How to create content for marketing

   Content is the marketing language. It is how you communicate with viewers or customers to display the product or service you offer. Knowing how to create content will allow you to express your brand, whether the brand is a product, a service, or even personal branding. There are several points to consider when creating your content, and we will go thoroughly into them.

 What to know to create the right content:

1. Your customer’s persona:

  When making content, you need to acknowledge the customers you are trying to attract. What are their interests? Why would they be attracted to your products? How is your service helping them? Is there an after-sales service?

  Knowing your audience is the most important part when creating your content. This part requires the most studies. According to the 3:30:3 rule, you have 3 seconds to attract the viewer's attention, 30 seconds for them to interact, and 3 minutes to gain trust. This shows that you have 3 seconds to impress the viewer, so you need to know your customer very well to draw their attention in these 3 seconds.

1. Your customer’s place in the customer’s journey:

  The customer’s journey represents the relation between you and the customer. The customer’s journey usually has 4 stages awareness, interest, desire, and action. Each stage in the customer journey requires a different type of content to be shared with the customers. This allows customers to interact according to the given content, and it helps take them to the next stage of the journey. So, let’s start with a summary about each stage:

1. Awareness:

This is the stage where the customer knows the existence of your brand. This is the first impression that you leave. In this stage, the customer needs excitement; the customer needs a reason to show interest (the next stage in the journey). The content that you need can be in any of the forms that we will talk about, but it must give the customer a brief about what you do and why you do it.

1. Interest:

INTERESTING! At this point, this is the word that we want. The customer finds your brand helpful and interesting to know more about. This is the point where the customer starts to want more and expect more from your brand. This is your chance to build trust with the customer. Customers in this stage need to know that you are legit and that your brand offers something worthy. Content at this stage is mainly focused on the good futures of your service or product. This is when the customer is curious and needs more specific details on your product or more details.

1. Desire:

Here, the customer wants what you offer; they might not be sure of it, but they know it is a good offer. In this stage, we show the customer why we are better than other brands. Content in this stage should include what is different between you and others who offer the same product; for example, are you cheaper? Do you have an extra service?

If it is for personal branding, do you post every day? Do you have a question and answer stories that you post every Friday for people to ask you anything?

1. Action:

You might think that this is where it ends, but that’s the exact opposite. This stage is when there is a relation between your brand and the customer. This is when you can show the customer that they made the right choice. Content at this stage, for example, could be a customer service number for after-sales follow-up or how to use the product and get the best out of it.

By knowing your customers' place in the customer's journey, you get to decide the best content to share with your customers and make you able to study which content your customers interact with the most to develop the other stages.

1. Types of content:

   The content that you share with your customers usually has one of 3 types (hero, hub, and hygiene) according to what you are trying to represent through your content. These types represent the importance of the content that you are sharing with your customers. Let’s explain each of them and when you can use them:

• Hero content:

When you think of hero content, think of big events. Hero content is the major announcement you make, such as launching a new product or an annual celebration that you celebrate with your customers. Hero content could be like Apple launching their new iPhone. The content you are sharing must be exciting, and it must imply how big this event is. This could be by making changes to your website as adding a count down. This type of content is usually posted once or twice a year to show major events or changes.

• Hub content:

Hub content is like a daily update. Hub content makes the customer remember your brand by sharing casual updates or even fun content about your product. This well could be for small events and a blog that is easily updated. Hub content could be shared at any time, and it must be engaging as they allow your customers to know more about your brand.

• Hygiene content:

Hygiene content is like the cherry on the top. This is how you show the customers that you listen to what they say and are here to take action towards it. For example, when you say many people struggle to use your product, you share a video on how to use the product. This is how the customers know that you care to provide the best service even after purchasing.

1. Forms of content:

   Lastly, forms. Content that you create can be in several forms, whether you need to choose according to your target audience. Do you need it to be formal or fun? Are you targeting kids so you can focus on using a lot of colors to draw their attention? All of this depends on who you are targeting?

 Examples of content forms:

• Pictures
• Videos
• Blogs
• Webinar
• eBooks
• Templets