The words in the image above are how New York Times bestselling author Sally Hogshead sums up modern marketing. In my experience, she’s absolutely correct.
I’d argue that it’s been that way for a long time, even though the context has changed dramatically. Here’s a nearly century-old example to illustrate what I mean.
In the 1920s, Schlitz beer went from fifth in the market to a tie for first. All because a sharp copywriter named Claude Hopkins highlighted the company’s water purification process in an advertisement.
Never mind that all beer companies used the exact same process. No one had told that particular story before, and it made the winning difference for Schlitz.
Advertisers continued to become more astute after that point, which led to the development of the unique selling proposition by a guy named Rosser Reeves. This was the beneficial feature of a product or service that the competition would not — or could not — offer.
As these types of unique features became scarcer due to even greater competition, more products and services became indistinguishable. The winning difference became purely psychological, thanks to mass media positioning in the minds of prospects.
Take fiberglass insulation, a near perfect example of an undifferentiated commodity. And yet, Owens Corning became the market leader by focusing its communication on the fact that their insulation is pink.
The best story wins. But in the internet age, it’s the right story for the right person.
Think and Communicate Differently
Fast forward to today, more than 20 years into the commercial internet. Any product can be replicated or reverse engineered. Any service can be copied, leaving only execution as a true difference (which comes after the point of decision).
In short, people see less difference between competing features and offers than ever, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not looking. Don Schultz, professor emeritus at Northwestern, says everything we do as an organization can be copied, except for how we communicate.
This is exactly why an audience-first approach works so well. The experience with your brand begins thanks to uniquely-positioned information, not with product or service features that are perceived as undifferentiated.
Search engines and social media empower everyone to take charge and figure out their own choices, regardless of your claims of excellence. It becomes your job to show up early with valuable content that convinces the prospect that they’re more empowered with your guidance than they would be otherwise.
That’s been the core element of my success over the last 20 years as a content marketer and entrepreneur, and it’s more true than ever. It simply means you have to come to them on their terms, not yours (at least initially).
In fact, consulting firm McKinsey recently released research that illustrates the importance of being one of the initial choices early in the buyer’s journey. Brands have been instead investing heavily in brand loyalty with existing customers, and losing market share due to today’s shop-around empowered consumer.
This is the essence of developing an audience-first content marketing strategy — showing up early in the process and incrementally earning trust. That requires you to position your communication in a way that maximizes meaning and success for them.
What’s Your Business Objective?
Make people better at something they want to be better at. ~ Kathy Sierra
If you’re not showing up during the prospect’s self-determined buying journey, you’re not in the game. On the other hand, if you are showing up with the right content for them, you’ve got a chance to tell a truly different story.
Even if they don’t see a difference otherwise, you’ll get the shot at proving you truly are better. Or at least the solution that makes them feel better. And that’s the winning difference.
In the final section of The Rainmaker Way, I lay out an overview of a five-step process for documenting your content marketing strategy. The first step is figuring out why you’re executing on this strategy, or the major (or overall) aim of the strategy itself.
For you, the business objective is increasing sales and revenue. Other incremental objectives, such as branding, engagement, social sharing, SEO, and comments are merely beneficial outcomes along the way to achieving the major or overall aim.
The important part of this first step, however, is why are we doing this for them? In other words, what does the intersection of your communication (content) and your solution (product or service) do to enhance the overall experience for the prospect-turned-customer-or-client?
Ask yourself questions such as:
- Once a person becomes a customer or client, they are empowered to ______________.
- Their experience with us makes them feel ______________.
- When speaking of their experience with others, they say ______________.
Remember, we’re not performing this exercise based solely on what your product or service does. It’s the combination of beginning by attracting an audience first, and then guiding them to purchase your solution.
Here are a couple examples:
- A man going through a painful divorce is feeling less stressed and more hopeful thanks to our firm’s educational content that took the mystery and fear out of the process. The “voice” of our content also conveyed the empathy and support that our attorneys and staff provide each client, which led to glowing praise for our services once he experienced that we indeed practice what we preach.
- Prospects for web personalization software often have misconceptions about the complexity of the practice, which lead not to the choice of a competitor, but to putting off the purchase all together. Thanks to a strategic content sequence, we are able to eliminate common objections, increase the efficiency of the on-boarding process, and speed up the time to the first success milestone for the customer.
The first step to documenting a successful content marketing strategy is to begin with the end in mind. Then, as you work through the rest of the process, you smartly discover the proper unique positioning for your communication efforts.
Don’t worry if you don’t get it right immediately; in fact, you’ll likely revisit your initial “success” statement several times as you gain additional insight. The key at this point is to simply write it down.