3 Tips to create content strategically
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Find out more about the types of content to produce for different parts of your sales funnel.
Today I wanted to talk to you about creating content strategically. No one has time to waste creating content for the sake of it, right?
Now is a very good time of the year to sit down and plan the content that you're going to create in the next twelve months or at least map it out for the next six months.
When you plan your content creation you want to look at your products and services and think about how you can create content that relates to what you want to sell. There is no point in creating content that has nothing to do with your products and services.
So let's say that you want to sell a particular product or service and then you look at it and think okay what kind of topics can I write about about?
List your topics and then think about the following:
Top of your funnel
First, how are people going to find out about you? You're going to be looking at the top of your funnel.
At the top of the funnel people don't know who you are, maybe they have seen a couple of posts from you on social media, or they’ve stumbled upon your website but basically, they don't know you very well. They are what we call “a cold audience”.
At this stage, you need to think about the kind of content that is going drive a lot of traffic to your website and into your funnel, such as:
Long-form blog posts, minimum 2,000 words. You want to rank high for SEO with your blog posts. Check my other video here to find out how to rank highly using written content.
Guest blogging - you might want to guest blog for a very popular online publication where a lot of people are going to find you.
Taking guest posts or interviewing influencers - you might want to interview someone who also has a large audience or be the guest for someone who has a large audience or has a podcast for example.
At this stage you are looking at content that is going to attract a large number of people. Either it's going to bring them to your website through SEO or you are going to somehow collaborate with other people and be a guest or invite them to be your guest. But you're going to be looking at a large pool of people.
Download the Ultimate Content Planner to map out your content strategically (not randomly).
Middle of your funnel
The next thing you need to think about is the middle of the funnel.
When people go to your blog and they read it, what you want to do is to have a call to action for them to subscribe to your email list. You either have a freebie or a content upgrade or any sort of lead magnet that is going to bring them in your funnel.
At this point you're going to have to think about another type of content, which is content that creates connections and relationships.
The kind of content you need in the middle of your funnel is content that educates your market; why your products and services are better, what are your points of difference. You want to create a bond and a relationship with your audience.
You've already attracted them, they already in your funnel, so it's very important to create connection. Videos are great for that purpose, because we connect to people more through videos than we do over a written blog post.
Bottom of you funnel
Finally, we come to the bottom of your funnel.
When it comes to the bottom of your funnel what you want to do is to remove barriers for purchase. You want to remove objections. You might be looking at your testimonials, case studies, warranties and all sort of things that can assure your audience that your products and services are good, are going to serve the purpose and are going to solve their problem.
So that's the three types of content that you need to create to turn your content marketing into a sales machine.
1. attract a cold audience
2. educate and connect
3. close the sale
To close the sale, you need to remove purchasing objections and reassure your audience.
