Personas: I am sure you already know how to define your target audience, but do you know how to talk to them? Understanding the voice in which you need to speak will help you make more engaging content.
This is where “personas” come in handy. A brand persona is a single-person illustration of your target market, from their age to income level and hobbies. Much like brand studies and focus groups, personas direct the way you approach your audience.
One thing to note: a good persona goes beyond demographics. Your persona should include psychographics as well, which you can read more about here.
Overlapping Interest: Content marketing is about creating an always-on relationship with your audience. But how do you do that?
It means creating content that will encourage a reader to return, and not just to read the topics your brand typically covers. For example, a reader who visits your article about determining a home-buying budget may return for an article explaining how to get the best deal on a new couch.
This concept is known as “overlapping interest.” It entails learning a wide range of your audience’s life interests and including them in your content strategy. Here’s how to make it work for you: let’s say you are a hotel brand targeting the business traveler. You should explore other interests that a typical business traveler may have, such as golf. You can then write travel articles related to that particular interest, e.g. “How to Travel with Golf Clubs.”
Seasonality: Remember that Kenny Rogers song, The Gambler? “You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away”?
This is a tenet you should follow not only in poker, but in your content strategy, as well. In other words, you got to know when to post certain content topics, know how long to keep them up and know when it’s time to introduce a new topic.
A seasonal content calendar is a great way to keep all of your seasonal trends straight. Just keep in mind that seasonal content should often be published well ahead of the actual event. For example, people begin searching for tax information as early as November.
The point is, you need to dig deep to understand your audience’s peaks and valleys. In fact, this can not only affect your content calendar but may even impact when you put certain products on the shelf.
Devices and Formats: Okay, so you’ve got your audience and their interests figured out, but you aren’t done yet. You’ve also got to reach your audience in the right place.
This means discovering the platforms where your audience consumes content, as well as the best content format for the individual platform. To put it another way, my father knows the best way to reach me is via text. In turn, I know the best way to reach my grandmother is by phone.
You should be familiar with the same points of contact for your audience. For example, a beauty content strategy might include quick tips for mobile, hair-styling videos that work well on tablets and visual how-tos for social platforms like Pinterest.