The critical first step in content marketing: setting your target audience and offering solutions to pain points or benefits

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF14fyF446kunJl8at7nHF_BSo03EHLyYYlR9ZcEBmQ_iF4SddaUx9ondoGD-CTkFjc8iGDlav2 9EbqmGJ_-y9GXPgj_CpkfAWVGMBTKPG1_WXbRmSgIt2ciqrfexaeA-jGpXTAQ-3hhrc/s 1600/%25E5%2585%25A7%25E5%25AE%25B9%25E8%25A1%258C%25E9%258A%25B7.jpg)

♛ This article was originally published on the “Marketer” website. Thank you for your permission to reprint.

▌Text/Vista Cheng, founder of the website “Content Hacker”.

---

According to a survey by the Content Marketing Institute (https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/), as many as 88% of marketers in the United States have adopted content marketing. What exactly is content marketing? How is it different from traditional marketing?

Content marketing is an art

The American Content Marketing Association states that content marketing is a highly strategic marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Ultimately, driving profitable customer behavior is the overriding guiding principle.

In other words, content marketing is the art of communicating with guests without actively selling. We can also say that when content meets marketing, a two-way dialogue occurs.

In fact, people have been using the term content marketing as early as 1996, and by 1998, a job opening similar to “content marketing director” appeared. This also tells us that the concept of content marketing has been practiced for many years and is not a new thing that has been developed recently!

Content marketing pays attention to users’ true feelings

For example, the Michelin Guide, first published in France in 1900, is amazing! The system of food reviewers, impartial food and accommodation evaluation and star rating that they have implemented over the years has made this food travel bible highly recognized by the world. It is also regarded by many experts around the world as the origin of modern content marketing.

.

(The Michelin Guide, first published in France in 1900, is regarded by many experts as the origin of modern content marketing. / Picture: taken from hosco.)

In his book “The Power of Content” written by Japanese writer Munakata Jun, he defines content marketing as a kind of “marketing” that resonates with “content”. He believes that the so-called content marketing is a marketing technique that attracts target customers to the website and makes them want to further obtain relevant information and purchase products or services.

Simply put, content marketing is a marketing technique that sells experiences. Different from the active method of traditional marketing, content marketing is relatively low-key, calm and delicate, and pays more attention to the true feelings of users.

Now more and more companies and organizations have begun to invest in content marketing. For example, Red Bull, the world’s largest energy drink brand, understands the charm of content marketing. If you open Red Bull’s official website now, you may intuitively think that this is a website with music or sports events as the main axis, and it is not easy to see the words promoting energy drinks on it. Dietrich, the founder of Red Bull energy drink from Austria. Mateschitz once said: “We don’t want to sell products to consumers, but try to bring consumers to our products.”

At this point, you may already be curious about content marketing. So, how do we get started with content marketing?

Key step one: Set up TA

I believe that setting your target audience is a very important and critical step before investing in content marketing. Taking the sale of goods or services as an example, we can set it up step by step in the following way:

1. Which groups will be interested in the goods and services we sell?

2. What are the motivations of these people for purchasing? In what scenarios or situations will these goods and services be needed?

3. What specific benefits or benefits can the goods and services we provide bring to specific ethnic groups?

For example, if your company recently plans to launch a new espresso machine, you might as well think about which groups of people will particularly need this product? Or are you interested in coffee machines? Are they the group of ladies and business owners with taste at the top of the pyramid? Or a middle or senior executive in the company? Or what about a group of busy office workers who especially need the comfort of caffeine?

And will the needs, thinking and behavior patterns of this group of people be affected by age, gender, living area or consumption willingness, and will they change differently?

In the past, when setting target audiences, people might only focus on the age, gender, and occupation of the audience. But in addition, I would also like to suggest that you pay more attention to the interests, values, personalities and preferences of these groups. You must know that the setting and insights of the target audience are not based on intuition or experience. Instead, in-depth on-site observation, coupled with data collection and analysis, can truly figure out the clues.

When I teach digital marketing courses, I also remind students: When setting your target audience, you must not be too greedy! Many people only want to catch up with all the consumer groups between the ages of six and sixty. This is usually unrealistic and unrealistic, and may not be applicable to every product or service. So, don’t make this greedy mistake!

(Image: taken from Pexels)

Step 2: Master the USP of your product or service

After setting your target audience, I also suggest that you think carefully about what [unique selling proposition] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2019/02/click-millionaires.html) your products and services have? Can it help consumers solve some problems that have been bothering them for a long time? If you can grasp the characteristics and needs of your target audience, it will naturally be easy to “cater to their liking” and write good articles that people will feel and be willing to pay for!

As for the content in production, I have seen many friends in the industry spend a lot of effort on carving and modifying the product copywriting, but do not care at all about the needs or feelings of the target audience, and even write some confusing content. Well, this approach is indeed not ideal, and sometimes even has the opposite effect.

I would suggest friends who are interested in engaging in content marketing to start establishing a content strategy to increase the attention of the target audience.

Content strategy starts with solving pain points

First, focus on the pain points of the target audience and the benefits and benefits it can provide. Naturally, we have the greatest impact when the content we provide is focused on solving people’s pain points. Theme content based on solving pain points can actually help increase conversion rates. In other words, you should focus your work on thinking about the problems that your target audience often encounters, and then through content production, you can explain to potential customers how to solve or eliminate the problems?

Secondly, people like to read simple and concise articles and hate long articles. This also means they tend to quickly scan what you have to offer before deciding to take actual action. Starting with a subscript, you only need to spend a little time to capture the attention and interest of your target audience. Therefore, if you have important information that you want to share with your customer base, it’s best to get right to the point and express it quickly and concisely.

(Image: taken from Pexels)

Finally, when you come from the perspective of providing useful information, you can build a trusting and intimate relationship with the target audience of your content. Through content marketing techniques, you can make them feel that this information is extremely important and valuable; over time, this audience will naturally feel appreciated and willing to make transactions!

If you are deeply interested in content marketing, I suggest that the first step is to set goals Audience, then jump into content production, and then write good and engaging articles. As for the practical steps, you can refer to the several methods I introduced in this article to improve the participation and trust of potential customers.

★ Welcome to like the “Vista Writing Companion Program” fan page! ★ Do you want your copywriting to be liked by more people? Come and watch “[Slow Reading and Understanding in Seconds] (https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/vista/products/0010973827?utm_source=vista&utm_medium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-202605)”.

★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands] (https://hahow.in/cr/content-power)”

★ Photo Credit: Hisu lee

---

Further reading

• Setting specific and feasible goals can help motivate yourself to chase your dreams
• Content marketing is like a first date, don’t just talk about yourself

---