How authentic are you in your marketing efforts?
Do you find yourself doubting your content or your messaging?
How do you know you are messaging your audience the most authentic way?
Marketers like to throw the word authentic around. At the end of the day, it’s about making sure that you are marketing authentically.
For example, if you are the face of your brand and act funny on social media, then be consistent with the rest of your content.
In this article, I will discuss the 5 simple ways you can market authentically with your content, so you can reach more of your audience, keep them engaged, and create a loyal fan base for your business.
Step 1: White Board Your Business Goals
If your company was a person, how would they act?
As a business owner, a big part of your content and messaging is based on the following:
– What do you stand for?
– Why did you start this business?
– What is your brand persona? (friendly, playful, warm, inspiring)
– What is your brand tone? (Personal, honest, direct, clinical)
– What are your values?
Answering these questions can help with your messaging and your content.
Think about the type of persona you want your business to convey. Are you wanting to be more friendly, fun, or magical? How do you want your audience to feel when they do business with your company? Write it down. Once you determine this information, you will want to do more research on
Step 2: Research the Hell Out of Your Target Audience
In marketing, knowing your target audience is essential. Many business owners think they know their audience, but sometimes they do not.
Doing extensive research on your audience will only better help you market to them. You can do this by creating surveys, joining closed Facebook Groups where your audience belongs, asking questions in social media, and using your customer service team.
Other ways you can find out about your audience:
– Use social media channels and listen to your audience in (Clubhouse, FB, IG, TikTok)
– Attend events where your target audience is located
– Go on Reddit/Quora to find out how they talk to each other
Don’t assume any ideas, thoughts, or behaviors of your target audience.
Only data can teach you about them. Don’t be afraid to send surveys. They are powerful and can give lots of great information about your target audience.
Step 3: Do Keyword Research
If you have a website, doing keyword research will help you better message and create authentic content.
Creating authentic content is about understanding your audience. That means using keywords they are using in search. Remember that 43% of e-commerce traffic comes from organic Google searches.
Now more than ever, especially after the pandemic, people are shopping, learning, and searching online. Consumers are using voice search to find their next trip, new online courses, and lipstick. Think of the last time you searched for something. Did you talk into your phone or just type out a question?
This is the power of SEO. SEO is about creating valuable content for your audience. The first step is doing keyword research. Keyword research helps you to better understand your audience and also helps increase your organic traffic. Even if you’re a newbie to SEO, there are ways you can start by learning what your customer’s are typing in Google.
Understanding your customers means knowing the keywords they are using. Moz.com offers a free trial membership, so you can do some keyword research. You can use Google’s search bar to see other suggested types of keywords to use.
If you want a thorough list of targeted keywords, you can also hire an SEO expert or marketing consultant. These experts understand how to do the research and do competitor research to create a comprehensive list of keywords.
Step 4: Use Language That Makes Sense to Your Audience
When we market our business, we want to make sure we are appropriately talking to our audience. It wouldn’t make sense to market women baby boomers with hey bestie.
If your target audience is millennial women, then you might be able to get away with using terms like hey bestie. Continue to do research on how your audience addresses themselves.
The last thing you want is for your audience to roll their eyes when they read your content. If you are unsure how to address your audience, continue to research and watch your competitors.
Other tips on using appropriate language with your audience:
Use relevant news, trending events, and stories that your target audience knows will go a long way in your content marketing.
Also, determine the type of language style you will use.
- Complex
- Savvy
- Serious
- Jargon-filled
- Fun
- Whimsical
Be consistent with your style and make sure you use it across all platforms and content types. B2C brands typically like to go the more casual, informal route. The language style for B2B brands, depending on the industry, may be more complex and jargon-filled.
Step 5: Test, Test, and Test!
Marketing is all about testing. You will need to do some trial and error throughout your business. It will never end. When creating and writing your content, you will have to throw ideas to the wall and see what sticks
Play around with different images and copy for your paid ads. You will never know until you test things out.
Try mixing up your messaging on different media channels. Your content type may vary depending on the platform.
Perhaps Facebook is better for posting your blog articles rather than LinkedIn. Perhaps Instagram is really only great for your inspirational content
It is possible to have different buyer personas within your channels too.
Be comfortable trying out different types of content and messaging with these platforms.
Do A/B tests with your content marketing. Test out different subject lines with your email marketing. See if you can personalize elements of your emails to see which email gives the best results.
Bottom line, test things out.
Your messaging may evolve with changes to your business.
Be open to learning more about your audience and staying true to your brand. Consumers appreciate transparency and authenticity.
They want to connect to brands that are real and easy to do business with.
If you need help with your content marketing, be sure to reach out at belinda@belindasanmiguel.com. I offer SEO, content writing and strategy packages for small women-owned businesses.