Are Your Creating the RIGHT Content?
Find Your Sweet Spot For Generating Sales
At NOBOSS, our mission is to empower you on your entrepreneurial journey, and this content is no exception. Recently, I was asked a question that sparked a thought-provoking conversation about the ‘roles of content’.
The entrepreneur I was assisting asked, "Why am I not getting sales even though I am consistently creating content?"
After reviewing the entrepreneurs' content, it was clear that they were creating excellent material, especially for a new content creator. However, given they wanted to generate sales, a glaring issue with their content became obvious.
PROBLEM: They weren't producing the right kind of content to generate leads and sales.
Creating content for your business is an intentional and purpose-driven process, deeply intertwined with your goals. In this entrepreneur's case, they had successfully generated content centered around topics they were passionate about, directly related to their business, and aligned with their audience's interests. While this content was instrumental in building brand visibility, trust, and awareness, it lacked the critical elements necessary for conversion.
Content that converts requires elements that provide value, and address specific interests, needs, and solutions to the customers' challenges. This is very different from content that offers a general overview of a topic, like explaining what my business does, or how a product is created, for example.
From this we can derive two essential lessons:
The paramount importance is to clarify your intent and goal within every piece of content you produce. Understanding your desired outcomes and the impact you intend to have on your audience serves as the guiding light for your overall content strategy.
The significance of comprehending who your audience is, understanding their needs, and providing solutions to their challenges. So much so that if necessary you could even compare and challenge competitors to your products. This means your understanding has to be complete in every aspect.
And that's precisely what we're delving into in this blog – the distinction between:
Content crafted to educate your audience, build awareness, gain trust, enhance brand visibility, and gather valuable insights about your audience.
Content strategically designed to capture leads and convert them into sales.
Let’s get started!
BUILDING AWARENESS
Creating content that builds visibility involves several key components that can vary depending on your goals, audience, and platform. It's most likely that in the initial stages of creating content, your intent is likely to educate your audience or gather information about your audience to better know what their needs and interests are.
You want your content to have the intent of getting results like increasing website traffic, completing a survey, joining your e-mail list, engaging your audience on social media, or downloading a lead magnet. These things are generally free and require little obligation from your audience. In this stage, it's important to ultimately determine who your visitors are, what they need, and how you can better serve them.
Because trust and loyalty have not been established it's often difficult to get a visitor to spend money on their first introduction. Statistics show that on average, a potential customer has 5 to 8 ‘interactions’ with you before they have the confidence to buy what you’re selling.
GENERATING SALES
Creating content that generates leads and sales requires a strategic approach that focuses on providing data-driven valuable content that guides leads through the sales funnel ultimately converting them into paying customers. Did you catch that? You must know what they want or need. If you are not creating content that speaks to their needs, your efforts will fail to convert to sales.
For each product you sell, you want to create a unique piece of attention-grabbing content. How do you know it's attention-grabbing? Because it is based on the data that you learned from about your visitors. Using that information, you create content based on that.
Let's say you offer four different products for sale:
PRODUCT A, PRODUCT B, PRODUCT C, and PRODUCT D.
1. Write a general piece of content about how wonderful your business is and how you create these four amazing products. (AWARENESS)
2. Tell how your business and products will benefit them. Include a call to action to capture their email like, “Take the survey to get a (benefit) 20% discount”. (EVALUATION)
3. Visitors take the survey and according to your results most of your visitors are interested in PRODUCT C and PRODUCT D. (ENGAGEMENT)
4. Now that you know what your audience wants, create specific content educating, a lead magnet, a discount offer, something of value, or an incentive. Then ask for the sale with a nice big BUY NOW button. (CONVERSION)
FINDING YOUR SWEET SPOT!
Knowing when to shift from content that builds awareness to content focused on generating sales is a strategic decision unique to each business. While there may not be a specific point that mandates the transition, new businesses must strike a balance from the outset.
When comparing the two types of content note the distinct differences in the two: awareness content is more generalized whereas sales content is focused, and detailed.
Ultimately, you will use both types of content. Both serve distinct purposes, one laying the groundwork for brand recognition and loyalty, the other guiding potential customers through a journey toward conversion. But what's most important to note is the value in understanding what your customer wants. When you know your target market well enough to answer that question you want to invest 100% of your time, money, and energy in the greatest chances of making a sale.
WORD OF ADVICE
Achieving sales and building a thriving business extends beyond mere visibility—it's about resonating with the audience that truly needs your products or services. Even if you have the resources to hire employees, enlist a marketing agency, or run ads, a profound understanding of your audience remains paramount. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or part of a larger business, the ability to comprehend who needs your offerings and how they need them is essential.
While building, growing, and expanding your business, communication remains key. You must articulate your knowledge about your audience, specifying who you serve and why. This communication is the backbone of content creation, whether you're doing it independently or leveraging a team.
Doing your due diligence is non-negotiable. So, let's be clear: Success in entrepreneurship is not magic. It's a journey that demands commitment and a deep understanding of your customer base. The ultimate reward? A paying customer. Each order received is a testament to your vision—someone out there comprehends and values what you're offering! This validation is priceless.
So, embrace the journey, get to know your audience, and revel in the satisfaction of each paying customer, for they are the tangible proof that you're making a real impact.
Don’t forget to Join our Live Workshops to:
They are fun, engaging, and productive. Come, get involved!
Remember a real boss has NOBOSS.
