3 Easy Ways To Make Your Online Content Engaging and Attract Prospects

 

Marketing is scary for many small businesses.  You know your product, but not always how to market it correctly.  Today, the internet has opened many more avenues for small businesses to market to their target audiences.  However, if your marketing copy does not attract and keep your prospects' attention, any promotional material used after that is pointless. The goal for effective online content is to engage the prospect and grab their attention.

Here are three easy ways to ensure that your online content is engaging and prospects are attracted to your business and respond to your marketing materials.

1. Understand that it's not about you.

If you look at most small business marketing copy, you may notice a lot of talk about the people who work there. However, beyond the "about" section most prospects are not interested in reading copy that is dominated with the frequent uses of the words "we," "our" or the company name repeatedly.

The problem with this type of language is that it doesn't appeal to prospects because it comes across as self serving rather than concentrating on what the prospect stands to gain from becoming a client or customer of the company. After all, your prospects are only concerned about their own needs and desires and how well your product or services produces results. A great strategy for incorporating prospects into your marketing message is writing copy that reads more conversational and less like an essay. The usage of words such as: "you," "your" and "you're" will personalize your message and make it reader friendly.

2. Address a common problem and/or need held by the average prospect in your target group.

First, you must identify the common problems or challenges held by your targeted prospects before writing any effective copy to market to them. If you don't know your prospects' problems, you'll have a difficult time writing content that gets their attention. Before you attempt to write promotional copy, make certain that you have accurately identified the primary challenges and concerns that your prospects have. Here are a few questions to consider: What value are you providing for your customers? What are the interests and likes of your target demographic? Once you have this information, you can create copy that speaks directly to your prospects. Your copy will then be more relevant and engaging to them.

If you're interested in learning about your prospects' thoughts, needs and challenges one very effective way to obtain answers is to survey them. If you're actively building a mailing list, simply ask your subscribers about their most pressing issues related to your product or service. Once you have a targeted list of prospects, you can then adjust your marketing efforts to cater to the primary needs held by that group of people.

3. Provide education-based content, high value and results.

The best way to engage your prospects is to educate them. You have the ability to become an invaluable and trusted resource to your prospects by giving them educational information that helps address their problems related to your product or service. Therefore sharing your knowledge will create value in your prospect’s mind for your content and your services. If you share your knowledge, both in your marketing materials and face-to-face meetings, you will move a lot faster in the know-like-trust barometer. Each time you offer expertise, give insight or answer a basic question, you further establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Many small businesses are very hesitant about offering free advice or educational content because they fear that their prospects will become window shoppers or 'do-it-themselves' types and never pay for their coaching services. Don't worry about this scenario. The prospects who want and need your services will value the information you provide and are more likely to hire you once you have demonstrated your knowledge, expertise and value.

Finally, post testimonials to your web page.  This demonstrates "social proof" of people who have used your advice and obtained positive results. Testimonials verify your expert status.