Do you want to grow your business and make more money? Are you interested in using great content to do so in the form of inbound marketing?

Like any entrepreneur, you can’t survive on current customers alone out of fear that they may move on to another service provider or simply get tired of your sales pitch.

Attracting Attention Using Inbound Marketing

One of the best ways to create attention around your brand is to talk about it — a lot.

That kind of conversation is called content marketing, otherwise known as inbound marketing because it helps attract customers to your business.

It’s definitely something that Google loves, provided of course that you integrate the proper SEO marketing techniques along with it.

It includes everything from blogs to videos, podcasts, how-to guides, White Papers, online courses, and more, all with the goal of sharing them on your social media channels.

Of course, everyone has a sweet spot, and you should choose which inbound marketing strategy that suits you and your brand and concentrate on that particular medium.

Consistency is key, however. Gary Vaynerchuk, the entrepreneur turned social media sensation who grew his father’s liquor store business into a multimillion-dollar entity and then later established a large advertising agency, says that we must continually work to get it right.

“You have to do, then react, then revise, then win,” he tells us.

Patience is also required. In a Forbes interview last year, he recalled the first type of content marketing he embarked on, a series of YouTube videos promoting Wine Library.

In the beginning, his fan base was small, but over time and many videos later, it grew.

“I think people underestimate those small wins,” he said. “They’re so focused on getting to a million views, or a million followers, that they forget about how special it is to have 500 followers.”

Providing Value All the Time

While every business craves a substantial following on social media and a devoted email subscriber base, a lot of those results won’t happen unless your content is created with value in mind.

When creating your inbound marketing content, you should think of it as sharing something that is so great that you become the most credible source in your industry.

If you believe that today’s consumers are close to buying a product or a service online, then you’ll also realize that producing good content consistently will help get them to the end of that journey.

The more content that you provide, the fewer questions they may have before purchasing.

So, how do you create content consistently that can satisfy the above and continually increase awareness of your brand?

The How-to of Creating Amazing Content

Before writing a single piece of content, you must know who you are writing for. Think about your prospective customers’ problems and cater your blog posts to them.

Try creating a buyer persona to help you more accurately pinpoint your ideal customer, then write great content to interest them.

Say you’re an acupuncturist and you are interested in targeting prospective customers who you believe are suffering from chronic neck pain because they are sitting all day at their computers.

You could create a blog post titled, “10 Ways to Feel Better After a Long Day at the Office,” suggesting ways to promote good posture, less eye strain and more.

Or, if you wanted to promote a webinar or SlideShare presentation, for example, you could do so by offering information under the title, “How a 30-Minute Acupuncture Treatment Could Change Your Life.”

The webinar or presentation would be free of course but would naturally arouse interest in your services.

When thinking about blog posts, try listicles, i.e. information offered in the form of numbered or bulleted lists. These kinds of posts almost always appeal to people because the information is delivered in a snappy, easy-to-read format.

BuzzFeed is a good example of a content generating platform that knows how to create such posts.

Another way to ensure that your content is taken seriously and will actually help sell your products or services is to provide proof that the advice you are preaching actually works.

How about including a success story, a case study or a testimonial as a way of bolstering your credibility?

Another way to convince the reader that you mean what you say is through storytelling. A compelling story is one surefire way to create an instant bond between you and the person reading your post.

Take a look at this great example from Warby Parker, the maker of affordable eyewear:

While most small businesses are unable to make a video as slick as this one, there are some lessons to be learned.

Try telling stories that don’t just focus on the product and the service that you provide, but on the values behind it. That way, you’ll come off more genuine and convincing to your audience.

Next, you want to convince your reader by laying out all the details of your product or service and how it can benefit him or her.

Using the example above, how can twice-weekly acupuncture sessions truly deliver a benefit for someone in chronic pain? Compared to prescription drugs, there are no side-effects, only the feeling of relaxation during an acupuncture treatment and less pain as more and more treatments are applied.

You may not want to bring on the hard sell just yet, but maybe offer a lead generation strategy in the form of a free report or a deep discount to bring the prospective customer to the end of the sales journey.

If, after reading your well-written report, they are confident that you can indeed get rid of their pain, then the next step for them should be to make an appointment.

Even if it doesn’t happen right away, don’t give up. Keep in mind that well-written content can inspire action if done on a consistent basis.

If you’re looking to bring more customers to your business, how about putting a content marketing strategy in place? Let me know if you need some ideas, and if interested, sign up for my regular e-newsletter below.