"All life is problem-solving" - Karl Popper, Austrian-Hungarian Philosopher
This is a very simple, yet powerful quote from Karl Popper. In fact, many believe that problem-solving is the leading reason for all inventions. Think Gutenberg, James Watt, and Thomas Edison.
Cleveland’s famous inventor, Garrett Morgan invented gas masks for fire departments after witnessing fires in the wooden shanty houses in his rural Kentucky hometown. Using the money he earned from the invention, he bought himself a car. This led him to see the unruly traffic on the road and prompted his idea of traffic signals.
There is a connection to all of these inventions. They were all created to address a specific problem.
However, inventors aren't the only ones who can solve problems. Most important business and world leaders are exemplary problem solvers too.
Well, how is this related to content marketing?
First, let's address some of the problems content marketing is currently facing.
As of August 2015, there are 4.78 billion web-pages. Seventy-eight percent of content marketers have said that they are creating more content than ever. In fact, there is an enormous amount of content on the web and it's hard for businesses to fight for a top position on search engines.
Your business needs to solve a problem. Your products or services are designed to help make people’s lives better, so naturally your content should help them too.
There are many ways you can use a problem-solving approach in content marketing. Most businesses turn to how-to guides and product demos but think of these as the hors d'oeuvres in your elaborate Thanksgiving dinner. There are many more creative and genius ways to educate the reader while building a powerful content strategy that fits your audience.
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1. Product Guide Emails
Have you ever considered sending out weekly emails to help customers make a better use of your product?
Millions of people would thank food bloggers, food processor manufacturers, and oven makers for sending them quick recipes that can be made using day-to-day ingredients.
SaaS and software providers can send educational content to users for making better use of their product by sending tips, tricks, and shortcuts for basic functions.
If you run out of all the possible tips and tricks, consider sending out emails with:
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Best practices – You don't need to send content that is strictly from your own business. You can always email best practice guides from industry leaders. Let’s say you are a B2B marketer in the automobile spare parts industry. Find good seminars and articles from leading automobile engineers and trade experts. Then, compile it into an email that you can send to your audience. Each month you can send a monthly mailer of relevant articles of industry trends and tips to them. This also gives you a great opportunity to engage with your customers again.
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Reference links – A lot of healthcare professionals research a lot on health topics pertaining to their fields. It would be really helpful if they share related news or relevant articles with their patients. For instance, a patient suffering from knee and joint problems or back-ache can benefit greatly from new articles. Try sending easy to read articles that you have curated by summarizing parts of the content in the email.
2. How-to blogs
How-to blogs are a great way to share your expertise with prospects and customers. These how-to blogs are evergreen content that remains relevant and helpful over time. When you include specific keywords in your blog, it allows search engines to crawl the text and showcase your work in front of relevant searchers. In fact, they're great ways to keep your customers coming back to your website.
Imagine what immense opportunity lied for luggage company like TravelPro, had they written how-to guides like the one above. Let’s say for an example, Joe bought a TravelPro suitcase online. It might not be on his mind to search for packing tips online, but wouldn’t he be happily surprised to receive a welcome email from TravelPro with links to their great how-to blog posts on traveling light and packing right? From how to pack your TravelPro or fit 2-weeks clothes to the example shown above. This type of helpful content will make Joe's customer experience with TravelPro more positive.
3. Tutorial Videos and Demos
Although most companies would agree that making tutorials and demos is one of the most expensive and time-consuming processes, studies have shown that video content will continue to dominate and be an important part of marketing. In fact, Cisco has forecasted that video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic by 2017.
The use of videos for marketing campaigns is increasing significantly. Even if you are selling something as easy as a toaster, it is crucial for your business to create a demo video.
A video of using a toaster may seem simple, but in addition to showing customers how they can use your product, you can showcase the features of your toaster. Sure, pictures and texts can describe the toaster, but a video can show more than just a still image.
4. Targeting a Niche
Every business can target a niche audience by narrowing down and refining their marketing reach and create content specifically for them.
Consider the chart above. Of these, only 25-30% women use dating sites to find a suitable partner. Now let's consider some of the niche content opportunities for the example dating site, based on these statistics and facts:
- They might be serious about finding a dating partner since they're signing up for an account
- Half of these females never use the account after signing up
- Only 5% of them might turn out to be serious about their relationship with men met online
From these three segments, you can tailor your content based on each group. Because their objectives are all different from the dating site, you want to create content that can cater to all of them.
Find out which of your users have a pet and create content that can relate to them. For example, you can write about:
- Your pet doesn’t like your date? Try these tricks!
- Are you a dog person dating a cat person?
- How to get your would-be BF like your dog?
Targeting a specific niche allows you to create content that is more specific. It allows you to connect to specific demographics in a more personal level. Try segmenting your target audience to create valuable content that are relatable.
And so…
Try to find other creative ways to help your consumers. Remember, you want to target their problems and be their solution.
