In Demand Content

Is your marketing working as well as it could be?

It may be as basic as taking another objective look at your market. Objectivity may be the biggest challenge a business faces. It’s easy to fool ourselves into believing we know what the market wants at all times, or what our brand represents to our market. Markets shift and change. The messages we promote must be the ones that cement and secure the truth of our brands’ qualities and representations—who we are and what we do. This is where marketing content is king.

Why is video marketing so hot online? Partly because it's easier to absorb and remember, and to drill down further, partly because the audio portion is faster to absorb.

How often have we seen simple online videos (with a voice-over message while animated text or images are placed) be so successful? Indeed, it wasn't necessarily the video portion that seemed as desirable as the actual message—the guts of the video; the text?—that’s most important to the recipient.

So how do marketers determine the demand of the content? How is value determined? It depends on the wanted results, doesn't it? And also, what can be reasonably expected in the attention span of that target market.

Therefore, it stands to reason that expectations must be weighed against human behavior and the age-old realization that one must know their target markets. What works for one person may not work for another, of course.

So exactly what is in demand, and how do we marketers tap that demand to sell products people want to buy?

We must always be communicating and sharing, don’t we? We must build what people want and continually strive to improve upon what the market want, needs, and desires. To understand that, we must research, survey, and ask what is important and how we can be better. What seeds can we plant today to yield better results tomorrow?

Is this why social media is important—to get to the root of the problem so we can offer and provide the solutions for people?

And how do we get people to open up to us so that we can communicate with them better? Evoke a response? Generate an interest?

It still comes back to understanding. Asking the right questions and in the right sequence. It’s much like dating. The way to a customer’s heart is through______ and ______ (you fill in the blanks).

If sales have declined or fallen off, perhaps the target should be reassessed, or redefined. If what you are selling is in less demand, perhaps the perceived demand needs refinement. Sexy shoes, for example, may be delightful for some young ladies to be seen in, but they are not in as much demand to the ladies who work on their feet 8 hours or more each day, are they? So the setting for the product needs to be defined and refined along the way. That is where an analysis of the audience and the product must closely match in order for sales to be made and sustained.

Is the aroma of fresh-baked bread more powerful to a buyer who is hungry? Content marketing is powerful and successful as long as the demand is generated by the ideas delivered through messages that appeal to that target. Content is king when it is delivered to correct receptive target supported by research and promotional efforts.

Specific expected results can be achieved through targeted market analysis and simplified execution that penetrates directly to the satisfaction demand. It’s one thing to satisfy hunger with a piece of fresh-baked bread, for example, but that satisfaction is accentuated when the same bread is dipped into a flavorful combination of olive oil and mouth-watering spices and herbs.

As long as we can be honest with our customers, we should be able to provide the value to each segment of our market niche that we specialize in, and not try to be everything to everyone. Resonate with your core markets through researching and promoting what is more important to those who want more of what you specialize in, and will pay more for more of the products you sell: the more principle.

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