The Components of Content — Kelford Labs Daily

How do you make marketing content that connects with your prospects and helps them understand that you can solve their problem?

Here are three things to keep in mind:

1) Understand and Speak to Their Needs

“Your marketing needs to speak to specific people, on (and with) their particular terms. Even if what you sell could work for everyone, you need to talk to each individual in a way they expect.”

— Kelford Labs Daily: One Size Won’t Fit

Learn the terms and phrases your customers use to describe your industry, your work, or your speciality. Use their words in your communication, and consider where they are and when they need you. What context will your content reach them in, and what mindset are they likely holding? And what could you say, then and there, to demonstrate your ability to help them?

Instead of saying, “Here’s what I do,” you can say, “Here’s my process for tackling your exact challenge.”

2) Tell the Truth

“If you narrow the focus of your job to telling the truth and making it interesting, the words actually come easily. It’s when we think we need to embellish, distract, or pretend that we get into trouble.”

— Kelford Labs: Tell the Truth and Make it Interesting

Don’t think about what would convince or persuade your prospects—think about what you could do to demonstrate how you work and the process you follow. As the John E. Powers saying goes, “If the truth isn’t tellable, fix it so it is.” Align your process to fit the needs and values of your prospects, and show them the tradeoffs you’ve made to ideally suit them.

Instead of saying, “Here’s what I sell,” you can say, “Here’s what goes into every product.”

3) Recognize the Distance

“Marketing is the art and science of demonstrating value at a distance. So before we get to the art or the science, we have to ask ourselves: What’s the value, and what’s the distance?”

— Kelford Labs Daily: What Value, What Distance?

If a prospect is already close to us, following us on social media or inquiring about our services, they need a particular type of content—primarily, they want to be reassured that we can help. We need to make them comfortable purchasing from us. So we want to provide content about the tradeoffs we’ve made in our business that demonstrate we’re particularly focused on their needs and how they experience value.

Or, if they’re far away from us, barely aware of our business, we want to make it easy for them to learn more by sharing informative content that demonstrates our credibility and experience.

So, instead of saying, “Here I am and here’s why you should buy,” you can say, “I see where you are, and here’s how I can help with your particular challenge.”

Great marketing content is about more than saying what we want to say. It’s about demonstrating value in a way our best prospects can understand and appreciate.

Which means talking on their terms, telling the truth, and reaching them where they are.