Developing a Foolproof Content Marketing Strategy
Developing a content marketing strategy can feel pretty intimidating as a business owner. You may know how to run your business but struggle to know how to run your social platforms to scale your business. We see it all the time! Business owners don’t know what content to post or when to post it in order to get the best results. Do you know what content resonates most with your audience? Do you know if they like to engage in stories, carousels, reels, feed posts? Social media sometimes feels like A LOT! So here at Chic, we created the Thumbprint Method.
Content Marketing Strategy: Stance on Your Business
First, start by identifying the things in your business and in life that you want to be known for. Your business is why you do what you do. Why did you start your business in the first place? What problem were you trying to solve for your audience? By answering these questions, you can find the mission and beliefs behind your business. Even in the same industry, every business owner has a specific business mentorship style. You may approach solving the problems of your target audience differently than the next business owner in your industry. You want to make sure that your business style comes through when you’re sharing on your socials and developing a content marketing strategy.
Do you value community and creating a fun experience? Do you approach business in a more strategic disciplined way? Start by figuring out what makes your business different and highlight on those things!
You are using your social media to promote your business, so you have to make it stand out. Your vision and core values have to come through in everything you do!
Content Marketing Strategy: Your Products and Services
Next, the second section of the Thumbprint Method is understanding how your products and services serve other people. You want to create content about your own experiences and how that has impacted the development of your products and services. Talk about how it has impacted your life specifically!
You don’t want your social platforms to feel like every post is a selling post. Likewise, you don’t want to never talk about what you’re selling. Again, people need to know what you offer and how they can take part in it! Communicate your sales, deals, and any personal reviews you have!
It is not about WHAT you sell but about how selling your product or service can make an impact in someone’s life. Developing your business and offering your products is so much more about creating a connection and genuinely helping people. The story behind your business is what connects people to you and makes them want to purchase from you specifically. Communicate how your product or service will impact and change their lives. By doing this, you are making your content marketing strategy personal and unique!
Content Marketing Strategy: Unique Sharing Proposition
Last, your unique sharing proposition (USP) is the secret sauce of your business and the last category of the Thumbprint Method. Your USP is how you share a part of who you are with people who are potentially interested in your product, service, or experience. The USP is what makes you unique. It should be fun, and it should be what you organically talk about. Normally, your USP is what your friends and family know about you. The unique sharing proposition of your brand is a reason for people to connect with you. It could be a commonality they have with you, an interest they share, or something you do that brings them joy.
Surprisingly, the unique sharing proposition should take the driver’s seat in your content marketing strategy. Selling should be secondary here. That may be hard to believe, but people stay because of your unique sharing proposition not your products or services. The core of any business should be connection!
As an example, Katy’s unique sharing proposition is her life in remission and her stance on health. She talks about how to have conversations with people who have cancer. She shares about understanding the important signs your body is telling you. While, Melanie’s unique sharing proposition is her inflammatory diet. She talks about healing your body and symptoms with the right foods. She also shares about burnout, and the self-care it takes to be a healthy business owner. Both owners of Chic Influencer, but yet they each have their own personal stories to connect with totally different target audiences. These are the things that help people see the faces behind the business, making them crucial for your content marketing strategy.
Second USP
We have added the USP in the Thumbprint Method twice because you need to repeatedly be communicating your USP’s in your content marketing strategy. When you begin communicating your USP’s consistently, you may feel like a broken record. However, that is the point! If you only talk about your USP’s once, why would your audience continue coming back to your page if you didn’t keep serving them the thumbprint?
When there is a clear, organic and natural way of talking about the things you care about, your audience will stay. When your audience stays, they can easily see what other things you can serve them with. Your USP is what makes you a real person, not just a business. In addition, when people are connected to you, they easily can be connected to what you sell and offer. For a successful content marketing strategy, you want to naturally connect with people outside of what you do for your business.
In addition when you share about your USP’s consistently, try sharing that content in different forms. Try stories, feed post, IGTV, Instagram Reels, Lives, carousels, etc.
Next Steps!
FREE “Recipe for Great Content” Guide
Make Chic Happen Planner
Free “From Follower To Buyer” Guide
Do you struggle with not knowing who your ideal client is? Do you keep hearing people talk about their unique sharing proposition but you are unsure what that even is or let alone what yours is?
If you said yes to either or both of these questions, we have got you covered with our From Follower To Buyer Guide that was designed for business owners just like yourself! This guide will help you bring your content marketing strategy to the next level! This 10+ page guide will walk you through how to identify your ideal buyer, what your unique sharing proposition is, and understanding the buyer’s journey! Download it HERE!
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