5 Ways to Be a Content Marketing Hero

5 minute read

Upland Admin

When everyone is inundated with nearly obscene amounts of content across every conceivable digital channel, how do you create content that’s going to stand out and grab the attention of your future customer?

By being a content hero, creating content that moves, solves problems, and incites action.

In the dizzying world of content marketing, being heroic has never been as relevant and important as it is now.

What Kind of Hero?

To be clear, I’m not thinking of the mighty, superhuman Superman or referring to the hero sandwich, quite obviously. I’m picturing a more everyday superhero, like Spiderman: a regular-guy-turned-hero, if you will.

I’m no Spiderman, although I do spin webs of content and hope they’re sticky. I’m no Superman either, even though I try to stop the speeding train of the information superhighway long enough to get someone’s attention. But I think we all have the ability to demonstrate at least some of the everyday hero’s qualities in our roles as content heroes.

The goal of being a content hero is to delight your prospects by providing what they really want

The goal of being a content hero is to delight your prospects by providing what they really want, and to be a hero to your salespeople for using content strategically and setting them up to seal the deal.

 

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How Can I Become a Content Hero?

You might not be able to fly, spin webs, or teleport yourself (yet), but you can learn to be someone’s hero as you create content across the entire customer journey.

Like all heroes, you must take some risks and be ready to lead, and, hopefully, become legendary.

From attracting and nurturing leads to closing the deal and inspiring brand advocates, here are five ways you can become a content hero.

1. Make It Entertaining and Memorable

During the first phase of the buyer’s journey, your content needs to be bold. It should surprise, dazzle, and gain attention.

I don’t know about you, but I am innately drawn to—and will stick around for—content that makes me laugh, cry, and perhaps even wince.

Whether it’s funny or beautiful, scary or edgy, you need to distinguish your content from the pack to catch the attention of—and inspire engagement from—your prospects.

Be bold and brave; create content that is so special that your prospects can’t wait to learn more about you by engaging further, or, even better, sharing your content with their circles of influence.

2. Make It Enticing

Once you’ve attracted your prospects, you need to design content and/or offers that are so irresistible, so intriguing, that they can’t help but want to give you their information (by way of a form) to get what you’re offering.

With their data in hand, you are now on your way to delivering the education and information they crave, becoming their new hero!

3. Make It Informative and Relevant

Like any hero, your content has a vital job to do. It needs to be an educational resource, providing timely and relevant value to your target audience. It needs to make your brand look spiffy, smart, and trustworthy. And ultimately, it must capture quality leads for your sales team.

Imagine if Spiderman always showed up late, in droopy tights, and to the wrong location:

  1. He helps no one.
  2. He would not solve any problems.
  3. He would definitely not be a respected hero.

Mission not accomplished.

To be a content hero and capture your prospects, you need to deliver the right information at the right time, through the correct channels, to the people who need it.

To be a content hero and capture your prospects, you need to deliver the right information at the right time.

If you don’t do this, your buyers are going to look elsewhere to solve their problems or get their answers. That’s an open invitation for your competitors to become the content heroes. Don’t let that happen!

4. Make It Personal

Heroes are idolized because they make people feel important, supported, and valued. Don’t you want your potential customers feel the same?

Nobody wants to feel like just one of the pack, so create content that addresses your prospects’ specific needs or solves a particular problem.

Sending personalized, targeted email campaigns to specific people at specific times can accomplish this goal. It will move you closer to hero status, first in the eyes of your prospect, then in the fond regard of the sales reps who will get better qualified leads as your prospects interact with your inspired, custom-made, personalized, irresistible content.

5. Make It Last

The savvy content marketer understands that the buyer’s journey doesn’t end after the sale.

This is where the content hero sets him/herself apart from the crowd, making the customer continue to feel important, special, and valued long into the future.

If this stage is handled with as much care and respect as all the others that precede it, your customers will hopefully shout your glory from the rooftops for all the world to hear.

Okay, that last part might be a tad dramatic, but the goal here is that the hero—your brand—will be valued, cherished, admired . . . and remembered. Make your customers and clients fans for life by continuing to nurture that relationship.

Ready? Go forth and be heroic, to the delight of your potential customers, your company’s key stakeholders, and your newly lead-rich sales teams!

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