A-Z of Content Marketing – A is for Audience

A is for Audience.

The first thing to consider when creating a content strategy is your audience, who are they and what are they interested in?

A great content strategy always starts with the audience. There is little or no point in creating content that you or your boss likes, but bears no relation to what your audience wants to know. You are not doing it for yourself, and let’s be honest your audience might be, in fact probably is completely different than you.

That is not to say that you cannot understand them, or put yourself in their shoes, but it is a fact that you may have to consciously do that, you will not naturally speak to them in the right tone, register or language.

If you work for a DIY organisation and you can create high quality content on a vast range of subjects, none of which actually interests you. You do not have to be interested in the subject to create great content. But your audience does, if they are not interested, then it’s not great content, it’s just content.

So, how do you work out what your audience wants – well you could ask them if you wanted – pretty straightforward research if you have a budget, slightly harder, but still possible if you don’t.

Some things you could do are:

  1. Ask your sales team – what questions do they get asked, what are people asking about in sales meetings?
  2. Listen – use social listening tools (hootsuite is a good free one) to listen to what people are talking about in social media.
  3. Search – blog search, news search, or just straight google search can all be used to get a view of what people are interested in.
  4. Competitors – what are they talking about? This can be really useful, but bear in mind, your competition  may know less than you do, you really don’t know how switched on they actually are, they may just be stabbing in the dark.
  5. Customer services – what are people talking to your customer services team about?
  6. Existing research – most companies have lots of research about the place, it is just a case of laying your hands on it and pulling out the information that you need.

What you need to end up with is some sort of basic pen portrait of your audience;

  • What are they interested in?
  • What do they read?
  • What age range are they?
  • What are their issues?
  • What are their needs?

The objective then is to look at your company objectives and tie them to what your audience wants to hear.

Your content strategy should sit comfortably where your company needs – what you want to talk  about, overlaps those of your audience – what they want to hear.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

B is for Business – what are you going on about?

C is for Calling – to action

D is for Depth – a key dimension to your strategy

E is for Educate – teach, teach and teach some more

F is for Fribbling – you will find out what

G is for Giveaway – give something away, but not everything

H is for Helicopters – because everyone loves helicopters

I is for Idea – you really need one

J is for Journey – take your readers on one

K is for Kissing – one contact, many meanings

L is for Lists – everyone loves lists

M is for Mixing your media

N is for New – not old

O is for Organised output

P is for Podcasts – who to avoid sounding crap

Q is for Questions – you need to ask them

R is for Reviews – review honestly and openly

S is for Slideshare – how to use it properly

T is for Testing, test and test again

U is for Useful – it really needs to be useful

V is for Video – how to use it well

W is for When – when to do what you do

X is for Xerig – we will find out when we get there

Y is for Yagi – which is another great word we found

Z is for Zombies – we all love zombies, don’t we?

 

(We can help you with some or all of this, just give us a call if you want some help – 07765 406530)

mcm2 – content marketing experts based in Cheshire and the North West

Carmen Dias

I recently booked onto the: 'Marketing Tactics - what to do, when to do it, and why you should' - facilitated by Martin and all I can say is that I've never enjoyed a full day training so much! It was a relaxed, informative of course, but most of all, engaging.

He planned the breaks out perfectly, keeping us refreshed! He used fun and creative ways to help us understand the multiple layers of what marketing is really all about. I usually dread training in fear of awkward breakout rooms, and being put on the spot but luckily Martin had found a natural way to make us feel comfortable to engage without all the awkwardness and anxiety!

Not once did I feel uncomfortable like I do in most training sessions. I'd highly recommend this course and any other with mcm2.

The years of experience, knowledge and enriching content along with all the fun made this easily one of the best courses I'd been on! 😀

Tim Watkins

Martin tutored the marketing module for the Director Development programme at University of Salford.

The module was a highlight of the programme, delivered with great insight, experience, knowledge, humour, and inspiration.

A genuine master of his trade.

Jessica Atkinson

I attended the "Marketing Tactics" training event and Martin shared some quality tips and advice. I would definitely recommend his expertise to any size business - he knows it all and has a great sense of humour!

We hope to work with him again in the future. Thanks Martin!

Suzanne Miller

I have attended several of Martins courses and each has always provided me with new fresh ideas and strategies to implement into my business.

He delivers the information in a way that is engaging and easy to process, and always makes time to answer any questions raised. His expertise and level of knowledge in all areas of marketing means he can provide the correct level of information to the course delegates irrespective of their experience.


Great courses, always a benefit, and always come away feeling inspired and positive about future marketing projects.

Genghis Perriman

Martin has provided RB Plant with an excellent value adding service in the time he has been working with us.

Not only knowledgeable but dynamic, applying his skills and experience in the most pragmatic way, Martin gets things done and always keep us abreast of progress.

We have seen a significant increase in enquiries since engaging his services.

Mark Littler

Martin set up my Google AdWords for me and I cannot thank him enough. He made the whole process simple and easy to understand. He also gave me lots of useful hints and tips about how to move forward with my marketing.

Through my AdWords campaign that Martin set up for me I have won hundreds of new clients and his part in this really cannot be overstated.

Use with every confidence that he will win your business more work!

Matt Mounsey

Great working with Martin. He built our website in the height of the pandemic so we we're only able to have a couple of zoom calls for him to gauge an idea of what we wanted and he delivered something we were really pleased with.

He proposed lots of ideas which gave us inspiration and helped shape the end product.

6 months down the line when we manage to mess things up, I emailed Martin for help and he responded instantly to fix the problem without charging us further.

Katrina May Celebrant

After meeting Martin through one of his outstanding workshops I decided I required a superior web site, business cards and flyers.
Martin excelled my expectations even higher.

He presented me with a web site that was more than perfect,business cards that yet again are faultless.
He has patience of a saint and knowledge that is exceptional.
If you ever think you can do it first hand yourself.
Think again !!!
Get in touch with Martin you'll be leaving it in expert hands.

Sofia Warlow

We attended the Digital marketing workshops run by Martin on behalf of Reaseheath College and it was just brilliant.

Martin is extremely knowledgable, understands the growing pains of small businesses, their drive to market their products/services to a wider audience, but their restriction of time and budget. He guided us through our options, made us aware of the pitfalls and supported us to develop a plan of action. He has provided invaluable insight and food for thought.

He has given the confidence to push our perceived barriers and to effectively market our business. We can't thank Martin enough for his time, support and expertise!

Emma Bird

Martin and his team have been absolutely amazing. Taking over the running of my business website and on going business support.

Nothing is too much trouble and Martin has shown me how results can be reached….

Best decision I made was moving my website management seo over to MCM2 . Thanks

Anthony B

After many bad experiences with marketing companies either just not understanding our brand or overcharging us and providing nothing we were recommended Martin at mcm2 and what a delight, Martin listens and is fair.

He suggests what is best for our business and, not his own pocket.

He is very amiable, and he has a conversation with you rather than talks at you (unlike many other marketing “experts” I have met with) I can't recommend him enough. A true diamond in the rough.

Rachel Billington

I attended a digital marketing workshop led by Martin and really benefitted from the course. Martin's presentation gave me a clearer understanding of digital marketing, and I found it useful that it was tailored to our small business.

Martin was very informative and shared a lot of practical tips which I hope to implement going forward. Thanks Martin!

David Bretnall

I've just finished a 2 part online Social Media Marketing course hosted by Martin from his company MCM2. The course was really interesting and well presented and gives a really good insight into what I originally thought be quite a daunting and scary phenomenon.

Thanks to Martin I have now overcome this and learnt the basic do's and don'ts and how to create a relative straight forward strategy that will work for my business without it costing too much of my valuable time.

It's a must if you are just starting off, like me, or even if you have been running a business for a while.

Brew and Tucker

I met Martin through a recommendation from a friend of mine and I’m really glad I did. From our first catch up Martin was super easy to talk to and also cut the jargon.

No ‘tech speak’, no ‘up-selling’, just good advice. He was supportive through the whole process and continues to be so.

Lizzie Green

Attending one of Martin's courses is always a pleasure, not only is it informative, it is entertaining.

You come away feeling like you've learnt something that you can immediatley put into practise.

Sharon Shelbourne

Attended two sessions of a social media marketing course with Martin which was delivered virtually.

Complete with slides and an interactive iPad to explain how to get the most out of all your platforms. Lots of tips and expertise on finding your voice, creating meaningful content, fostering brand awareness and increasing traffic plus lots more.

Excellent use of my time!!

Amy Rogerson

I’ve used Martin numerous times now to help me set up websites. He is superb and always gets the job done in no time at a great price as well.

He is my go-to person for any work like this and is always very reliable.

Alex Morrisroe

Martin ran a very comprehensive marketing workshop. I would definitely recommend him for training and marketing support.