Are Your Customers Goldfish?

Are your customers goldfish? In other words, do they have short attention spans?

Probably!

Mobile devices have made multitasking the norm. When aren’t we looking at a screen….checking email, streaming live videos, checking social media updates? You get the picture. Your customers are doing this….just like you are. And we’re doing this while we’re doing something else, like watching a TV show, cooking, or even holding a conversation.

It should come as no surprise that the average human attention span has fallen to just eight seconds….shorter than that of a goldfish.

Because of customer’s short attention span, your content must be short, clear and to the point. And not just the content of your website. Everything must be written to catch attention quickly. This includes your social media posts and even your printed brochures.

How do you create content that gets read?

Write quality content

Make sure that the content you are putting out is of high quality. Use your keywords so your pages and posts are found in online searches.

Know what your customers will read. If you’re having trouble coming up with blog topics, look at the questions your customers have asked. That’s a great place to get ideas for future blogs. You could conduct a survey of your current customers to ask them what they want to read about.

Use visual content

Studies have shown that readers spend more time looking at images than words on a webpage. Images also promote greater memory recall than text alone.

There are different types of visual content you can use to draw attention to your content and keep your readers engages.

For blogs, use images that relate to the topic you are blogging about. On your website, use images to break up all your text.

Videos are also a great way to use visual content to capture customer’s attention. Videos can be used on your website and on your social media posts.

Make it easy to read

Whether it’s your blog or a webpage, if you make it easy for your readers to skim, they’ll happily consume your content.

Include white space for the reader’s eyes to rest. Use bullet points. A list is a great way to get information out in short sentences.

Use headers and bolded text. Headers can direct a reader to a section they are particularly interested in. Bolded text will draw attention to the information you feel is important.

How to Make Your Social Marketing More Effective

Getting social is an important marketing strategy for businesses today. Many businesses, large and small, struggle with how to effectively use social media as part of their marketing strategy.

Sometimes it’s as simple and easy as outsourcing your social media marketing to a marketing firm such as Blue Lilac Marketing Group. But if you want to do it yourself, here are some tips to use social media more effectively to market your business.

Take time write content

The social media platforms you are using will determine how much content you need to write. If you’re blogging, naturally your posts will be longer than a Twitter post which only allows 140 characters in a post.

But your messages should be consistent and all relate back to the marketing campaign you’re running.

I recommend business owners set aside a few hours a week to write, review, edit and post their content.

Stockpile

Write more content than you think you will need. When you have a good stockpile, you can schedule out further and you won’t have to write while you’re on vacation, attending a conference, or in the middle of a big client project.

Schedule

Scheduling content in advance will save you a lot of time. While you’re away at a conference or on that coveted vacation, content will automatically be posted to your social media platforms.

Use your ‘downtime’ to plan future posts. This planning could be outlining your next blog post or reading an article about current trends in your industry (a great way to get ideas for future posts!).

Collaborate

If you have employees, brainstorm with them.  Ideas evolve within groups and you never know where the next great marketing campaign will come from. Your employees know your business and may have great customer stories to tell or are able to share customer questions.

Analytics

Study your analytics to determine if a campaign is successful or not. This will allow you to reflect on what went well and what you can improve on.

Look at your customer feedback around your campaigns. This might provide you with great testimonials, ideas for future products or even better marketing campaign ideas.

Be dedicated to posting on a schedule, write to your customers’ pain points and problems and study your analytics to increase your social media reach.

3 Ways to Determine Your Target Market

Knowing who your clients are is a necessary so you can spend your time marketing to the right audience.

There are three questions you should ask yourself to start the process of creating a target market.

Who is your ideal client?

This is where you should get specific about the type of client you want to work with. Ask yourself specific questions about your ideal client such as how much money to they make, what is their age, what is their education level, and any other questions you think would be relevant to create an ideal client.

These questions help you weed out those that would not be the right fit for your business and attract those that you can better serve.

Where do you find your ideal client?

You need to know where to find your ideal client so you can focus your marketing and advertising efforts. Are they online or offline? If your ideal client is on LinkedIn, but not on Facebook, spending time on Facebook would be a waste of your time, effort and money.

If your ideal clients belong to certain organizations or groups, you need to start attending these meetings and make the investment to join and be active.

The goal is to get yourself in front of your ideal client as often as possible. A general marketing rule is that it takes a client at least 5 points of contact before they make the decision to buy from or work with you. Position yourself to be seen in multiple places. But make sure they are the right places.

Use your marketing efforts to drive potential clients to your website where they can find more information about your products or services.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Part of determining your target market is determining what problem you are solving for your clients.

How will your products or services help your client? Will it save time or money for your client? Will it make things easier for your client? Is it something they can’t get anywhere else? The answers to these questions can help you create your unique selling position (USP). Once crafted, your USP should be used in your marketing materials and on your website home page to tell your potential customers why they need your products or services.

Remember, when you’re marketing your business, it’s not about you but about your client. Figure out what your client wants and needs, create a plan on how you can solve their problem, and market that to your target audience. The process of creating a target market can take time but in the long run, it will save you time and money by only marketing to the right audience.