Go from a digital mess to a polished image with a content strategy

Your customers are out there. They are searching the web for you. They are typing what they need into the Google search bar, reading reviews, hunting for information and evaluating companies like yours long before they pick up the phone to buy your services and products.

It is a brave new world and people are finding their way through the sales funnel without your help.

Increasingly, your brand’s interaction with your customers is through your published content. A new customer may be as much as 60% of the way through the decision-making process before they contact you.

Publishing website content, including brand journalism style pieces, that are a good representation of your brand, products and services, will give you an edge over your competition. But, if your website content marketing is below par potential customers keep searching and don’t enter your sales funnel.

These days, brands are what they publish.

Do you look like a polished professional or a digital mess?

I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that you would not allow a sales person who talks, but does not listen, or who provides wads of out-of-date product information, represent your brand.

Yet many businesses use their websites to talk about what interests them instead of what their customer wants to know. Others are all but abandoned and fall into neglect.

Because of its greater reach potential, a website with obsolete information; promotional-self talk; confusing navigation; and a writing style unfriendly to web readers is even more damaging to your revenue stream than an inadequate sales person.

A content strategy provides a blueprint for a professional digital image

A content marketing strategy that includes planned, on message content mapped to your sales funnel gives your brand a polished and professional virtual sales team that delivers exactly what your prospect is looking for, when they want it.

By providing content that is useful, valuable and interesting you are extending an invitation to start a relationship. Insightful blog posts, informative case studies and your newsletter sign-up allow prospects to discover that you understand them, you have the expertise to help and you are a great fit.

One way to make sure you provide the best mix of content is to find out what people need at each stage of the sales funnel. Watch out for that information in my next blog post at TheRedStairs.com.