“We just launched this exciting new…”
“We have the best customer service in…”
“Our reps are the leading experts in…”
blah, blah, blah
It continues to bother me about the number of articles and blogs from brands and even individual bloggers that constantly talk about how great they are.
The first rule of content marketing is to understand that your customers only care about themselves. Once we realize that as content marketers, we can effectively develop a content plan to talk about valuable, relevant and compelling content that the customer would be interested in (focused on their pain points).
Not following this rule is one major reason why many brands are failing at social media. Does anyone want to share information or talk about your brand? Not if it’s about your corporate brand (90% off coupons aside), your new widget, or how awesome your CEO is. Creating something compelling and sharable that is all about serving the customers’ needs is the only remedy.
Need an example? Look at this spread from MyFord magazine. All the highlighted areas are where Ford mentions themselves or one of their cars. Does this look like content that you would love to engage in or share? Nope.
Take the Test
- Gather all your marketing content, print and electronic (make printouts) and place them on a conference table. Include brochures, newsletters, blog posts, reseller information, etc.
- Get your marketing executives in a room.
- Ask yourself, “Is our content more about our customers’ pain points or more about us and how great our products or services are?”
- If the answer is that the content is all about you and your brand, do something about it.
Not sure how to get started? Download this white paper on how to attract and retain customers with content marketing.
10 Comments
“It’s not you . . . it’s me.”
Tremendous point Joe. You’ve touched on a distinction that many fail to recognize between traditional ‘me’dia and social ‘me’dia.
Traditional media is one sided and all about the brand. It’s usually all me, me, me the company.
Social media is about me the consumer and the people + things that I’m interested in. It’s a two way dialogue based on sharing.
Content marketing bridges that gap. Create content that is relevant and helpful to your consumers. Instead of pushing out information, you are sowing seeds to attract potential customers when they have the appropriate need.
Best,
Stan
@9INCHmarketing
‘The average distance between your brain and your heart is 9 inches’
Exactly Stan…that’s why it’s so hard for traditional brands to make the jump…it’s a completely different form of communication. Opportunity for those you really get it!
Amen, Joe. I could not agree more with you. David Meerman Scott said the same thing. No one cares about your products except you. Yet 98% of companies violate this and blather on and on about how great they are. Keep up the great work.
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple”
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
Hi Joe,
Great post and awesome reminder to think about clients first. It’s funny how many people don’t believe me when I tell them that their clients don’t care about them. They get a little offended.
Oh well.
On a side note, you probably haven’t seen it, but I wrote a similar article and published it about a year ago on Biznik.com:
http://biznik.com/articles/no-offense-but-your-customers-dont-care-about-you
Take a look if you’re interested, just another way to reinforce this message!
Thanks!
Lindsay Berger
Inkwell Marketing
Wow Lindsey…outstanding article. Thanks for sharing. I should have just copied yours to my post. Right on!
Thanks Joe, this is great info for someone starting out. I am just starting out and this info will hopefully send me in the right direction. Writing content is what I’m doing to attract clients to my business.
I try to supply relevant information to businesses without worrying about myself, but sometimes its not easy.
Matthew Kramer
Improving Business Wireless
http://www.improvingbusinesswireless.com
Love this article.
What’s great, though, is that it’s so easy to change. Companies can still say the great stuff about themselves, just phrase it from the point of view of the customer. Tell the customer WHY it’s important that the company has been around for 50 years, WHY it’s important that the company is so innovative, etc. It’s that critical “WHY” part that is missing too often — but easy to include!
Thanks for the post, I have been telling people this for a while now. We bombard people with the same message over and over and over again, about how great our new line is. Everyone is tired of it, and everyone knows it’s the same thing with a new, predictable twist.
Enjoyed this post, and had a similar observation recently. I noticed how many events on my clients’ marketing plan were driven by internal events, such as a product launch, but not by any drivers a buyer cares about. Buyers want to be informed–they want news. “How great I am” is not news. http://bit.ly/bkVLkl
Thank you Joe for an excellent post.
And thank you Beth Carter for helping me figure out just what my prospects want to know about.
Cameron Carothers