While we're all excited to market our content, it's important to remember who the content is for: the audience. If you only think about your own perspective, no one will want to pay attention to you. Keep the focus on the reader, someone other than yourself who will be finding this blog of yours, and you'll give them something worth sticking around for. Try the ideas below to help you remember who's reading your blog, and not just who's writing it.
Content First, Marketing Second
Yes, you want to make sales and yes, of course you want your business to thrive. That doesn’t mean that you should worry about the “marketing” part of “content marketing” more than the “content.” Don’t get caught up in pumping out as much keyworded content as possible. Worry more about giving your audience something to admire and appreciate. Give them something of value and in return, you’ll begin to see developing trust because they view you as an authority and expert in your field. Even if they never buy your products, if they think highly of you, they may spread the good opinion to other people they know.
Write Something Other than a Sales Pitch
Don’t just ask your audience if they have an issue and then try to solve it with your product or service. Instead of just writing posts that recommend your product over and over again, be insightful on the problems that face your audience every day. Acknowledge the issue and give away free, valuable advice that you would find yourself using if you were in their positions. If you build that trust with your audience, when they are ready to take the next step, you will probably come to the forefront of their minds.
Of course in the long run you want someone to buy your product, but first, you have to establish some credibility and trust. To do that, write content that does more than simply market for you, and give something useful away for free. You'll find that this approach will pay for itself later on.
