The word “content” constantly pops up in marketing. We have all heard the popular saying “content is king” because content helps you convert and its conversion you want, right? Inbound Marketing is more than creating any kind of content. It’s a methodology that creates targeted content designed to convert.
You can have perfectly optimized landing pages and numerous calls to action, but if your content doesn’t position you as the thought leader in your industry, and does not address the problems and concerns of your target audience, then it won’t matter.
Another word you need to start thinking about is “context. In fact, we think that if content is king, context is it’s heir.
We have discussed buyer personas and the buyers journey in previous articles but in today’s article we will revisit this in more detail and delve into how context fits in and why it is so powerful in your marketing strategy.
First things first though.
What Is Context Marketing?
Corey Eridon of HubSpot says her favorite definition of Context marketing is “delivering the right content, to the right people, at the right time.” It’s a great summation of what context marketing is so let’s break it down further below:
1. The Right Content
The right content positions you as a thought leader in your industry. It is educational, informative and relates to your business. Basically it’s content that is helpful or useful for your audience. Providing this content establishes you as a leader in your field and attracts leads.
2. The Right People
So you have the right content. Congratulations! You’ve taken the first big step. Now, it’s imperative that you deliver that content to the right people.
Almost everything you write should be for your buyer persona. The key to delivering your message to the right people is knowing who your buyer persona is.
You may know the age range of your main demographic but you need more information to properly target them. You need to know their profession, perhaps where they are located, and what their interests are.
All of this is assists you in learning why they need your business product or service. This information provides the context in which they found you and helps you to provide relevant, personalized content around their needs.
You want to solve their problems and relieve their pain points so you should be answering frequently asked questions to educate them about your services but without the hard sell.
Which brings me to the point below.
3. The Right Time:
Even with remarkable content that is created specifically with your buyer persona in mind, you must ensure it reaches your intended audience at the right time. When you create content that is aimed at the target’s exact point of their need, it is far more likely to be a direct hit.
It’s not enough to personalize it to your persona and create content only aimed at the decision making stage. You must tailor the information to the stage of the buyer’s journey they are on.
An example of this is if your prospect is a small business owner surfing the web seeking information about accessing social media on a mobile phone to stay in touch with their fans. They might be put off by a pricelist and 3-year contract to sign for the latest model of smartphone landing in their inbox. But an eBook offer providing “10 Social Media Tips for Businesses on the Go” might be exactly what they are looking for right then.
So content versus context is not a war between enemies at all. Content and context should be considered allies.
Remember this in short: Create remarkable content but also tailor it to your buyer and where they are in their buyer’s journey. Do this and both content and context will serve you well.
To learn more about how you can use content in the right context as part of the Inbound Marketing methodology, download our free Digital Marketing Plan.
