Many businesses are so focused on gaining new customers, that they sometimes forget about the ones they already have. Your loyal customer base is one of the most valuable resources you have. Show your customers you still appreciate them with valuable content. Content marketing for brand loyalty is a great way to invest in your customers.
Research from the Harvard Business Review shows that a 5% increase in customer retention leads to a 25% to 95% increase in profits. With statistics like this, it just makes sense to use content marketing to build your brand loyalty.
If you’re wondering how to use content to connect with your customers, we will show you how. In this guide, we will explore why content marketing is so important and offer 10 tips you can use to improve your content marketing strategy.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is marketing focused on creating and publishing valuable content (blogs, videos, social media posts, infographics, etc.) relevant to your brand and your customers’ experiences. This content is created for and targeted toward a specific audience with the goal of attracting new customers, retaining existing ones, and building brand recognition.
One of the most important keys to a successful content marketing strategy is creating content that your target audience wants to read, watch, and share. Ideally, your content should add value to your products, entertain your audience, and keep your customers engaged with your brand.
How Content Marketing Builds Brand Loyalty
Your existing customers likely already enjoy using your products and services. Marketing statistics show that current customers are 50% more likely to try new products than new customers. With content marketing aimed at your current customers, you can introduce them to new products while getting a better return on your investment.
Loyal customers want to read and watch the content you produce. These interactions create a strong bond between your business and your customer base. This, in turn, leads to a better bottom line.
10 Tips to Use Content Marketing for Brand Loyalty
There are numerous ways you can communicate with your customers through content. These are 10 of our favorite tips to build brand loyalty.
1. Connect with Your Customers on Social Media
According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans use one or more social media platforms to connect with the people and things they love, including businesses. Focus on a couple of the most popular social media platforms based on your customer demographics. For example, if most of your customers are young Millennials or Gen-Zers, you should probably open a Tik Tok account. Or, if your audience tends to be a bit older, you will likely find them on Facebook.
Social media content should be eye-catching and engaging. Check out the latest trends to see if they will work for your brand image. Social media is also an excellent place to share your latest content from other platforms, like your blog or YouTube. You can break down long-form content into shorter, more digestible segments better suited for social media.
2. Create an Automated Customer Communication System
Whether your customers are contacting you or you are reaching out to them, you should have regular communication. Use a customer management system (CMS) to keep track of your interactions. If too much time has passed after the last communication, program your system to automatically reach out to your customers with a pre-written email (this counts as content). It could say something like, “We miss you! Come check out our latest products with 10% off your purchase.”
A message like this shows your customers you still care about them, and a discount may entice them to make a new purchase.
3. Produce Regular, High-Quality Content
Producing as much content as possible is not the key to success. You need to focus on high-quality content, especially content that appears on your website and blog. Search engines like Google, along with your customers, can tell the difference between high-quality content and something that adds little to no value to your website.
The more value you offer your customers, the more likely they are to come back for more. In addition, create content in a variety of formats:
- Blogs
- Product demos
- Videos
- Podcasts
- FAQs
- How-to guides
- Onboarding materials
- Infographics
If this many formats feel overwhelming, keep in mind that you should repurpose your content. For example, if a blog includes numerous tips and statistics, this could be reworked as an infographic. Or, you can create a YouTube series where one of your product experts works through your FAQs in a visual format. Some customers will prefer learning through video instead of text.
High-quality content also works best when you have a plan. Have regular brainstorming sessions with your marketing team to create a list of upcoming content ideas along with a content schedule.
If your business struggles with creating the caliber of content you need, outsourcing your content is always a respectable choice. This gives you access to experienced, professional writers who understand SEO and other content marketing principles.
4. Look at the Customer Journey
Ideally, you should have content that addresses every stage of the customer journey. The typical stages of the customer journey include:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Service
- Loyalty
Offering valuable content at each step reduces the effort your customers must put in to interact with you. When customers find it easy to do business with you, they are more likely to come back and spend more.
5. Show Customer Appreciation from the Beginning
Earning a new customer is a critical stage in the buyer’s journey. Show your excitement and appreciation for them from the start with engaging onboarding materials. This should include a welcome email and some basic instructions on how to use the new products or services they just bought. You can also include links to how-to videos or introduction blogs.
Keep these customers engaged with regular communication that gradually introduces them to new features and products. The onboarding process lays the foundation for the relationship you have with your customers and establishes a baseline for what they can expect from you in the future.
If you create a welcoming environment for your new customers that keeps them informed, they are more likely to continue doing business with you and share their experience with others.
6. Stay Focused on Your Customers
While there will be times when you can appropriately brag about your business’s accomplishments, most of your content should be focused on your customers. Your customers should be showcased as the superhero of your brand.
This type of content can help foster a genuine emotional connection between your business and your customers. Those emotions encourage brand loyalty and improve your reputation. In addition, Google has updated its algorithms to prioritize “people-first content.” This is content written by people for people. In other words, quality content that your customers can easily relate to and understand.
7. Address Customer Issues
Your customers are inevitably going to struggle with your products or services. Instead of chafing at their complaints, welcome them as opportunities to improve your products and your content. Some customer issues may be as simple as not understanding how your products work. You can address those problems with in-depth user guides, demonstration videos, and FAQ pages.
Another way to add more value to your products and introduce customer-submitted content is with customer testimonials, product reviews, or user-submitted photos and videos of your products. This type of content is incredibly valuable and establishes your brand as an authority.
8. Highlight Your Loyal Customers
Customers want to have a personalized experience with your brand. If there are customers who stand out for their dedication to and support of your brand, give them some recognition with some personalized content. This is particularly valuable if you are a B2B business.
You can highlight how your customers use your products and services and how your products help them solve their problems. If you have a customer committee, showcase that program and how those customers are crucial to improving your products and services. Content like this can encourage other customers to stick with your brand if they have feedback they want to share.
Other ways to offer customer-centric content include:
- Social Media Posts: A simple tag in a social media post can make your customers feel respected and valued.
- Customer Forums: A customer forum is an excellent place for loyal customers to share feedback and tips with each other.
- Guest Customer Posts: You can stay connected with your customers by inviting your most loyal fans to write guest blogs or testimonials to post on your website.
9. Incorporate Humor
The right kind of humor can quickly win over a difficult crowd. Incorporating humor into your content is an excellent strategy to make your content more engaging and share-worthy. Humor triggers an emotional response, which makes content more appealing and memorable automatically.
However, before you hire a comedian to start writing all your content, there are a few things to consider:
- Consider the use: Humor is not a good choice for all types of content. For example, you probably shouldn’t use it in a report to your CEO, but it would fit nicely in some blogs or social media posts.
- Vet the humor thoroughly: What some people find funny, others find distasteful or even offensive. While you can’t please everyone, thoroughly check your humorous content so you can avoid an online faux pas.
- Make it genuine: Don’t use humor simply to get attention. Most customers will be able to tell when it isn’t genuine. It should also be the right fit for your brand. If your brand voice is typically serious and straightforward, some of your customers might be turned off by a sudden shift to humor.
- Think about the timing: There will be times when you have clever, humorous content planned, but you need to scrap it. For example, if your business is suffering through a PR issue or there has been a local or national disaster, humorous content will likely be seen as distasteful and could cause some customers to leave.
10. Respond to the Needs of Your Customers
While you have an excellent understanding of your products and services, your customers are the people using them every day. Are they running into the issues over and over or finding your products difficult to use? If so, they have likely shared these concerns with your customer service team. Make sure you interview your customer service representatives or give them an easy way to share customer feedback with your content team.
You can use this customer feedback to craft content that addresses those needs. For example, if customers routinely use your product incorrectly, record a video showing its correct usage.
Or, if customer feedback leads to product updates, be sure to share those updates with your customers, pointing out how their valuable feedback led to the changes.
11. Create a Customer Email Newsletter
A regular customer email newsletter can help keep your brand at the front of your customers’ minds. Choose content that you know your customers love. Depending on your customer base, it might be valuable to create multiple newsletters based on your customer segmentation. Certain customers might favor one type of content over another and vice versa.
Consider the goals you want to achieve with your newsletter. Do you want to drive traffic to your blog? Invite customers to check out your latest products? Whatever you decide, make it clear with your newsletter content.
To avoid having your newsletter turn into promotional material, include exclusive content, like tips you haven’t shared before or a message from one of your internal product experts.
You also need to consider the timing of your newsletter. How often do you plan to send it out? Weekly? Monthly? Find a routine that works for your brand and stick with it. The day of the week and time of day you release it can also make a difference.
Many people feel overwhelmed by all the emails in their inbox on a Monday or feel burnt out by Friday. Research from HubSpot shows that mid-week emails sent between 9 AM and noon tend to get the best engagement.
Build Your Brand Loyalty with Quality Content from Express Writers
If your team struggles to produce enough or the right types of content, it might be time to turn to the experts. At Express Writers, we have a team of professional SEO content writers ready to take on your specific content requirements. Whether you need a one-time blog, email marketing templates, or content delivered on a schedule, we are here to meet your needs.
To learn more about our available content packages, contact Express Writers today.
