Take a moment and think about the last time you opened an email from a business that you frequent. Before you opened it, you probably saw that the subject line contained something of interest to you, whether it was a promotion or an informative article. Either way, there was a promise of value, and it compelled you to look further.

This is an example of effective content marketing. Gone are the days where content is shared simply for the sake of sharing it, or to rank for specific keywords on search engines. Instead, there should be a strategy and meaning – in other words, context – behind each piece of content your company creates.  When you sit down to begin crafting a newsletter, eblast, blog or other piece of branded content, you should ask yourself these questions:

• What is the message that I wish to convey?
• Why is the message important to the receiver?
• What kind of reaction do I wish to receive from my audience?
• What action do I want my audience to take after reading the content?

Here are some additional tips on how you can provide clear context in your business communications:

Listen to Your Audience

If you do not know what your audience wants, there is no way you can know what to give to them. Everything from your company’s Facebook comments to customer satisfaction surveys can offer valuable insight into your audience’s needs and challenges so that you can address them. Also, while you are taking in what your customers have to say, pay attention to how they are saying it. Incorporate the language they use into your content so that they can better understand the context of your content and, hopefully, relate to it.

Address Your Customers’ Needs

After you understand your audience better, become a reliable source of information by answering their questions and providing content that supports their needs. For instance, if a grocery store notices that a large portion of their customers are inquiring about low carb products, it would benefit both them and their shoppers to dedicate a section of their weekly sales ad to displaying the low carb items that they carry. This all goes back to the second bullet point above, asking yourself, “Why is the message important to the receiver?” to ensure you are putting content that matters in front of your customers.

Tailor Content to Different Audiences

The more diverse your customer base, the more you should segment your audience (read our recent article to learn more about segmenting your audience). You may need to create different pieces of content – such as landing pages, digital ads, and social media posts – to effectively engage with the varying demographics that you want to connect with. Doing so can be critical, as the same message that works for one group may not work for the next, causing your conversion rates and ROI to plummet.

Do you need help perfecting your content marketing strategy to better connect with your customers? Contact the experts at Midwest Marketing today!