In today’s world of short attention spans, ad blockers and overstuffed social media feed – companies are finding it even more difficult than ever to simply be heard. Your content marketing strategy is more important than ever. In this post, I’ll talk about some of the new approaches and techniques to get that ever-elusive customer attention.

In simpler times, a letter could be sent to your house, or an advert could be placed in the local paper. However, there is so much noise on Radio, TV and the Internet that it is very difficult to get heard above the din. 

This is where your content marketing strategy comes into play, as there is a big thirst for knowledge and information! 

In those moments of ‘micro-attention’ when a person is in some queue – people love to read about something…

if you can feed that insatiable appetite you’re onto a winner.

The time it takes to sell a product is getting longer

In this new information age people like to gather a lot of information on you and your product, compare it to other products on the market and then buy. In earlier times that process would be much quicker.

Breaking the ice with Quick Videos

Webinars and videos are the way forward.

One way of resonating and connecting with prospects is with a quick video where you outline what you are offering and establish your expertise.

This is much more effective than being bombarded with long worded emails. It also helps you to really connect with your customers in a way that that was only possible by walking into the store and having a nice chat. 

Short, informal videos are a more scalable way of ‘breaking the ice’ and is also the reason why podcasting has taken off.

What if there was a quick way for you to talk to a selection of customers on a regular basis – so that they could provide you with quick feedback about your product, like a quick Snapchat or Instagram message.

Technology is key in making this happen. Mobile phones have been getting more and more powerful and social media platforms are placing more emphasis on video and especially real-time video. 

Leveraging video is a good way of getting a competitive advantage

Creating video can be challenging and people often aren’t comfortable in front of the camera. Let’s be honest – It takes a lot more time and effort. 

But the rewards are there if you are prepared to take the plunge… it might be worth taking some public speaking lessons to improve your presentation skills.

Just writing a boring email with a few tips doesn’t cut it anymore. 

If you really want to stand out in an email or timeline then your content has to be extra special and visual. Which is why it helps to have talented graphic designers and videographers to help generate this content. 

Quality over quantity is also something that I am a big believer in. 

This needs to be present in every content marketing strategy.

One amazing piece of content can really help boost your profile and establish your expertise… rather than just writing loads and loads of average content.

You can do research and see what is trending on google, what people are searching for and what questions are being asked in forums to help figure out what content to write, instead of just taking a shot in the dark.

Having a process and plan in place to produce content is also recommended. Once you put the infrastructure and timetable in place you effectively have a machine that can be iterated on and improved. 

Gradually you develop more of a feel for what people want and you get the boost in customers that you are after.

Grab micro-attention using infotainment

A user has ten minutes while they are eating their lunch and have given you the honour of taking up that time. Bear that in mind when creating content. 

It might be worth having something short to fill that time, rather than having something long and involving – which might be better off sent on the weekend or evening when the user has more time. 

You could even have a questionnaire, or build some sort of calculator which would also drive traffic to your website which is a form of entertaining content.

In conclusion, content marketing is a fairly new area but if you really build up an expertise in it, it would be a good way to differentiate yourself and get an edge over your competition.