Assessing your audience-content connection
The Covid-19 environment is forcing businesses to re-define their relationship with clients and customers. There is no escaping the fact that digital just got a massive shot in the arm, and the question now is how will business adapt and how, even more importantly, will high performing content enable organisations to connect the brand to the customer…
If you still need convincing that the internet has become a busier but better place as a result of Covid-19, take a look at the retail industry. In May, online shopping as a proportion of all retail reached a record high of 33.4% (ONS), compared to 30% the month before, and an average of 22.3% in 2019 (UK Ecommerce 2019).
With consumers either confined to lockdown or simply embracing digital on a new level, a legacy of this significant period of time is that buying behaviours, across all sectors and industries, have evolved. At an accelerated speed, people are moving online to make their purchases.
Is this a temporary shift?
It remains to be seen, but while the war is being waged for traffic, it’s never been more important for companies to have absolute clarity on messaging to ensure they are making connections in the most powerful and valuable way.
Return on Audience
The value of high performing, high value, relevant content in this battle cannot be underestimated. Businesses focusing right now on how their own content is being driven by the audience they are seeking to engage, will win.
While many brands focus on ROI, the real focus should be ROA (return on audience) as an investment. The benefits of content are accumulative over time, as customer relationships are strengthened and new leads are forged – but only if you’re speaking to the right people.
Truly understanding your audience is the key to effective communication.
So, who exactly is interested in your brand and why?
Firstly, which segment of your audience are you specifically targeting? Your business might have three customer profiles or it might have ten. It’s impossible to truly connect if you’re talking to them all in the same way.
This is especially true in a business where more than one product or service is on offer. The more you drill down and segment, the more niche you can be with what you’re talking about, ensuring you’re speaking directly to the right people.
The point your paths cross
Secondly, at what point is the client or consumer attracted to your brand? Why then?
Put another way, what is their ‘need state’ or state of mind at the point they connect with the brand?
Imagine how powerful it would be to not only establish this, but then use it to drive content to the heart of your audience.
If a customer is at the very start of their journey, they are likely to be researching and building brand confidence. At this point, a reassuring voice with an emphasis on brand values and expertise will be more valuable than a sales message. A sales message placed at the wrong time in a customer journey can have damaging repercussions on the relationship and, moreover, future sales.
For a business with more than one product and therefore more than one audience, it’s all the more important to segment and target. We talk to businesses about this all the time, it’s an on-going process of connecting content to the vision and values of the business, as well as your audience need. This algorithm will make for a connection with customers who are most likely to purchase.
The shifting landscape
We live in a ‘one-click’ culture where consumers are able to instantly research and source information. This means, not only does your content have to compete with the deluge of other information out there but there’s the added challenge of getting the right information to connect to the right people.
A further challenge for businesses is that Google is becoming increasingly intuitive around organic, natural engagement. The average Google first page result contains 1,447 words (Backlinko), which indicates that longer form content performs stronger. And with the average time taken to write a blog at 3 hours and 57 minutes – up 65% from 2014 (Smart Insights), brands are investing more time and resource into strategic content and abandoning the tired old approach of creating content purely for SEO.
At GoldSand Digital, to create high quality content, we utilise our own Content Matrix. The Content Matrix helps companies ensure they are identifying and harnessing High Performing Content – content that both delivers value to the brand and is intrinsically linked to the key objectives of the business. One of the four fundamental pillars to achieving this, is understanding and connecting with the right audience.
Assessing your audience-content connection
Content is only relevant when it’s driven by your customers. In the current Covid climate, the landscape is constantly changing. Where customer habits are shifting regularly, your own Content Matrix must adapt accordingly to coincide.
When evaluating whether or not your brand is making meaningful connections, ask a few questions of the strategy currently in place:
- How is your business tracking content and what does success look like (ie, increased traffic, new leads or conversion)?
- Are you constantly reassessing the direction of content is going in, to ensure it remains in line with audience desire and need?
- Do you have a process in place by which to regularly re-evaluate your customers base, and identify growth segments?
- Does every piece of content connect in some form to the vision and values of the business – and does it target a specific customer profile?
The impact of Covid-19 across industries has been profound. Many companies have suffered, including big name brands like Debenhams, BrightHouse and Carluccio’s, who are all currently facing administration.
The need to understand your audience has never been greater. Are you confident that your business is creating high value content? And vitally, are you completely sure you’re talking to the right audience on a level that truly connects?
Want some help?
If you would like any support with the points covered, the team at GoldSand Digital are on hand to offer guidance. We can assist with deciphering what ‘good’ looks like in terms of content for each of your products, and demonstrate the value of an accurate and tailored Content Matrix. Drop us an email here and we’d be happy to set up a call!