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How to create content your clients love

March 22, 2021

You’re busy doing the real work of your business, so it’s important that every marketing effort is intentional: you only create content your clients love.

You want the people you serve to find your content. And you want it to resonate with more people.

You want them always coming back to you as their go-to expert.

So how do you make sure you’re picking topics that they actually care about?

 

It’s really simple: Have conversations with them.

Start with the people in your life who are most like your ideal client, your ideal reader, or your ideal subscriber (depending on the nature of your business). What do they care about? Where do they get stuck or annoyed (in relation to what you can help them with)?

Ask them questions, let the conversation flow, and note down what you hear.

If your “real life” circle doesn’t include your ideal clients (or enough of them), you can also go on Facebook groups and post asking to talk with someone who fits the profile of your ideal client. Be very clear about what that profile is.

You’d be surprised how willing people are to help, especially if they’re fellow business owners. People love to talk about themselves and very rarely have an issue with it!

Remember: you can always phrase it as market research because that’s the formal name for what these intentional conversations are. And if you’re still not sure they’d be willing to offer their time and insights to you for free, tell them you’d love to say thank you by sending them a Starbucks gift card afterward.

Better yet, offer them a mini version (e.g. laser coaching) of the service/product you offer. If they’re your ideal client, this might be the tipping point to getting them to actually become a paying client of yours because they loved it so much!

Here are some concrete things to pay attention to during your conversation to create content your clients love!

(And a practical tip: try to record the conversation over a platform like Zoom so you can stay present with your interviewee, but have the option of going back to hear their exact words upon re-watching.)

1. What phrases do they use when they talk about their pain points or their problems (that relate to your business)?

Some examples of phrases you might notice:

  • “Every morning, I wake up and immediately feel overwhelmed.”
  • “I waste hours on Facebook groups trying to find clients and nothing ever works.”
  • “All my jewellery turns pink or green right away. I can’t stand how cheap it is anymore!”

2. Notice what phrases they use when talking about their community.

Actually, aside from asking them directly, another good way to find out is by following them on Instagram.

Pay attention to how they write their captions. Watch how they respond to people in their comments. How do they talk to them?

Are they in a world or industry where it’s super easy for them to talk using technical, scientific, legal, or even spiritual words? If so, then you absolutely can and should use that in your marketing if it authentically fits. It’s important to know what common language they speak with you.

For example, if you’re serving lawyers, it’ll be natural to use legal anecdotes, imagery, or jargon (when it’s naturally relevant to your content/business.) Another place you might find specific language is among very spiritual people. Maybe they use words like “light” and “prayer” very frequently, or they’re super comfortable with analogies to tarot or Reiki. You never know until you research, right?

Even if your ideal client’s interests don’t obviously overlap with your business or are new to you, you might realise, “Hey, there are actually words and things that come up for them time and time again that I don’t know enough about. As their marketer and supporter, I should learn more so I understand them better.”

3. What do they say they want?

To be super clear, what do they admit they want? The reason for this is that they may have secret desires they’re not comfortable with or needs they’re not even aware of yet. What are they comfortable acknowledging on the surface?

For example, it’s usually much more comfortable for someone to say, “I want more money” than it is to say, “I want a more financially abundant mindset” or “I want to unravel childhood trauma around finances.” Right? There’s a huge difference there. Now, that may be what they need. And you can definitely make a note on that too – that what they really need is to explore the money stories that they grew up around. But what they’re comfortable expressing is what they’re ready for you to market them on and what they need initial compassion around.

Think of it this way:

Create content your clients love by treating the organic growth of your relationship with respect.Your content marketing, whether videos, podcasts, or blog posts, is the first time you’re meeting them or while you’re still building a relationship. You don’t want to get too intense, too fast. If you were on the first or second date with someone, you might not go into a debate about politics or religion or ask about their previous relationship trauma, right? It’s important stuff, but it’s a little too much too soon.

As you develop a relationship, and you open up even more to each other, you’ll become more comfortable talking about these deeper topics. For you as a business owner, this is more likely to happen when your ideal client is already on your email list, or directly when they’ve said yes to your offer and you have permission to help them.

So, respect the natural development of client relationships just as much as you would respect a relationship in real life.

By asking the 3 questions above, you’ll know:

  • the phrases your ideal clients use to speak to you or to their friends, to their own clients, to their families…
  • the analogies and imagery that resonates with them
  • how they describe their frustrations and desires

Undeniably, with all this directly from their mouths, you’ll create content your clients love because you’re meeting them where they’re at. You lead with compassion and validation and put the solutions to their problems on a silver platter. And since you’re creating content about what they’re comfortable asking about, using their own terms and phrases, they’re also going to easily find it. When they go to type their question into Google, your content will show up. 

Create Soulful ContentHow to put it into practice: create content your clients love

You’re a savvy and compassionate business owner. Ready to learn the concrete steps to turn this newfound information into blog posts, social media captions, podcasts, and YouTube videos? You’ll grow your audience and convert them into paying clients.

The best (and fastest) option is to come to my free masterclass on April 8, 2021 called Create Soulful Content: Grow your audience, spread your message, and serve more clients who need you. The link to sign up for free is right here. As long as you’re signed up, you’ll get the replay even if you can’t make it live… but showing up live gets you the chance for some free writing coaching! See you there!

 

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Emma Givens

The team at EG: Content & Copy are the world’s original, branded copywriting experts. We serve small and medium-sized businesses selling premium services and high-end goods. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter so you never miss a post!

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