- [Instructor] Who is this for?
That's what every marketer needs to ask themselves
before creating content of any kind.
Prior to planning your next campaign,
it's essential to identify who exactly your audience is,
what they want, and how you can best serve those needs
with your content.
When first investing in content marketing,
many organizations make the mistake of focusing
their campaigns too broadly in an attempt
to connect with everyone.
That really only makes sense for large brands
like Coca-Cola.
Really, most companies target a very specific customer base.
Knowing who your customers are matters
because you can better personalize your content
to align with their background, interests,
and preferences.
This alignment increases the chances of your blog posts,
videos, and other content,
resonating with your audience.
Creating a positive connection with them
and driving action.
That's why I recommend creating customer personas
to describe the different types of people
your business serves so they can inform your approach
to content on an on-going basis.
Think of the customer persona as a profile
of your customers listing details about them based on
their demographics, motivations, challenges, and mindset.
This way, you can make more informed decisions
about what topics to write about,
which images should be used with your campaigns,
and what types of content are more effective.
Aim to compile two to five personas
that reflect the specific groups of people
that make up your customer base.
Then assign demographics and behaviors that define them.
These personas can be as straightforward
or complex as your prefer,
as long as their informative and built from both research
and observations about your customers.
For instance, a newly launched online investment company
wanted to better define who their customers were,
so they can focus their videos on the needs
of the right people.
They did that through customer surveys,
collecting qualitative research about their backgrounds,
behavioral drivers, and frustrations
of first time investors.
From this research, they created a persona they named
the up-and-comer.
The persona is a young professional,
25 to 30 years old,
that's just setting up their financial plan
and is motivated to buy when they receive
helpful investing recommendations
without complicated jargon.
Having this persona in mind
helped this investing firm create videos geared
to this up-and-comer, offering the right advice
and tone in their social media messages.
Similar to this example, some of your content will be
solely focused on addressing the needs of one particular
customer persona while other campaigns
may address a few at a time.
And now it's your turn.
Whether through conducting interviews,
referencing research studies,
running a focus group,
or reviewing your existing customer data,
it's up to you to define who your ideal audience is.