Advice to CEOs Who Worry Marketing Won’t Solve Their Unique Problems

So what’s going wrong?

Could it be that the strategy is not customised for their business?

I would say that it needs to be customised to the needs and wants of your customers. Your prospects and customers have a set of unique problems related to the products and services that you offer.

Let’s look at this in greater detail below.

The Inbound Marketing Methodology

The Inbound Marketing Methodology is a proven way that turns your website visitors into leads and then customers. This methodology is based on consumer behaviour.

Your customers don’t want to be marketed to anymore, they want to do the research themselves and make their own decisions about whether your product or services will solve their problems.

Inbound marketing’s foundation is about being helpful and answering your customers’ most asked questions and addressing their pain points.

This is no different to what your sales people have been doing in person for years.

The problems people have haven’t changed but it’s the way they seek out the answers that have.

So this is where the confusion sometimes comes from. CEOs like you hear this and think well that’s not how our prospect’s behave and this not unique to our problems.

Let me tell you straight, this is exactly how your prospects are behaving. I would agree that the methodology alone is not unique to you but the framework and strategy is.

Why you need a content marketing framework

You need structure.  A content marketing framework will give you that structure. This for me is why only 7% of businesses are saying it is highly effective.

They create content on a whim and just talk about the latest news of their business.

They may even have a content calendar.

This doesn’t interest your prospects.

You need a framework that you can build your unique business challenges around and create content that is unique to your business needs.

Things your framework should consist of:

• Content that attracts and answers only your prospects questions
• Email marketing that helps to address pain points and is personalised to your prospects needs
• Ebooks, whitepapers and unique research
• Forms that help you to segment your audience
• Calls to actions that trigger a response from only people who need your services
• Landing and sales pages that talk to your prospects

Why your strategy will be unique

Although you have a common framework and methodology, the actual substance of the strategy is unique to your business. Learning more about what your customers’ needs are and listening to the questions they have only makes your solution even more unique to your business.

By segmenting your audience you can personalise each piece of content and every email that you deliver so it talks specifically to the people who are most likely to buy your products.

For example, every email you send as part of your nurturing process will answer a unique question or address a unique pain point.

Your strategy is built around your unique sales process, as every business does this in a different way.

So you see, there is nothing generic about it at all.

Key take aways

There is an old saying that content is king but I like to think more of it as context is king. Although a framework or methodology may be used for many businesses, it is the content that you create to attract and engage only the people who are most likely to buy from you that is unique.

The questions you answer via email and social media will engage and connect only with your audience.

The ebooks and whitepapers that you create will only interest your buyers, prospects, customers and patients.

Now it’s your turn

I am looking for your help with understanding the things that make you think that the marketing companies offer you are not unique to your problems.

What makes you think services are not unique to you?

Let me know in the comments below.

Source: 88% of UK business use content marketing.