More than half of marketers struggle to produce content that connects with their audience and converts leads into sales. But let’s be real. It’s not just about creating any old content, right? It’s about creating content that’s valuable and relevant to your audience. Content that’s worthy of being king. That’s why 41% of marketers agree that analyzing their competitors plays a crucial role in influencing the success of their strategy.

So, what’s the secret to creating great content that resonates with your audience and drives sales?

I believe that great content is not created; it’s captured.

What does that mean? It means outstanding content is created when you capture your own experiences and insights and turn them into compelling content that speaks to your audience on a deeper level. It’s not generic content that one creates after doing Google research and collecting ideas from other similar articles on the internet.

In this guide, I’ll talk about how you can create “great” content that grows your brand and establishes you as a thought leader. I will walk you through the different steps of creating content that converts your online lead into a sale. So, grab a cup of coffee, and let’s dive in!

Step1: Define the Core Product You Want to Sell through Content Marketing

The foundation of a successful content marketing strategy depends on how well you have defined your core product.

You need to understand your target audience and their pain points and create content that speaks directly to their needs. This way, you’ll be able to offer them valuable content that they’re actually interested in, leading to increased engagement and a better overall experience for your audience. So, what do you say? Let’s get started on defining your core product!

Here are some key points to consider when defining your core product:

1. Identify Your Target Audience: Who are you trying to reach with your content? What are their demographics, interests, and pain points? The better you understand your audience, the easier it will be to create content that resonates with them.
2. Determine Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP): What sets your product apart from others? What makes it unique and valuable to your audience? Your USP should be the foundation of your content marketing strategy.
3. Choose Your Core Product: Based on your USP and target audience, identify the core product you want to sell through content marketing. This could be a specific service, feature, or benefit of your product that aligns with your audience’s needs.
4. Craft Your Messaging: Once you’ve identified your core product, craft messaging that clearly communicates its value to your audience. Your messaging should be concise, compelling, and tailored to your target audience’s pain points.
5. Develop Your Content Plan: With your core product and messaging in place, develop a content plan that aligns with your business goals and target audience’s needs. Your content plan should include topics, formats, and distribution channels to help you achieve your objectives.

Let me give you an example of how defining the core product you want to sell through content marketing can be done through my own experience with lead generation and automated lead nurturing.

By identifying my core product and understanding the needs and pain points of my target audience, I can create content that I know they will be able to identify with. The content I create then has value and pushes all the right buttons.

Through my content, I offer solutions to their problems and establish myself as an authority in my field. As a result, potential customers are more likely to trust my services and ultimately convert into paying customers.

Step 2: Creating a List of Problems Your Product or Service Solves

When you’re creating content for your business, it’s essential to make a list of problems that your core product solves. This helps you to understand the needs and pain points of your potential customers so that you can create content that directly addresses those issues and provides solutions.

By taking the time to understand the problems that your audience is facing, you can create content that speaks to their needs and builds trust with potential customers. This trust is essential for building a loyal following and ultimately converting leads into sales.

So, whether you’re creating blog posts, social media content, or other marketing materials, always keep your audience’s needs in mind. By addressing the problems they’re facing and offering solutions, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry and build a loyal customer base.

Here is a quick questionnaire to follow when making the list. 

1. What problems do your potential customers face? Consider the challenges your target audience will likely encounter daily, and how your product can provide a solution.
2. What pain points can your product address? Think about the emotional or physical discomfort that your target audience might experience and how your product can help alleviate that discomfort.
3. What are the common complaints or criticisms of your industry? Identify the issues that your potential customers have with your industry as a whole and how your product can offer a solution or improvement.
4. What sets your product apart from competitors? Consider the unique features or benefits of your product and how they solve a problem that other products cannot.
5. What feedback have you received from current customers? Look at customer reviews, feedback, and testimonials to identify the problems that your product has solved for them.

Step 3: Defining Deliverables and Frequency

After creating a list of problems that your core product can solve, the next step is to define the deliverables and frequency of your content. This step is essential to ensure that you can create a consistent and effective content marketing strategy.

First, you need to define the deliverables, which are the specific types of content that you’ll create to address the problems you’ve identified. This could include blog posts, videos, social media posts, email newsletters, or other formats. By identifying the specific deliverables, you can ensure your content is tailored to your audience’s needs and preferences.

Once you’ve defined your deliverables, you need to determine the frequency of your content. How often will you post new content? Will you stick to a regular schedule, such as posting a new blog every week or sending a monthly email newsletter? Consistency is key to building trust with your audience, so you must determine a realistic posting schedule that you can stick to.

In my case, I have defined specific deliverables and frequency for my content marketing plan, which includes the following:

• Sharing statistics every Monday to make the audience aware of the problems and consequences. 
• Sharing a carousel image every Wednesday that offers a solution for the audience.
• Sharing a case study via a blog every Friday to generate awareness and solve a burning question.  
• Emailers on Sunday to notify the blog content to the existing database.

Step 4: Creating a Focused Content Calendar: How to Choose a Problem Statement and Define Deliverables for Each Week

In this step, you’ll be taking a look at the list of problems your product can solve and choosing one to focus on each week. This will help you create a content calendar that revolves around the needs of your target audience. 

By honing in on one problem at a time, you can ensure that you’re creating content that directly addresses the concerns of your potential customers. 

Once you have identified the problem statement, you can start to plan your content creation strategy by creating a content calendar that outlines what content will be created, when it will be shared, and on what platforms.

The first step in creating a content calendar is to define the type of content that will be created. This could include blog posts, social media updates, videos, infographics, or any other content appropriate for your target audience. Next, you should decide on the frequency of the content that will be shared. For example, you might share a new blog post every Monday, a social media update every Wednesday, and a video every Friday.

Here is a look at what my content calendar looks like: 

With the type and frequency of content defined, you can start planning the specific topics for each piece of content. This could involve brainstorming ideas, conducting research, and developing an outline or script for each piece of content. 

Step 5: Collaborating with Content Writers

You may be a jack of all trades, but are you a master of writing? 

Enter the content writer! 

This is the step where your communication skills are put to the test. It is important that you give the writer the brief with as much detail as possible to get the best result. After all, the output is only as good as the input. 

Choosing a content writer who can capture your thoughts and ideas effectively is important. The goal is not to create content that sounds generic or scripted but to capture your unique experiences and insights in a way that resonates with your audience. What you should be looking for are writers who can make content come alive. 

When working with a content writer, clearly communicating your expectations is essential. Ensure they understand your brand, tone of voice, and target audience. Provide them with the necessary background information, including the problems you’ve identified and the deliverables you’ve defined for each week.

Here is an example of a brief that I would give to a content writer:  

Step 6: Have a Briefing Call with Your Writer

This step is all about having a briefing call with your content writer to give them the right input. It’s important to ensure they have all the details they need because, as they say, the devil is in the details. By providing specific information and guidance, you can ensure that their content truly represents your brand and effectively communicates your message to your audience.

Also Read : Competitor Analysis Secrets That No One Talks About

During the call, be sure to give them examples of your voice and tone so that they can capture your unique style. Don’t just rely on copy-pasting or generic content; remember that great content is captured, not created! So, take the time to work with your writer and provide the necessary information to help them create content that truly resonates with your target audience.

Step 7: Review and Refine: Make Sure the Content Meets Your Standards

Once the writer has submitted the content, it is time to review it. I cannot overstate how important this step is. 

Yes, your writer is a good one. But there is more to review than just flourish and verbal gymnastics. 

During the review process, it’s important to pay attention to the details. The devil is in the details, as they say.

Here are some points to consider when reviewing content:

• Check for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Ensure that the tone and style of the content align with your brand voice.
• Ensure the content is informative and engaging and delivers on the promises made in the brief.
• Verify that the content accurately reflects your brand and effectively communicates your message to your target audience.
• Check that the facts and information presented are accurate and up-to-date.
• Ensure the content is visually appealing, with appropriate images, graphics, and other visual elements.
• Consider the overall structure and organization of the content, ensuring it flows logically and is easy to read.

Remember, this step is not about nitpicking or micromanaging your writer. Instead, it’s about ensuring that the content accurately reflects your brand and effectively communicates your message to your target audience. By providing constructive feedback and making the necessary changes, you can help your writer produce high-quality content that drives results for your business.

Step 8: Bringing in the Visual Element with the Designer 

No content is complete without visuals. It adds to the overall feel of the content. This is where the designer comes in. 

As with the writer, the designer also needs precise instructions so that you get the results you are looking for. 

Giving clear instructions to ensure the output matches your expectations and aligns with your brand voice and design is crucial. Think of your instructions as the players in a match, while your creative team (writers and designers) is the channel broadcasting the match. Just like the outcome of the match depends on the players and not the channel, how your final content turns out depends on your instructions. 

When giving the content to the designer, it’s important to provide 3-5 design references that match your brand’s aesthetic and style. This helps the designer understand your preferences and expectations and allows them to create designs consistent with your brand.

You should also provide references for the images you want to use in the design. These could be stock images, original photography, or illustrations. Providing image references can help the designer create a cohesive design that goes with your content and goals. 

Summing Up 

These are the eight steps I can swear by, and this process is my secret to creating compelling content.  

By following the eight steps I have outlined, you can create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience and drives results for your business. Remember to start by identifying your target audience and their pain points, then use that information to create a content calendar that addresses them and delivers value to your audience.

Be sure to give your content writer detailed briefs and constructive feedback during the review process. Provide your designer with clear design references to ensure your content is visually appealing and aligned with your brand. With these steps, you can create content that captures your brand voice, engages your audience, and ultimately converts leads into sales.

By the end of this guide, I hope you feel ready to create content that achieves your goals. If you need more assistance or 1:1 guidance to make the most of this content creation process or have it tailored to your business, I can help. Book a discovery call with me today, and we can get started! 

CLICK HERE to Book a Discovery call 

Selling high-ticket items is no joke & it certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. You all might have come across the quote “Bigger the risk, bigger the reward”. Yes, it’s true. But on the flip side, more risk = more rewards = more competition! And as far as Real Estate is concerned, the competition is neck to neck & almost on a whole new level of stratosphere. 

The truth is – Most Real Estate agents deploy boring & outdated strategies to generate leads but often end up generating an alarmingly low quantity of leads. Heck, they seem to almost carbon copy their competitors making it difficult for them to cut through all the noise & get noticed. 

Lead Generation for Real Estate on the Internet is getting tougher day by day. User behavior is changing, ad costs are rising, the average joe has become averse to cliched ads, & the same old strategies simply just don’t work anymore.

You see, no one buys property like candy! It’s usually a one-time thing & an aspiration for many families. They do a hell of a lot of research before settling in for nothing but the absolute best. They invest in Real Estate keeping their future generation in mind. It is one of the biggest decisions they’re going to make.

But here’s the problem – the typical (& almost certainly outdated) Real Estate marketing strategy consists of 2 steps:

• Generate a certain amount of leads
• Keep quiet & pray, hoping for sales to somehow magically happen!

If the above strategy actually worked, all the agents would’ve sold properties like hotcakes. However, in reality, doing this only burns a big hole in your pocket. If your Ad campaign for generating leads is not LIVE 24*7*365, you are literally handing over prospects & sales to your competition! It also results in inconsistency in the quantity of leads & sales.

So is generating qualified leads for Real Estate a tedious task?

How did we achieve 10K+ piping hot leads for our Real Estate client?

What’s the overarching strategy & what did we do differently from others?

Read on to find out the definitive answer….

Solution:

Lead Generating for Real Estate is actually quite simple. (but not easy!)

After a couple of intense brainstorming sessions among our team members (& gulping down countless cups of coffee!), we formulated a solid strategy.

We deployed an omnichannel lead generation approach in order to maximize visibility & create a customer-centric experience. This included a combination of traditional media as well as digital advertising, with more focus on the latter.

We decided to go all-in & play the volume game i.e. Consistently generating a large quantity of leads on an everyday basis. 

Also, we fully leveraged the power of both online as well as offline marketing.

Here’s what we did:

STEP 1: Defined the target audience & understood the client’s business

Selling everything to everyone is perhaps the worst thing you can do as a business. Knowing who exactly is your target audience is pivotal for you to help them serve better. With our unique audience research strategy & templates, we precisely identify & pinpoint who the target audience is.

In a nutshell, we deploy a 5 step battle-tested formula to help identity/create your ideal target audience. These are the people who are not only WILLING to spend money on your offering (i.e. product/service) but are also ABLE to comfortably spend money.

The 5 steps are as follows:

STEP 1: Identify your prospects
STEP 2: Create a rough persona
STEP 3: Understand the targeting options on social media platforms
STEP 4: Segment audience based on common aspirations
STEP 5: Define the target audience using customer avatar variables

Read more about this process in detail here

STEP 2: Selecting the right channels (platforms)

In step 1, we identified the WHO. Next, we found the right channels our target audience is spending time on. Among these channels, we narrowed down on the ones that would potentially give us the best bang for the buck. Keep in mind that picking the right platform(s) to put your message across is as important as having a great product/service. You don’t want to shell out ad dollars where your audience don’t hang out, do you?

STEP 3: Competitor Analysis

Once we identified the WHO (target audience), & the WHERE (right platforms), we did a thorough competitor analysis to spy on the client’s immediate & high-level competitors. We fully leveraged our checklists & custom-made competitor analysis template to spy on them like a boss. We tactfully dissected their ad strategies, offers, messaging, loopholes, etc. In an industry like Real Estate wherein there is cut-throat competition, it’s pivotal to know what your peers are doing.

Also, Read Competitor Analysis Secrets That No One Talks About

STEP 4: Created campaign assets & allocated budgets

At this point, we were finally inching closer & closer towards making the campaign LIVE. Our team of creative connoisseurs (designers) pumped out scroll-stopping ad creatives (Images), our Copywriter dished out piping-hot, persuasive ad copies, our campaign manager all the campaign assets (creatives, copy, etc) & allocated a test budget.

A few of the creatives we used for the campaign. Notice that we even ran ads in the local language (Kannada) as well

STEP 5: Testing & Optimization phase

The campaign was made live. In the initial phase, we did a LOT of testing & split testing. We left no stone unturned & tested everything.. Different copies, creatives, audiences, locations, interests, etc… We also tested ads in the local language & it performed really well. During this phase, the lead cost was fluctuating (which is totally normal) & after generating a certain number of leads, we studied the data to understand which ads (creatives/copy/audiences, etc) were giving the maximum output at a minimal ad spend. Equipped with this data in our Arsenal, we killed off the non-performing ads & put money on the performing ones.

Here’s a glimpse of the different audiences we tested

 

STEP 6: Strategic scaling

Once we had finally hit the sweet spot (i.e Generating quality leads at a nominal cost), we increased the budget in order to reach out to a wider audience & generate more leads (AKA scaling). This process was done strategically & systematically with pinpoint precision. And that’s the reason we were able to scale all the way up to 10k+ piping hot leads for our client. 

 As we mentioned earlier, the overall strategy combined the best bits of both the worlds – Online as well as Offline Marketing.

Also, Read Facebook Ads Strategies that drive 5X Percent Results

We crafted an offline (traditional) marketing game plan for our client. We told them what exactly they needed to do in order to generate leads via traditional media. They absorbed the strategy from us & started implementing it along with the tactics.

A glimpse of the ads manager of our client

Here’s What They Did:

• Attended Real Estate events (Trade shows, expos, exhibitions)
• They sponsored local events to increase their brand visibility
• Advertised on traditional platforms such as TV, Radio, & Newspaper
• Organized open house events

In addition to this, we also ASSISTED our client in doing the following Online Marketing activities

• Adding the property on Marketplaces
• Creating quality content (particularly blogs)
• Leveraging positive customer feedback (testimonials)
• Social Media activities to increase brand awareness
• Lead segmentation

Also, Read 11 Step Content Creation Strategy To Convert Your Contacts To Contracts

We could’ve relied just on Facebook & Instagram Ads to generate commendable results, but we went the extra mile by adding the element of traditional marketing.

WRAPPING UP:

You see, we practice what we preach.

Now you have two choices to succeed in the marketing part of the Real Estate business.

OPTION 1: The DO IT YOURSELF approach. Yes, you can sit & learn all the systems, tools, strategies, processes, & frameworks yourself. But this takes a lot of investment in time, money, resources. In addition to this, there’s a ton of trial & error involved.

OPTION 2: Hand it over to the experts (yours truly) while you focus on improving your plot/villa/apartment. Keep in mind that we’ve been doing this for years together & we’ve consistently generated tangible RESULTS. 

First of all, what is competitor analysis? HubSpot defines it as “a strategy where you identify major competitors and research their products, sales, and marketing strategies. By doing this, you can create solid business strategies that improve upon your competitor’s.” Keeping a close eye on your competitors gives you an insight into what they are up to, what strategies are working for them, and what challenges they are facing. Imagine being able to mimic their successes while avoiding the mistakes they made. Imagine the power that comes from knowing their strengths and weaknesses so you can beat them in the race. Those are the exact advantages that doing competitor analysis brings to you. And, perhaps more. But, only if you’re doing it right. Your analysis must be comprehensive and include every aspect of your competitor’s marketing strategy.

Being a copycat is not enough

One of the biggest mistakes most entrepreneurs make when doing competitor analysis is they try to copy the strategies of top businesses in their field. While on the surface this might look like the best thing to do, chances are high that it will get you nowhere. Here’s why. Big players are spending big bucks on their marketing strategies. Plus, they might be at a whole different level in terms of market reputation, brand loyalty, and social media fan following compared to businesses that are just starting out. So, if you try to emulate your biggest competitors in the market, 99% of the times, you might not get the ROI they are enjoying. You could use all the top tools in the world to dig deep and unearth their strategies and steps they are taking, but unfortunately, that won’t take you much further. I know this because I made the same mistake. So, if you really want to benefit from looking at top players, you need to figure out what all they did when they started out just like you’re doing now; what did they do to arrive at the stage they are right now; and basically, charting their growth journey. But that’s not all. That is REALLY the tip of the iceberg and that’s where most people would stop. The real trick lies in looking at emerging brands. Not just the same businesses like yours, but also those who are targeting the same audience by fulfilling their aspirations. Also, Read 12 Affordable Digital Marketing Tools To Spy On Your Competitors (Like A Boss)

A step by step approach to get your competitor analysis right

Competitor analysis can seem a bit daunting at first. You might find yourself clueless or unsure of how to go about it. You might even get blindsided by picking the wrong competitors to analyze, which might end up derailing your strategies. Effective and actionable analysis can be achieved through this simple, step-by-step approach that I’ve tried and tested and it has proven to show great results.

Step 1. Know your business keywords

What are business keywords? Some of my top business keywords are digital marketing strategy, social media marketing strategy, digital marketing budgeting, and marketing funnel design, among others. How did I come up with these? I haven’t done research to figure them out. These are simply the keywords that describe my business and what I do. So, select top 3-5 terms that you feel best describes your business and those will be your business keywords.

Step 2. Identify your direct and indirect competitors

This second step is all about identifying your competitors. There are two types — direct and indirect. We’ll get to that soon. But first, let me acquaint you with a few tools that will help you in this step. Similarweb.com – Helps you to analyze the traffic sources of all your competitors and much more. Semrush.com – Useful for SEO and Google ads competitor analysis Alexa.com – This would be my recommendation because it helps with pretty much everything you’d want to do in terms of competitor analysis. And, while it’s much cheaper than Similarweb, at $149 per month it can still be a pricey investment for many. But don’t worry, I’ll share with you a hack that will let you access Alexa for only ₹200 per month! The secret is using flikover.com to purchase Alexa. Flikover is a group buy service which gives you access to premium SEO tools at cheaper prices. To use it, follow these steps:

• Create a Flikover account
• Open Flikover in Google Chrome browser
• Install two plugins Fikover 1 and Flikover 2 in Chrome
• Enable both plugins and refresh your Flikover page
• You’ll find a link to access Alexa – click on it and voila!

Now, let me explain how you can identify your direct and indirect competitors with my own example. Here’s how I detect my major competitors using Alexa:  

• I go to the site screener tool in Alexa
• Adjust the filters to match my criteria
• Type my business keywords in the search box — one at a time
• The first keywords “Digital Marketing Strategy” didn’t fetch me any results from India, which is my target market
• So I typed in the next keywords — “Digital Marketing Training” because that one the most searched keywords in my domain
• From the list of companies in the search result, I chose a few and compared the similarities in services we provide, the audiences we target, the aspirations we fulfill, and the target location
• Next, I go to the audience overlap tool
• In the search box, I type the name of the companies I selected for comparison and run the analysis
• The tool shows me a bunch of sites with which my business has strong audience overlap connections
• From the given options, I list down ten of my direct and indirect competitors
• Next, conduct a site overview on each of your competitor websites

Using this process, you can find your direct and indirect competitors. Of course, the results will largely depend on what you feed in the tool, no matter which one you use. This is why you need to be clear about your business offering, your target audience, and the market you’re operating in. After all, a tool is as smart as you are. However, if the above process doesn’t pull up competitor sites for you, it could mean there’s a huge opportunity for you in the market since your competitors might not be doing digital marketing effectively. In that case, you can dive into making the most of this opportunity. This proven 6-Step Customer Acquisition Formula is designed to help you with that while driving positive digital ROI for you. Otherwise, if you’ve landed on your competitor sites, your next step should be to analyze their websites based on criteria such as average visit duration, total traffic, SEO traffic, SEM traffic, referral traffic, social media traffic, display traffic, etc. The tool Similarweb can help you with this. List down all of these details neatly in an Excel sheet. Or you can use this pre-made competitor analysis template to just fill in the details.

Step 3. Short list your top competitors to investigate

Now comes the part where you determine your competitors who are worthy to be analysed further. In other words, your top competitors. Select five of them. So, how do you know which sites to pick as your top competitors?  Here are a couple of factors.

1. They have a lot of traffic
2. How similar they are to you in terms of the business offering, target audience, and target locations

Next, you need to hack — yes, marketers hack too. Here’s how to do it.

• Go to one of your top competitor’s website
• Explore the site well, visit every possible page, and study what they have on their site
• Fill your email ID (always a good idea to make a separate ID for this purpose) and phone number (best if you have a spare one) in their enquiry forms, subscriber lists, and so on. That way, every new offering they launch, all their ads, promos, subscriber emails, and lead magnets and tripwires they design will reach you.
• Visit all their social media business pages and take note of the topics they are talking about, the posts they are sharing, the frequency of their posts, and the ad campaigns they are running. Make sure to like their posts too because that will ensure their activity organically appears in your timeline.

List down your findings, such as their lead magnets, tripwires, offers, calls-to-action, and what are they bragging about — e.g. any collabs with big brands. Now is also the time to dig into the keywords your selected competitors are using. For this, you can use Alexa’s site keywords feature, which will show you all the keywords a particular site is using. While there might be a ton of different keywords, you need to only pick the top keywords that are relevant to your business. Next, understand the top-performing content of your competitors. For this, you can use Fanpage karma, which will help unearth some vital social media metrics for you, such as:

• the top-performing posts of your competitors
• no. of existing fans and followers
• the average rate of follower growth per week
• post frequency
• reach and engagement
• the amount they are spending on ads

Another helpful tool here would be Socialinsider.io. The combination of these two tools can give you a solid read on the pulse of your competitors. Add all these findings to the Excel sheet you’ve created. If you’re using my competitor analysis template, you’ll find separate tabs to fill in these details. Once you have these details in front of you, you can get down to exploring which aspects of your top competitors you wish to emulate in your business. You can take the inspiration to design your websites, your landing pages, tripwires, lead magnets and so on. These can serve as your references for building effective marketing assets for your own business. Success isn’t always about re-inventing the wheel. Often, doing what others are doing better than they are doing can be the path to achieving your business goals. While there’s no definite way to understand if something will work for you, success lies in detailing and detailing comes from observation and listening. Competitor analysis allows you to observe and listen better. Finally, if you’re in it for the long-term and you’re ready to do what it takes to give your business a massive boost of growth, competitor analysis must be in your to-do list. The approach we’ve discussed above is explained in further detail in our Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning program. If done properly, this method of competitor analysis will give you plenty of quantitative and qualitative data to back your own business decisions. Knowing who your competitors are and what they are offering can help you to make your products, services, and marketing stand out like nothing else.

According to statistics, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs fail within the first 18 months of starting their business — that’s a shocking 80% fail rate! 

And, it’s not just about small businesses and startups. The history of business is riddled with the cautionary tales of big brands and huge corporations that went bust or shut shop.  

But, failure is not what we’re here to talk about. So, let’s shift our focus to the other 20%. What are they doing right that makes them successful? How can your business join the winning camp? 

One of the biggest reasons why so many companies, small and big, fail to grow is because they do not fully understand the business they are in. 

For example, if I were to ask you, how well do your know your competitors and the buying patterns of your consumers, would you be able to answer confidently? 

If yes, great — you’re on the right path! 

If no, you’ve got some work to do if you wish to succeed.  

Enlighten Yourself with the Strength of Business Knowledge 

A stable, well-performing business cannot be built by guesswork or purely on the basis of intuition. Every step, key decisions or investment hinges on you having full and in-depth understanding of your core business and industry. 

So, to help you acquire this knowledge, I’m going to walk your through the steps that will show you how to understand your business. And, in the process, I’m going to lift examples from my business to support your understanding.  

Step 1: Tell your story — How your business got started

Often, in the rush of events and in our struggles to compete, we forget to remind ourselves where we started from and our true purpose for setting up a business. 

So, first of all let’s go back to the roots. This is the first step towards knowing your business. To do this, ask yourself —

1. What prompted you to start this business? Is there a specific reason why or a story behind it?

For example, in my experience of working in an agency, I understood that I couldn’t fulfil the promises that I was making to clients unless I had a team that could deliver on those promises. Workplace politics, poor work ethics, and other such problems made things worse. That’s when I felt the need to build my own team who can I can rely on to give my clients what they deserved. That’s how Digitechniks came to be. 

That’s my story, what’s yours? When you tell your story, it helps generate empathy, intent, and inspiration, that’s what connects you with your prospects and earns you sales on a digital platform. Consider this: 80% consumers prefer brands that tell stories.

2. Why did you decide to start selling what you’re selling? What burning desire or need does it fulfil?

For me, it was about recognizing the dearth of clear strategies in the digital platform. Businesses were spending lakhs on Google and Facebook ads and driving tons of traffic, but only a few were making significant conversions due to intense competition. I started helping people acquire customers at a positive digital ROI.   

Now, think about what burning desire/need in the market does your product/service fulfil? 

3. What makes your product/service unique? Specifically, how is it better than any other option your prospect may have, including doing nothing at all?

When I entered the business training space, there was already a lot of competition in the market. What did I do to make my business stand apart from others? I chose to teach people how to develop winning strategies whereas my competitors were focused on tools. So, that was my USP. Plus, I’m offering more value for the price my clients pay. That’s helping me cut through the competition. 

Think about your business from this perspective: What am I offering that no one’s offering? 

Step 2: Know your challenges

Having a deep insight into your business challenges is half the battle. Remember, you’re not only competing against other businesses, but also competing to overcome your challenges. 

Specifically, you should think about the drawbacks that your product/service might have and the difficulties you face during your sales process, among other challenges.  

Here are the questions you should ask yourself at this stage —

1. Are there any drawbacks to your service or product?

Knowing your weaknesses and addressing them early on is key to building a sustainable business. 

So, if you ask me, that’s exactly what I did. I identified the drawbacks in my business — there was no one-to-one involvement and my solutions were not customized to my clients’ businesses. Once I was able to recognize these issues, I fixed them. Now I have specialized teams that cater to specific industries and I’m on my way to building a separate team for B2B businesses. 

What are the current limitations or shortcomings of your product/service offerings? What can you do to eliminate them?  

2. As a follow-up to the previous question, are there any common objections that come up during the sales process?

Prospective clients would ask me this question very often: Have you done any similar types of projects? — They wanted to see the work my team has done on a business similar to theirs. With developing industry specific teams, I was able to sort this issue as well. 

So, think about the questions that you encounter repeatedly from clients and how well you’re able to answer them. If you struggle to answer any of those questions, consider that as an area of improvement. 

3. What will a prospect lose if they don’t take action now?

My clients witness a steady growth in leads, sales, and business. So, if a prospect doesn’t take action, those are the benefits they stand to lose. 

What would your prospects miss out on if they didn’t opt for your product/service? 

Step 3: Understand your target demographics

The better your understanding of who your ideal customer is, the more targeted and laser-focused your strategies will be. With enhanced customer knowledge comes more qualified sales opportunities with higher chances of conversions. And the more you sell, the better your business will grow. 

At this stage, you must ask these questions —

1. What’s your target demographic?  

Identify your target customer’s age, income level, gender, occupation, etc. The more information, the better.

2. What are their top three fears related to your niche? 

In other words, what keeps your prospects up at night? Customer understanding goes beyond your target demographics. To get to the core of your customers, it’s important to ask this question.

In my case, the biggest fear of my target audience is losing money because they don’t have clarity on the why’s and how’s of a particular strategy. So, they fear what if they lose all the money they have invested on Google and FB ads; they fear not getting positive ROI; and they fear not getting enough leads to make more sales. 

3. How does your product/service address those fears?

I mostly write my blogs around the fears of my prospects and provide them actionable guidance to overcome these fears. I offer strategies and I also offer the understanding of how those strategies work so it can generate positive digital ROI for them. 

Think about how your offerings can solve your customers’ fears. 

Step 4: Understand the results you’re capable of generating 

In his article, “The Secret Marketing Question: What Are you Really Selling,” Neil Patel gets to the heart of the matter when he says,

“And often, people aren’t interested in buying a product or service. They’re interested in the benefit that comes from buying, not the product or service itself.”

So, the questions to think about at this step are — 

1. What sort of results do your clients see as a result of using your service?
2. If you could wave a magic wand and give your clients an ideal result from using your service, what would it be?
3. If you had 30 seconds to explain what you do and why it can help a prospect reach their goals, what would that look like?  (AKA: Your elevator pitch.) 

This is where you need to think the actual benefits that you have provided to your clients in the past. This will help you create the right content and strengthen the marketing message of your business. 

In my case, I can generate 1000 leads in 60 days for clients who take my lead generation services. In fact, for every real estate company that can pay 1 Lakh rupees, I can give them 1000 leads in 30 days for no additional cost — that’s a guarantee I offer. Similarly, if a client takes my Google ads service, I promise to keep them in the top three spots on search results for 24 hours a day. 

And, that’s my quick and effective 30 seconds pitch. I don’t beat around the bush; rather, I talk directly about results in numbers. Plus, I have proof in the form of results that I’m already generating for my clients to back up my claims. 

So my tips for you are:

• Think of the most hard-hitting results that you can deliver for your client.
• Give them a test run and see if you can realistically generate those results.
• If yes, use it as your 30-secs pitch that will impress your prospects. 
• Back up your claim with a proof of results you’ve been able to generate. 

4. Can you list your biggest competitors?

Knowing who your competitors are allows you to replicate their successes and avoid their blunders. You can learn from their strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses to elevate your business performance. 

Now, there are two types of competitors — direct and indirect. Let me explain with examples.

For me, my biggest offering is one-to-one mentorship, which no one is offering in my target market as of yet. So, I don’t have a direct competitor. 

My major indirect competitors are companies and individuals offering business coaching and digital marketing training. Our service areas don’t exactly overlap but they are targeting the same audience that I’m targeting.  

So, to sum it up:

Your indirect competitors are businesses that are targeting similar audience as you are and they claim to solve the problems that you’re claiming to solve but through a different product/service offering.

Your direct competitors are those that target the same audience and address the same problems, and also provide the same product/service as yours.     

You can use a tool called Alexa to help you in the process of shortlisting and analyzing your top-level competitors. If you’re a startup, you should also consider looking at other successful startups and new businesses that are making their mark. You can then closely follow the tactics and strategies that are contributing to their success.     

We dive into the details of how to identify direct/indirect competitors, steps to do competitor analysis, and the tools that can help you do it in another post.

Step 5: Business Intelligence

As saying goes — you can’t manage what you don’t measure. In business, number crunching is a critical exercise and one that’s absolutely indispensable I you wish to know your business better. 

This is where metrics like total revenue, profit margin, customer lifetime value (CLTV) etc. come in. Without knowing these, you’ll be left in the dark when it comes to making productive changes in your business.

This is the step to asking yourself these questions:

1. What’s your current revenue per year? What’s your profit margin? 
2. What is your average customer lifetime value? (Hint: CLTV measures the profit your business can make from any given customer. So, CLTV = Amount of new revenue you collect in 6 months / no. of new customers you gained in the last 6 months.) 
3. What is your business website? Which are your best selling products or services?
4. What does your marketing funnel look like (if any)? What does your current marketing strategy look like?
5. What have you tried that failed in the past? Why do you think it didn’t work?

Crack the Code to Your Business Success 

The process of knowing your business often involves asking yourself questions you might have never asked before. But you must be authentic and true to yourself when answering these questions. 

For more guidance, join our Digital Media Strategy and Planning Mentorship Program, which will empower you with the tips, tricks, and tools you need to get to the bottom of your business and understand it inside and out.  

It enables you to decide what works best for your company and even goes a step ahead to help you determine whether you are dealing with authentic business entities and ethics or not.

Sign up for 2 hours of training session worth only ₹499 and get access to all our business intelligence and inspiration templates that will help you ace your game in today’s changing business environment. 

Content creation runs the wheels of your digital marketing and social media efforts.
From improving search rankings to generating leads to building customer trust, content is the key ingredient that helps meet your online marketing goals. The more high-quality content you produce, the higher are your chances of success.
Creating content, however, cannot be done in a random way. It requires a process, a plan, and the right strategy to get the most out of it.

Related Article– 11 Step Content Creation Strategy To Convert Your Contacts To Contracts

The problem of inconsistency

The impact of social media and its ability to drive traffic to your site and increase conversion is huge. And yet, many businesses are not sure about how to tap into this terrific marketing platform. Either they are not aware of how to use social media correctly or unable to reap the highest advantages of social media as they fail to post useful content for their fans and followers customers regularly.
And, inconsistency is one of the biggest social media follies. In fact, this one factor can single-handedly derail your entire digital marketing ecosystem. Consider these stats:

• Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%
• Of successful B2B marketers, 69% have a documented content strategy 
• Of the unsuccessful marketers, only 16% have a documented content strategy 

Clearly, having a strategy plays a significant role in the online marketing success of a business. 

So how does inconsistency actually relate to your social media activities?

Posting to social media at random times, without following any consistency throughout the week fails to engage your followers.
Today when brands and businesses are churning out and blasting huge amounts of content, there’s a content overload on your prospects’ social media feed. Therefore, when your posts don’t show up on a regular basis, it’s very likely that they will be buried deep in people’s timelines and won’t get enough likes, comments, views, and shares.
That’s how inconsistency hinders your brand on social media.

Also, Read 7 Essential Ingredients of a Winning Headline

Without a plan, you’re leaving money on the table 

Inefficiency in content production leads to an estimated loss of $958M each year for mid-to-large B2B US companies
Many businesses that post randomly and without a plan, run the risks of making two glaring mistakes:
A) They either post a lot on certain weeks, while their page goes completely silent on other times. Result? It confuses your followers and deters people from becoming new followers. So, the time, effort and money you spent on building a following is lost.
B) They post sporadically. This leads to a loss of credibility with customers, prospects, and even potential employees as they will often search for your business on social media. If people are greeted with a business page that seems inactive, their perception about your business is not favorable.
The solution lies in having an effective content calendar. The 3Rs — Reach, Register, and Recall activities — are vital aspects of any business to become a brand and it isn’t possible without a proper content calendar. (Read how the three-step Reach, Register, and Recall formula can elevate the branding of small and mid-sized businesses running on low budget.)

The way to be consistent: A content calendar

First of all, what is a content calendar?
A content calendar is very simply a calendar that helps to streamline, organize, and even automate what content to publish and when.
Typically, content calendar planning is done on a monthly basis but you can also go ahead and plan for the coming three or six months. But remember, long-term plans need constant tweaking to keep them current.
When you follow a calendar dedicated to keeping a track of the exact day and time each piece of content will be posted, you will not only stay consistent but also find it easier to maintain your content publishing efforts.
You can do content calendar planning for all types of content, be it a blog post, image, infographics, video or any other content format.
So now that you’ve seen the importance of content calendar planning, how do you go about it?

Step-By-Step Content Calendar Planning

1. Decide on the type of content that fits your brand image

What type of brand image do you have/you’re trying to build? Are you serious and authoritative or casual and fun?
Based on this, you need to decide on the content formats that will align best with your brand and interest your target audience. For example, a fun and easy-going B2C brand will benefit from posting memes and GIFs, while these formats won’t work too well for a professional or serious B2B business.

2. Decide on social “snackable” content as per the platform requirement

The next step is to understand which content formats work well for which platform. The reason why this is important is that every platform is different and has its own audience. And each audience group has their own preferences for the things they want to see on the platform. This can have an impact on the performance of your social media posts.
As a general guideline, here’s a quick glance at the content types that are suited to each social media platform:

• Facebook: Curated content, videos, live streaming, carousel ads
• Instagram: High-res photos, quotes, stories, live videos, memes, carousel ads
• Twitter: News, blog posts, and GIFs
• LinkedIn: Jobs, company news, and professional content such as testimonial videos
• YouTube: Explainer videos, blog-based videos, webinars, long format videos etc.   
• Pinterest: Infographics, step-by-step photo guides, other visual content

Also, Read 5 Step Content Distribution Process: The Secret to Catapult Your Content Marketing ROI

3. Finalise daily themes on a weekly basis

A theme-based post is a great idea to rake in those likes, shares, and views. Why? Because it builds on the consistency factor, which we’ve just discussed above. Plus, it gives your content team a template to follow, which makes their job easier.
Here’s an example of such weekly theme-based posts:

• • Monday motivation — Motivational posts to start off the week on a positive note. These posts work well because people can easily relate to them and get inspired by them, so they get liked and shared easily. 
  • Tips Tuesday: Helpful tips that can be shared in the form of carousels.
  • Myth vs. facts — Busting popular myths and misconceptions allows you to educate your audience and position your brand as a trustworthy source of information.  
  • Thoughtful Thursday — A mid-week pick me up for your audience 
  • Funny Friday — A good way to reel in the weekend spirit by posting something fun and casual. 
  • Success Saturday — A testimonial video to wrap up the week, reinforcing the positives about your brand.

4. Research important days or events of the week

In India, we have a special event, a festival or a holiday nearly every other week. And, these are excellent opportunities for you to stand out and engage with your audience. Therefore, it’s well worth your effort to note down all the events and festivals that will take place in a given month and create posts around them.
Here are some ways you can further capitalize on even-based posts:

• Use a countdown timer sticker on your Instagram Story.
• Create a campaign with a unique branded hashtag and make it a trend.
• Organize giveaways and contests to boost event awareness.

5. Identify the trending topics related to your business

What’s trending in your industry? Keeping a track of the news and latest happenings in your niche allows you to:

• Find inspiration for your content production
• Curate interesting, relevant content to share with your audience 
• Watch your competitors for new ideas or strategies

Use tools like SEMRush, SpyFu, or you can also search on Twitter and look for trending hashtags to find the hottest topics to cover in your niche.

Also, Read 5 Step Digital Marketing Strategy to Target the Right People with Right Content

The final step: Content calendar planning

Start planning the content calendar as per the daily theme of the week. Pick one trending topic or customer pain point per week and create content around them in your chosen content format.
You can use a simple tool like Google spreadsheet or Google Calendar to make sure every aspect of your content calendar is written down. An important thing to remember is, your content calendar does not necessarily have to be set in stone. It can — and must — be tweaked based on what’s working and what’s not.
A surefire way to social media and digital marketing success is to first understand your business model’s viability and your market acceptance. Therefore, we recommend you to first run this 3 step digital marketing and branding strategy one week at a time before you go all out with your social media marketing and branding efforts.
At Digitechniks, every piece of content we produce and post is laid out in a content calendar and helps us streamline our content creation and distribution efforts to capture and convert the right list of audiences. This has enabled us to execute many successful content strategies for our brand and those of our clients.