When starting an online publication, it can be tempting to assume that, if you write it, they will come. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. You can write the most brilliant content imaginable, but it won’t reach its full potential if nobody sees it. But this isn’t just a matter of getting your content in front of people. You also want to make sure you’re reaching the right people. In this post, we’ll look at some of the ways you can make sure your content is being seen by the people who need it most.

Why does audience matter?

Producing high-quality content is just the beginning. You also need to make sure your content is reaching the people who are genuinely interested in it. After all, if you’re writing about the British constitution, it’s probably not going to do you much good to pursue crypto enthusiasts. The right audience can also amplify your content’s reach. If people find it useful and informative, they’re more likely to share it within their own networks, which in turn bolsters your credibility.   

Why is reaching the correct audience important?

But how can you know if you’re reaching the right audience? David Hill at the KCTV5 Marketing Blog has some useful suggestions:

·         Make sure people are engaging with your content. Don’t be afraid to try new approaches.

·         If you’re looking to increase sales, make sure you’re getting a decent amount of revenue for the money you’re spending on marketing. It may also be worth courting return customers instead of one-time shoppers.

·         Ensure your customers are familiar with your brand before they buy. Even something as simple as asking customers where they heard about you can help you hone your marketing strategy.

·         Analyze your audience. Learn as much as you can about them, including their habits and their interactions with competitors. This can help you craft buyer personas that represent different segments of your audience.

Jimmy Daly also has some useful advice. When making up personas, don’t give them silly names or stuff them with marketing speak. Instead of asking, “Who is our target reader?” he suggests that you ask, “At which level is our target reader thinking?” Daly argues that readers at the upper end of the corporate ladder need frameworks, while those at the lower end need information.  

What are the six types of market segmentation?

Thinking about the six types of market segmentation can also help you find the right audience. Perceptive has a handy post that provides an overview:

·         Demographic. This includes aspects such age, gender, occupation, income, and education for a B2C audience or company size, industry type, or corporate role for a B2B audience.

·         Geographic. This is where your audience is located on the globe.

·         Psychographic. This essentially requires you to peek into your audience’s head to gauge their interests, attitudes, and values.

·         Behavioral. Here, you’ll want to consider subjects such as your audience’s awareness of your business, their purchase history, and their product knowledge.

·         Needs-based. This is where you want to show how you can solve a problem or give some benefit to your audience. It can include things like problem-solving needs, functional needs, or emotional needs.

·         Transactional. For this, you’ll want to consider your audience’s spending patterns. How often are they buying from you? How recently have they bought from you? How much are they spending?

Does your content effectively target your audience?

Once you’ve identified your ideal audience, it’s important to make sure that you’re reaching them effectively. This might seem obvious, but your content should have a purpose. In other words, it should provide value to your readers. This can include:

·         Educational content

·         Selling goods or services

·         Calls to action

Once you’ve decided what you want to do, it’s important to make sure that every piece of content you produce is tailored to that goal.

You also want to make sure that your content is well-written. Readers care about quality. The occasional typo won’t hurt you, but too many of them will undermine your credibility. After all, if you can’t be bothered to get the little things right, how can your readers be sure you’re getting the big things right?

Writing well also means being savvy about SEO. In the early 2000s, SEO often meant writing to please Google’s algorithms, this led many people to stuff as many keywords as possible into their content. The result was often borderline unreadable. But as Enchanting Marketing points out, the web is a much different place nowadays. Google’s gotten smarter, which means you don’t have to jam keywords into your content like it’s a clown car.  Instead, simply write the best content you can, and Google will reward you for it.

How can content licensing help you reach the right audience?

Succeeding as an online content creator isn’t just a numbers game. You want to make sure your content is reaching the people who need it the most. Make sure you understand your audience and the factors—such as demographics and geography—that influence their behavior. Take care that every piece of content you produce has value for your readers, whether it’s educating them or providing something they need. And be careful with SEO—shoehorning as many keywords as possible into your content isn’t a recipe for success. If your content looks like it was written by robots for robots, your readers are unlikely to stick around.

While the strategies outlined above will help, Newstex can also be a powerful tool in your arsenal. Today’s busy professionals don’t always have time to dig through dozens of pages of search results on the open web, so they turn to information databases such as LexisNexis and ProQuest. Signing up with Newstex is a great way to reach these hard-to-find professionals.

For more information about information databases and how they can benefit you, check out this article: Why publish your content on information databases?