Four Ways To Improve Your Content Marketing ROI

Following are four ways that your business can drive up your content marketing ROI:

1. Put Some Heart Into It

Your business is a business but your customers are, well, people. And…they want to know that you are, too. Content that is “nothing but the facts, Jack” can be off-putting to audiences. Today’s customers crave more personalized service and attention—and, yes—content.

Make sure your content delivers important information without reading like a reference book from the local library. One of the best ways to do this is to think about writing to “a person” not “a customer”. That subtle difference helps human-ness to come through in your content.

2. Get People Involved

Imagine going to an all-day seminar where there was only one presenter who did nothing but talk at you continuously. No questions to or from the audience, no opportunity for you to interact with other attendees. Nothing but blah blah blah coming at you for hours on end. Even if you were passionately interested in the topic, you would tune out. That’s what happens to your readers when too much of your content is one-way.

Good content marketing campaigns engage readers outside of their minds alone. Developing quizzes, giving them links to click and soliciting their feedback are some ways that you can make the experience more interactive—and keep people engaged.

3. Publish Wisely

The best content can do nothing for you if people don’t read it. Make sure you select your publishing vehicle and location appropriately to ensure it is found—and read. Part of your effort here will be creating content that stands apart from other pieces on the same topic. Remember that your information not only needs to be good in and of itself but it needs to rise above the surrounding noise and be noticed.

4. Stop Selling

There’s a time and a place for everything, including selling. That time or place, however, is not in every single piece of content you create. While certainly there are some places it makes sense, you must pick and choose wisely. Overly branding all of your content makes people feel beaten over the head—and sends them running. Instead of the hard sell, let your content speak for itself—and for you.

At the heart of all of these tips is the focus on being natural. Write more like you speak. Consider people, not audiences or customers. Offer useful information, not hard-hitting sales pitches. Be true to who you are and trust that it will be seen.

Let these fundamentals ground your professional content writing and you will see a difference in the tone, quality and style of your material. Executed properly, your results will also change—for the better.