reassured by your company if you have been that open with them from the start. They are more likely to make a purchase.
If you produce content that addresses fears and concerns then people will consume your content on a bigger scale. That means more leads, more customers and more sales. All because of the creation of trust.
Embrace Review Obsessed Society
Review obsession is growing. In the last two years mobile searches for reviews has grown by over 35%.
Review content for products similar to your own but don't include yourself. Although this sounds counter-intuitive it can continue to built trust in your company.
Plus remember: if they are reading your content then they are already on your site and therefor you have an advantage over the companies you are reviewing.
Be willing to address the question of "who else could I buy from" which is what potential customers are likely to be asking in the research phase of the buying process.
Make It Personal
Content is what we do in digital content marketing. One of our biggest forms of content is emails. There are two problems with emails:
- Are they going to open it?
- Are they going to read it?
If you don't make it personal then customers won't feel valued and they won't get excited about your content; be it an email, a video or a blog post.
If customers see their name in a video or email they won't be able to resist opening your content and reading it they will ask "you did this for me?". They will feel valued and trusting of your company more than without the personalisation.
Unleash The Power of Self-Selection
"Should I" searches have grown by over 70% in the last two years. Aim your content towards this question.
If you create it then you own it. Sales teams need to be involved in the content process to help customers answer that question and get what they need from your company with the exact questions they want answers too.
Focus On The Money
People are likely to be searching for "how much does this building product cost". If your price isn't on your company site then you are risking a loss of sales.
Not putting the price of your product on the website is an automatic way to turn away your customers. They are looking for answers to questions about what it will cost them to give you their business.
Often people worry that if you put your price online your competitors can undercut you. If you want people to trust you you need to be honest about your costs.
Chances are that your competitors already know what you charge so why hide it? Marcus states that if you know what they charge then they will know that about you.
Being honest upfront removes the risk of customers being driven to your competitors.
Show It, Don't Just Say It
Video and images are a great way to show people what your company is about without saying it. You have to be willing to talk about why you are the best company for your customers without explicitly saying it. Show it!
Conclusion
By prioritising trust between you and your customers, and following the seven steps as recommended by Marcus Sheridan your company is more likely to have success in lead generation, sales and ongoing customer loyalty.
By creating trust you increase the likelihood of customers finding you, engaging with you and buying from you.
Find out how Insynth can create content for your building products company to build trust and authority.
About Insynth
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major on construction marketing, we bring together construction marketing strategy, digital strategy, website design, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, sales automation, marketing automation and HubSpot CRM implementation to produce successful campaigns and great results for our clients.
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