We all know how fundamental a role content marketing strategies play in the customer journey. Even if somebody has discovered your business via referral or word of mouth, they are still very likely to check you out online.
Yet many large businesses, particularly those that offer a range of service across sectors – often fail to make the impact they should on the web.
Targeting clients and customers based on their sector serves up an interesting challenge. But nailing sector-specific content on your website can give a business a competitive edge in a crowded marketplace.
1. Offer clients relevance
When clients ask us where to begin with online content creation, we generally advise this – pinpoint and visualise your target customer, then ask yourself exactly what they want to know. Be as specific as possible when defining your customer and put yourself firmly in their shoes. The chances are whatever service you’re seeking out online, you want to find a supplier that can show evidence of knowing and understanding your concerns.
To meet this universal need – think beyond the generic About Us section to instead showcase your value. Offer three or more links showing what you can do for you customer (case studies make great ‘proof points’) and try to include a variety of formats – white paper or podcasts, blogs and video case studies, for example.
2. Make sector information easy to find
You might not realise it, but you probably already have an existing bank of valuable information demonstrating your expertise buried within your website. Now, make that content easy to find by using clear headlines and links (ensure links always lead to relevant articles – there’s little less reassuring than following a bad link).
Offer a call to action and options to download useful information. Ensure sector-specific case studies are clearly headlined and link to relevant service areas of your site.
In a nutshell, you want to make your site as easy to navigate as possible, guiding people to land on the right, niche information to guide them to take the next step (be that picking up the phone, signing up for your email newsletter, or whatever).
3. Be human
As information-rich as content is, it only sparkles to life when people can identify the human who created it. Once you’ve identified your sector-specific experts, create up to date biographies, offer a friendly yet professional-looking photo and add contact details if possible to extend the conversation. Make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch should they want to by adding relevant contact details by each piece of content.
4. Above all, serve your sector
Creating cracking content that drives value for your customers in the sector section of your site isn’t easy. The task can seem especially daunting when you have a lot of sectors to cover. If you can find the time and resources to devote to this task, however, you stand a great chance of differentiating yourself to people on genuine customer journeys.
Start by tackling the task one sector at a time, adding value through content before moving on to do the same for the next sector, and the next and so on.
Photo: Steve Hankins
