Targeted Content: How to Reach the Right People with the Right Content

Most businesses of all sizes know whom they are working for. It goes without saying: you can’t open a business without thinking who would even buy from you. [Or you could, but you won’t get too far.]

Generally, business owners and marketers alike think that the bigger the target audience, the bigger their sales. That’s partially true.

For instance, you will sell more if your product is dog food instead of hamster food. There are more dog than hamster owners. Plus, a dog eats a bigger quantity of food.

However, this doesn’t mean that you should actively try to enlarge your target audience.

Quite the opposite.

The more in-depth you go with your targeting, the better your chances of reaching the right people. Otherwise, you’ll end up wasting money on content, ads or other marketing tactics you use in-house.

Some even argue that, for small businesses small niches mean less headaches and bigger profits.

Whatever the size of your business, casting a wide net with your content is never a good idea. Highly targeted content will always be king.

Why Do You Need Highly Targeted Content?

Let’s take a look at some statistics about personalization in general:

1. 79% of consumers are more likely to engage with an offer if it was personalized to reflect their previous interactions with the brand.
2. 51% of consumers expect that by 2020 brands will anticipate their needs and make relevant suggestions even before the first contact.
3. 88% of marketers in the US report seeing better measurable results due to personalization.
4. 78% of internet users in the US say personalized and relevant content from brands improved their purchase intent.
5. Lack of content targeting and relevancy generates response rates that are 83% lower in an average marketing campaign.
6. Personalization can reduce customer acquisition costs by up to 50%, boost revenue by up to 15% and increase the marketing spend efficacy by up to 30%.

I spoke about the importance of personalization in my article about email marketing strategies, too. I think this is something that should be mentioned in relation to any tactic.

Today’s consumers don’t bother with poorly targeted content. They have tons of information and entertainment sources online, so they can easily switch the “channel” when you don’t deliver exactly what they need.

The perfectly targeted content delivered at the perfect time can help with B2B lead generation, lead conversion, client retention and more.

Targeted content shows that you know all about your (potential) customers’ wants and needs. Authority content that’s well-written and to the point additionally shows that you can help them with their wants and needs.

What reason do they have not to trust you and not to work with you?

But, while it may be easy to come up with the right audience for your Facebook ads or Google AdWords, content targeting can prove a bit trickier.

You can’t set all those demographic factors on your blog or website. But you can write targeted content if you know exactly whom you are targeting.

Why Old-School Buyer Personas Don’t Work Anymore

Basic demographics won’t take you too far. The buyer persona research has to start with them, but it definitely doesn’t have to stop there.

Basic demographic targeting includes:

• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Location

Say you’re a real estate agent and you’re trying to come up with your buyer persona for a new residential neighborhood in Florida. It would be perfect for families with kids, as it’s safe and in a great school district.

Your old-school buyer persona profiling would come up with:

• 35+
• Male
• Medium income
• Florida resident

That’s a great start.

But how many of the Florida men over 35 are divorced or never have been married? How many of them have or want a lifestyle that’s compatible with living in your neighborhood?

How can you deliver targeted content that truly addresses the needs of your 35+ year old Florida man that is married or in a committed relationship and has (or plans to have) kids?

Short answer: you can’t. Not yet.

In-Depth Profiling Is the First Step for Highly Targeted Content

Ever watched a crime or detective TV show?

Remember how detectives work with profilers and psychologists to get into the mind of the killer? Just like a marketer, they start with basic demographics, but they always need much more to get to him.

So they try to come up with his interests, his passions, his favorite places to hang out, his drivers, even his family history and type of childhood.

While you don’t need to know all that, it never hurts.

By finding out what drives your buyer persona, you can easily emphasize those points in your targeted content. Let’s try to update the profile. We should start by adding:

• Marital status
• Job
• Interests
• Holiday preferences
• Lifestyle characteristics

Dave, 35, works at an investment firm and is on the fast-track to be promoted as partner in the next couple of years. He is married to Sharon. They have a 3 year old and another child on the way.

Dave works long hours and he likes to unwind at a gym next to his office building and spend the evenings with his family. He loves to eat out with his wife, but having a toddler makes it impossible for them to go out as much as they’d like.

When on holiday, Dave cares about a safe environment for his kid, so he chooses child-friendly places within or outside the state.

Dave watches football avidly and likes to go bowling with his friends. He also enjoys imported beer.

How does this help us deliver targeted content, you ask?

It’s quite easy: going in-depth with your profiling helps you get to know Dave. You know him as if he were a family member.

Now think of it this way: when a family member asks for a recommendation for a restaurant, new TV or even a new home, you don’t need to ask too many questions. You already know what they like and what they need, right?

As the realtor trying to get Dave to buy one of your houses, you can use this information to deliver him targeted content. Instead of telling him he can get a great house, you can tell him that:

1. He can get a perfectly-sized home for his growing family.
2. He can move into a neighborhood that’s safe for his family and child-friendly.
3. His new home is surrounded by child-friendly restaurants.
4. There is a bowling alley two miles away from his new home.
5. The supermarkets and bars in the neighborhood are stocked with his favorite beer.

In other words, you don’t have to guess anymore. You don’t have to look at the features of the home and the neighborhood it’s in and hope Dave needs them.

You know exactly what Dave needs. And you can create the targeted content that Dave needs to make the decision: a list of bars and pubs around the home, a list of great schools and kindergartens, public safety reports and so on.

Of course, Dave is not the only one who would love to live in your new neighborhood. Maybe it would also be fitting for single moms? However, they would surely have other wants and needs.

So it’s up to you to create another buyer persona.

When you can feel safe about covering all your bases by creating as many buyer personas as you need, you can start delivering your amazing targeted content.

Mapping Your Targeted Content to Stages of the Buyer Journey

Knowing Dave as well as you know your best friend isn’t enough to convince him to buy a home. Remember that this is an important decision, so Dave won’t make it in the spur of the moment.

Your buyer persona goes through a journey before settling on the purchase they will make.

Image source: HubSpot

Let’s see how you can help Dave along all three stages of his buyer journey.

In the awareness phase, your job is to help him realize that he needs a bigger house. Most likely, with a new child on the away, Dave is already aware of this at some level.

Your best bet here is SEO copywriting.

Dave doesn’t exactly know what he’s looking for yet. So he’ll probably start on a search engine. Keywords like: “family homes”, “houses for families of 4”, “best neighborhood in Tampa FL”, “family homes in Tampa, FL” and so on are your safest bet.

Your targeted content needs to match Dave’s preferences. Use tons of photos and detailed descriptions for your homes – all perfectly optimized for search engines, of course!

Need help with SEO copywriting that’s both search engine and user friendly? Get in touch with us! Our skilled copywriters can make sure that your content ranks high in SERPs and converts readers into paying customers.

In the consideration stage, Dave will be looking for options – best neighborhood, best prices, best value for money and so on. SEO can help again: optimize your content for “best neighborhood in Tampa FL”, best neighborhood to raise kids in Tampa FL”, “best school district in Tampa FL” and so on. Aim not only for targeted content, but for geo-targeted content.

But don’t just count on traditional web content.

Comparative e-books and white papers can help Dave understand why the neighborhood you’re selling homes in is better than his other alternatives.

Offer him all the facts he needs to know, from the prices of your homes to prices of other services in the area. Use testimonials from people who have already moved in (if any) and speak with school teachers – building trust through targeted content is an important part of the consideration stage for any buyer.

Empower your potential customer through targeted content distribution. Let them feel like they have all the information they need to make a great decision.

Lastly, you have the decision stage. But just because Dave decided to buy your home, it doesn’t mean your job is over.

Support him with helpful, information-packed targeted content. Mortgage comparisons, moving companies, furniture trends, how to decorate a baby room – all of these can turn into amazing pieces of content.

Better yet, why not create a topic cluster and gather all this content under a single virtual roof? This way, Dave can find all the information he needs easily and you can boost your SEO immensely.

You might wonder why you need to delight Dave after he’s signed the deal.

It’s a good question.

Making sure that a customer doesn’t regret their decision is not only a crucial part of the inbound selling process – the kind that keeps your business open in the long run, but also a great way to gain new customers.

Most likely, Dave has a lot of friends with a profile similar to his. We all know that birds of a feather tend to flock together, right?

Push your targeted content strategy one step further. Get more than a client – turn Dave into a loyal brand ambassador.

When one of your customers sees that you go above and beyond to anticipate and meet their needs, they are likely to recommend you to their friends and family. This is especially true for the services industry.

You see, a product is easy to return. Flaws in products are almost always objectively agreed on. But services – that’s a completely different deal.

This is why your target content delivery has to be on point even after the deal has been closed.

Conclusion

A strong targeted content strategy is ideal for businesses who play the long-term game. If you are looking for more than a quick sale, then this is exactly what you need.

The best part of creating a detailed buyer persona is that you won’t just be using it for creating targeted content. You will also be using it for delivering that content, as well as for your other marketing tactics, from PPC ads to email marketing.

Need help creating and implementing a coherent and results-oriented targeted content strategy? You have come to the right place! We’ve been using targeted content to help our customers generate sustainable business for years and we can do the same for you.

Get in touch for your personalized offer!