This week I want to talk about one of the smartest ways to use content marketing: To stay engaged with potential clients and customers, whether or not they’re in the right place to buy at the moment.
A new (for some) approach to customer and client nurturing
Earlier this week, Amber Naslund pointed me to this article on Twitter. I have to confess, I’ve got a big magnifying glass on myself looking for confirmation bias. Because this is precisely what I’ve been teaching and practicing for a couple of decades now.
The 95:5 rule is the new 60:40 rule
In a nutshell, the article points to new research showing that at any given time, around 5% of your audience is ready to buy your product or service. And there’s almost nothing you can do to push them to be ready. (This is specifically about B2B, but the point is valid for other markets as well.)
The time you spend nurturing and serving the remaining 95% means you’ll be a natural choice for their dollars when the time is right.
I learned this many years ago, selling in the B2G (government) sector. Government agencies typically have the longest sales cycles of any sector I can think of.
Most of the sales game is spent making it easy for the client to say Yes on their timeline.
I still think it’s wise to use thoughtful, human-centered automation to get a feeling for when your 5% are ready to move forward. That lets you serve them with relevant, simple, and clear communication that answers their sales questions.
I also think it’s wise to ignore the portion of your audience who aren’t your customer (or your second customer) and aren’t ever going to move a purchase forward.
The best way I know to do that is to keep your focus on your VEP — your values, expertise, and personality.
But that leaves a big chunk (maybe more like 75% than 95%) who will be ready to do something with you at some point. That’s your best audience, and the one you can serve with content.
If this idea interests you, here’s a summary of the original research: Advertising Effectiveness and the 95-5 Rule
Content for client attraction
Most of us know that content is important, but service providers often don’t make the time to actually do it. (Mainly because we’re busy with client work!)
Making the time is hard.
But you also need to write the right content in those windows of time you carve out.
Freelance writers often fall into writing work that interests other freelance writers, rather than potential clients.
What to do instead? Write about your particular professional approach and why it works.
Tell quick stories (these are actually case studies, and can be anonymized) demonstrating how your approach works in the real world.
This is the E in VEP — your individual expertise.
You don’t need to write thousands of client attraction articles.
Start with a solid 10-20, then keep them refreshed and relevant. And add more when you’ve got something important to say. (Your client work will tend to generate lots of ideas about what works — and, potentially, what doesn’t.)
Think about the content path that leads a new client to sign you on, and make sure you’re writing the content that keeps that path smooth and inviting.
By the way, one nice thing about client attraction content is it’s generally best to keep fairly short. The folks who are hiring freelancers aren’t spending hours every day reading blog content or LinkedIn posts.
Try to get in and get out, and link to something like a white paper if you want to get into more nitty gritty.
Portfolio blues
I liked this article from Ed Gandia, speaking to a question I get a ton from freelance writers:
What do I do when I can’t share my best writing samples?
This might be because they’re behind a paywall, because they’re no longer on the client’s site, or because they’ve been edited to the point where the writing isn’t good any more.
Ed walks you through simple suggestions in this post. When I do client work, these are part of my boilerplate agreement before I write a single word. As Ed says, even if your client has some concerns, they can generally be ironed out in a way that makes everyone happy.
What to do when your best samples are “gated”
New workshop is coming: Declunk your Website!
I’m preparing a new workshop for business and content writers, all about how to get your website populated with the right kind of content. The working title is Declunk Your Website.
We’ll be refreshing and improving your Work with Me and About pages, creating the kind of content that attracts clients, and putting together some compelling case studies. We’re even going to get into how to put your LinkedIn bio together. (How long have you been putting that off?)
And you’re going to be working live with me in a small-group setting, so you’ll actually get it done.
I’m still working on the timing, but make sure you’re on the email list if you want to get notified of when we get rolling.
That’s it for this week. May the Fierce be with you!
Sonia
