Welcome back to The Killer-Poet, for the writer who knows their worth.
This issue is brought to you by ConvertKit, our choice for powerful email marketing software that's designed for creative people like you. Get started for free here.
As I hinted at last week, Brian just introduced Digital Commerce Partners, our new content marketing and SEO agency. There are a lot of juicy details in that post, and I'll let you know when we reveal even more. :-)
I'm Stefanie, Copyblogger's Editor-in-Chief, and I appreciate spending the next couple of minutes with you in your inbox. Below you'll find skill-strengthening resources and the writing tip of the week. Let's get to it!
The 5 Types of Online Prospects, and How to Sell to Each of Them
If you're producing content to promote your services, physical products, or digital offerings, obviously you want a return on investment for the time and effort you put in.
On the other hand, you've probably noticed that if you spend all of your time relentlessly selling, you'll alienate a good portion of your prospective audience.
The tricky problem for content marketers is that various readers are at different awareness levels, depending on how long they've been reading and how much exposure you've provided to your offer.
And the way you approach your offer will change, depending on which stage your prospect happens to be in.
Eugene Schwartz tackled this issue in his classic book Breakthrough Advertising back in 1966 and broke down prospect awareness into five distinct phases. Check out this post to learn about each phase and how to sell to each type of prospect.
Case Study: The Personal Enterprise in Practice
This week on 7-Figure Small, it's time to discuss the personal enterprise in practice.
And who better to lead such a discussion than two people who have each built mature personal enterprises of their own?
Brian Clark and Brian Gardner. (Also known as BC an BG to anyone who worked at Copyblogger.)
They started out as competitors, eventually became successful partners at Copyblogger Media, and now have moved into that sweetest of entrepreneurial spots where they are letting their purpose and enthusiasm guide their choices for what to work on next.
What's it take to get there? Listen here, or find the episode on Apple Podcasts.
Boost the Relevance of Your Content with Benefits and Features
One cool thing about being a content marketer is that you tend to become an expert in your topic. You probably know an awful lot about your business, your project, or your subject matter.
In fact, you might actually know too much about it. It's called the curse of knowledge. Because we research our topics deeply and spend so much time writing about them, we tend to understand the technical specs inside and out.
We have a great grasp of the under-the-hood details that make the thing work. And we think customers want to know all about those details.
But most of your potential buyers? They don't care.
To be effective, marketing needs to show exactly what the offering does for the person buying it. The features of your offer are what make it work. The benefits are the results it creates for the customer.
Discover smart ways to display benefits and features for more persuasive content.
Creativity Grab Bag
- How We Helped IA Path Get a 207% Increase in Traffic and 10X Their Leads
- Every Audience Has This in Common (Use It to Stay Hyper-Relevant)
- 5 Ways to Protect Your Entrepreneurial Confidence
- Great Writing in 7 Hours - Exercise
- Anatomy of the Perfect New Subscriber Welcome Email Template
Where's Your Reader At?
There's a tweak you can make to your content creation process today that'll optimize your chances of having content on your website that serves your marketing goals well into the future.
Write different pieces of content for different people at different points in the buying journey.
That's the topic of Brian's post featured above, and if you get it right, it'll be much easier to stand out from your competitors. More than just knowing exactly who you want to attract, you cater content to specific stages of awareness about your product or service.
Your content then nurtures them while they perform research about the purchase they're considering. When you think of it that way, you'll see how limited you are if every piece of content is simply for the same target reader.
To plan a balanced content calendar, define subgroups of your ideal reader based on levels of awareness and map out your publishing strategy to give attention to each type of prospect in each stage.
Talk with you again soon,
Stefanie Flaxman
Editor-in-Chief, Copyblogger Media
Check out more Copyblogger articles here
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