We all know that to have a brand you must have an audience. But what happens when that audience is hard to find?
If you’ve been having a hard time reaching your audience as of late, you’re not alone. According to the 12th annual B2B Content Marketing Report, 51% of survey participants expressed that it had become more difficult to capture the attention of their audiences.
So how can you still find audiences where there’s a growing short supply?
Respondents cited several practical methods that seemed to help, at least in part. The first was adjusting their tone to employ a more empathetic approach. The second was to position themselves as a helpful partner rather than a pushy salesperson. The third method was to stop pushing marketing material the company thought the audience needed and replace it with material the audience expressed a need for – of course!
But according to the report, the biggest challenge that prevented companies from reaching their audience was one thing: the ability to find B2B content partners who were both experts in the subject matter and who could understand and empathize with multi-level roles within their audience.
In other words, the most important skill set you need to reach an audience today is the ability to partner with someone who can translate the technical subject matter into easy, helpful content for a variety of people.
As a long-time professional engineer and technical content writer, I can attest to the success of this method. All too often I see companies fall into the trap of marketing their story, and not their audience’s.
Let me give you an example.
In technical fields, standard marketing practices simply don’t apply. If you try to sell a technical expert your latest product by toting your company’s story and message, it might make your CEO happy, but it likely doesn’t meet your expert’s ears.
But by partnering with technical experts who are also professional content writers, you can use their expertise to take your company’s message and tell the story of the people you’re trying to reach instead. In doing so, you will build trust and familiarity, and earn long-term audiences for your business.
Finding quality partners to better understand and reach your audience should always be a top priority. As the report says, “A strategic content marketing operation isn’t the storyteller of the business. It enables everyone else to be the storytellers.”
To learn more about how we can help your company tell the story of your audience, contact us at mail@askconsultingsolutions.com.