Woo Customers with Content this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day.

It’s one of the most complex marketing holidays on the calendar, and leaves most business owners thinking about one thing – how to woo their customers.

If you’re looking for ways to make the most out of this holiday, take a look at the following tip list.

Like the building blocks for any healthy relationship, they apply year-round – not just on Valentine’s Day.

Build a Relationship with Your Customers

The modern consumer wants community. Give it to them. Don’t assault your customers with incessant offers and promotions. Win them over with information. Present a consistent brand image and set of values inside your company and on your blog, social media, and in all communications.

Let your company have a personality, and make it a good one. Consider personalizing the content on your site. Dynamic content is better received, and there are many options that small and mid-size ecommerce retailers can afford.

Invite Guest Bloggers and Practice Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the most popular and effective techniques in the content marketing sphere, but it has to be done right. Just like you need to grow a relationship with your customers, you need to grow relationships with the top influencers in your niche as well.

Use apps like BuzzSumo to identify them, and gently start building relationships on social media with key influencers that aren’t tied to the competition.

Write Guest Blog Posts on Mid- to Large Blogs Your Customers Read

Marketer Danny Iny is one of the first people to admit this strategy works. Before his company, Firepole Marketing, became a success, he knew he needed to have a reputation. Iny used his wits to propel himself from unemployed zero to marketing hero by sending pitches to numerous publications in his field, and publishing on more than a dozen prominent industry-related sites.

It earned him the nickname “Freddy Kruger of Blogging,” and that moniker led him to launch the “Blog Like Freddy” course. Iny’s entire career exists because of guest blog posts. He knew where to find his potential clients, and he wrote content that they would find useful, on sites where they were guaranteed to see it.

Woo your customers by guest posting on sites they frequent. Be everywhere. When they know your name, they’ll come looking for your input.

Give Something to Your Customers and Readers

Not every business owner can afford extravagant giveaways. If you can, you still don’t want to overdo it. Give your customers something they will find useful, and something you can afford to give. Great customer service is a wonderful place to start.

Once you’ve got that down, consider a free resource guide that they can download, an infographic they’ll find interesting, or access to a set of podcasts, videos, or other content that will be useful to them. The most important thing you can give your readers and customers is covered in the next section, however: a voice.

Ask for Feedback

On your email list, website, and social media, give your customers a chance to tell you what they think about your company. Ask them for their opinion about new products. Give them a chance to tell you what they want. You’ll find that they’ll be more willing to purchase, and they’ll also be more confident in your company.

Don’t invest thousands in creating a new product that may or may not be in demand. And don’t hop on the bandwagon, selling fad items. You can build a great income and steady customer base by listening to what your customers need, and providing it.

Know Where You’re Headed

When you produce content for your site, email newsletters, or blog, make sure it has a clear direction. Overwhelm your readers with options of where to turn, and they’ll end up ignoring what you create or missing your target. Softly promote, and gently lead.

Just like your website needs a clear path for visitors to follow, your content should also have a goal. 99% of the time, that goal should be addressing the questions of your potential and existing customers. The rest of the time, it should be finding out what those concerns are, and offering them a chance to engage in content creation with you through contests, co-creation strategies, and surveys.

Repurpose Your Content

Content doesn’t die after it’s created. The content life cycle is circular…you can use and re-use what you’ve made in many ways. Make ebooks, reports, infographics, podcasts, video, and numerous other informational products with minimal extra investment. The rewards can be huge. From list-building gimmicks to additional revenue streams, when you repurpose content well, you can turn a few well done pieces into a gold mine of marketing materials.

In a romantic relationship, respect and trust are crucial. The same can be said for your content marketing strategy. You’re building a relationship with your customers and readers. You need to catch their attention, and keep it. Trust is vital to that endeavor, and quality content helps to cultivate that confidence.

The ideas above will help you start down that path, but remember that it’s also important to cross-promote your content and invest in content distribution. You can create the perfect pieces of a customer-company relationship, but if they don’t know you exist, you won’t have a chance to woo them.

Image Credits: Jay Mantri on StockSnap.io

Tagged content marketing, customer research, eCommerce, Loyalty