Ask any accountant, lawyer or consultant “How do you win clients?” and they’ll likely say that you look for your ideal prospect. Then, you target them through your marketing or attend networking events to make contact. Finally, you work on building that relationship over time. This, of course, is right but what many professionals don’t think about is the easier way to win clients. I’m talking about content marketing, where clients come to you for work rather than you hunting them down. Here is how to create content which will make clients come to you.
Content marketing: how to grow your client base
Although content marketing is considered the “easy way” to win clients as it can result in a continuous stream of new prospects coming through, it isn’t so easy to get it right and it does involve a lot of effort. Feeding the content beast can be exhausting and you may not always have time to create content. For example, you can’t just whip up some generic content, stick it on your firm’s blog or your LinkedIn ‘blog’ and expect clients to come in droves. You have to think about what your audience wants to read about, what problems they have that you can address, and each piece of content needs to have a unique perspective or personality behind it. Then you have to market it just like anything else. This is what is known as ‘magnetic content:’ content that attracts people and results in them sharing it with others. Content like this is what the pros are able to write and utilise to keep new business coming through their door consistently; this content is what you should aim to create.
How to create magnetic content
We can’t tell you how to write or what you should write about, but we can share with you what works and how the experts continually get and keep their content in front of a wide audience comprised of potential prospects. We can show you how to grow your client base with your content:
Do your research
Whatever you write about has to be relevant and interesting, otherwise, why would your potential prospects read it? If it’s not relevant, that wastes both your time and theirs, not to mention that it will reflect poorly on your reputation. Make sure to research the kinds of things that your target audience is interested in. What do they search for? Where are they most active on social media? What kinds of articles are they sharing? Can you think of any problems that they have that you can solve or something of value that you can teach them? Are there any trends in their market or any topical news that you can discuss?
Use a range of content types
There is so much more to content marketing than just writing articles and publishing them on your website, so make sure to utilise the different types to get your content in front of a wider audience. Here are the top 5 content types that draw audience interest:
- Informational and educational resources – what resource can you create to help the prospects you are trying to reach? Serving your client’s needs gives you credibility.
- Books – what relevant business topics could you write a book on? Top experts in every field have written books, so position yourself as the expert and attract new prospects,
- Public speaking opportunities – what kind of speech can you give that the prospects you are trying to reach would be attracted to? Position yourself as the expert, gain visibility, and grow both your client base and referral network.
- Media interviews – what publications do my prospects read? Publications increase your visibility and give you credibility.
- Guest posting and article contribution – what topic could you write about that fits a certain publication’s needs as well as your prospects’ interests? Again, publications give you visibility and credibility whilst establishing you as a thought leader in your industry.
Write content that resonates with people so that they follow you
The best content attracts people to open it, it resonates with people and makes them want to share it; it’s remembered and audiences never tire of it. If you can write content just like that, people will follow you for a very long time, they will read almost everything you publish, and they will either reach out for themselves or recommend you to someone else when they need your service. To help you create content that resonates with people, here are 8 types of content that people love to read.
- Content that inspires us to action.
- Stories that take us along on a journey.
- Anecdotes that make us laugh or smile.
- Articles that reminds us of the overlooked or forgotten “basics.”
- Surprising contents.
- Content that confirms our assumptions.
- Topics that challenge our assumptions.
- Content that gives us a fresh point of view even about common things.
Remember:
If you find yourself thinking about how to grow your client base, don’t forget the ‘easy method’ of creating magnetic content to get potential clients to come to you. It does take time and effort to make your content marketing a success, but when you create a well-oiled strategy that ticks away in the background you will find that new prospects will continue to filter through your door. Not a writer? Read how to create great content without writing a word!
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