A Content Marketing Recipe

It was in episode #116 of Seinfeld that the world was introduced to a character called the Soup Nazi. An extremely particular man, the Soup Nazi was notorious for many reasons. His soups were fantastic, his legend was larger than life, and his rules for ordering were just as out of this world as his recipes.

I thought about that character, and the methodical approach he took to his craft when I was thinking about how I wanted to frame my article on 6 Concepts to Improve Your Content Marketing. In today’s world of social media, and all of the noise that comes with it, a simple postcard-to-landing page approach can yield much better response rates. What is critical, however, is that once you lead the prospect to the content marketing, it absolutely must fire on all cylinders. Let’s talk about how you can make that happen:

Narrow the Topic – Identify an industry pain point or problem that your product or service solves. Drill into the problem, list specifics about the issue the reader may or may not realize they have. This is a Thought Leadership opportunity, and the chance to make a laser-focused impression on your reader.
Target the Prospect – This list is probably going to be smaller than a general mailer. That’s especially true if you have a more-narrow pool. For example, the target audience for Electrical Contracting project managers in Charlotte, NC is going to be smaller than the target audience for the same position in the southeast part of the country.
Determine the Objective – Are you trying to sell an expensive piece of equipment or are you trying to introduce your company as the go-to in the industry you support. Is the content aimed, ultimately, at generating sales or leads? The copy should be written with exactly your objective in mind.
Educate the Reader – Often, those interested in content marketing want it to help increase their knowledge of a subject. By providing insight, and perhaps a new angle they’d never considered to a problem they’ve only recently discovered, you’ll help them learn something new. Hopefully, that knowledge will lead them back to you when it’s time for a sale.
Deliver Value – Because it takes much longer to read a piece of content marketing than it does to skim a postcard, it must be worth the reader’s time, and it must give them something they can’t find anywhere else. Whether it’s the tone, the approach to the topic, or the way you’ve helped them uncover a solution that’s easy to apply, or inexpensive, or will give them an edge on their competition, always make sure you’re providing quality content.
Generate Action or Change Beliefs – Whether your content marketing is a 10-page white paper, or a single-sided case study, you’ve done nothing for your prospect unless you’ve engaged them enough to buy your product or service, call to ask questions about it, or impacted them so much that they’ve moved from your competition to you. Because the proof is in the pudding, I’ll be the first to tell you that testing your content marketing is smart, economical, and forward thinking. If the content marketing doesn’t get them moving, improve it until it does.

As wonderful and beneficial as you might think your content marketing pieces are, there’s a good chance nobody is going to stand in line to receive them. And they certainly should never be asked to pay for them. Even still, the tips above can be used to create, in the prospect or client, a desire to learn more about your product or service. And if done exceptionally well, that content marketing will be shared with their peers which could lead to additional sales.

Give Opportunity Knocks a call today. Our Success Coaches will never say “No soup for you!” And they don’t hide the recipe for your success in an old armoire (trust me). But you can bet they’ve got the perfect ingredients you need to make your content marketing postcard campaign a success!