Marketing Hacks for Creatives: Content Marketing

This volume of Marketing Hacks for Creatives is going to be insanely useful for your business and the relationship you’re building with your customers, but there’s one thing you MUST do first (if you haven’t already): Identify Your Ideal Customer.

This post assumes you’ve taken the time to identify your ideal customer (there’s as much to learn about that person as there is your spouse or best friend), and you know WHO you’re talking to.

Today’s marketing hack for creatives is going to show you HOW to approach them, which is equally important.

Online writing always falls into one of two categories: content marketing or copywriting. When you’re addressing your customers online — anytime you write with the intention of reaching your customers — you’re doing one or the other. I’ll cover both in detail, but today, we’re talking content marketing.

Welcome to an ongoing series on Marketing Creativity: Marketing Hacks for Creatives (coming to you in volumes), building off the post, The Ultimate Guide to Marketing for Creatives. In case you’re just joining me, it’s best to start there for a complete picture of all that we’re going to cover.

If you …

• aren’t sure what to say to your customers,
• are saying things that don’t seem to matter to your audience, and/or
• want a more meaningful connection with your customers, then …

It’s time to learn more about content marketing!

Content Marketing

Both content marketing and copywriting should be done with an end result in mind, but content marketing is more conversational and casual than its counterpart (copywriting). It’s used to reach and engage your potential customers. Anytime you write with the intention to reach and engage your customers, whether you share a status update on Facebook or write an in-depth blog post, it’s a form of content marketing.

Because content marketing is so conversational, knowing your ideal customer is vital to its success. The best conversations in life are genuine and interested in the other person, and good content marketing will appeal to your customer because it’s genuinely interested in their interests and challenges.

Moreover, your content marketing needs to be inclusive and evergreen. It lives online, and it will meet different people every day; in fact, your writing online is greeting people right now as you’re reading this. It’s going to feel very familiar to some and introductory to others, and I’ll show you the formula that will help it be all things to all people.

Read by 50,000, Written for YOU

Now, you may be my long-term reader or a new acquaintance who’s just found me on Pinterest. You’re probably one or the other; can you see how this article appeals to both? My long-term reader is hearing new information and enjoying yet another volume of insanely useful marketing hacks for creatives, while my new acquaintance is getting to know me and eating up my take on marketing.

Either way, you’re my ideal customer (whose profile I’ve come to know very well). This post was written with purpose, designed to matter; it’s here to help me reach and engage with you. Fifty thousand people will read this post by the month’s end, but it’s written for YOU. See how that works?

What Is The Biggest Challenge?

After you’ve identified your ideal customer (again, none of this works without taking the time to do that exercise), here are the big marketing questions you need to ask:

• In regard to my product, what is my ideal customer’s biggest challenge? (i.e., better interior design, a personal statement, a better sense of style, etc.)
• What is she looking for when she’s shopping for my product? (i.e., she wants custom wall decor, my bracelets help show off her personality, my scarves add that layered extra, etc.)
• What is her ultimate goal when she’s buying my product? (i.e., a decorated home, a great collection of accessories, the perfect outfit, etc.)
• What is she hoping to achieve after she’s made the purchase? (i.e., to feel her home’s “finished”, to know she always has the right accessory for every occasion, to feel her closet represents her, etc.)

When you know your ideal customer + deeply understand WHY that person is coming to you, you will write in a way that makes her feel heard and understood. When a customer feels this, it’s as if you’re speaking directly to her and her needs.

I might be read by 50,000, but I’m speaking to YOU. Can you feel it?

When a customer feels heard and understood, it allows them to let their guard down. They think, You “get” me. It builds trust and loyalty. And trust me when I say, you cannot build a thriving online business without truly “getting” your customers.

The Simple Formula for Content Marketing

To bring it all home, let me share a clip from my class, Copywriting for Crafters on CreativeLive. Play the video below to learn the simple formula for content marketing.

It’s only about 2 minutes long, and it will walk you through the formula for effective writing online. Enjoy!