How to Answer the How

People search Google for two reasons: To answer a question or to solve a problem. This makes content marketing an excellent opportunity to attract customers and build trust than by educating them on how to solve pain points through their buyer’s journey.

Inbound marketing is about attracting the right customer and establishing a personal connection. In order to do that effectively, you have to move the conversation beyond what your company does and why you do what you do.

As you develop content to engage your client or customer at every stop along their journey you need to include educational content that answers how. In my last article, I highlighted ways to feature “how” content. Today we dive deeper and take a more in-depth approach.

Before we continue, let’s take a minute to explore Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle as it relates to content marketing. Simon Sinek introduced the Golden Circle in his Ted Talk “Start with Why.”

Sinek’s research revealed that successful marketers reverse the conversation from that of traditional sales and explain why they do what they do with intentionality first. And while it is great to have a starting place, there are two additional sections in the Golden Circle that are also important.

A balanced content calendar needs to include blog articles that answer “why” as well as content that answers “how” and “what” for your ideal persona. For most people the easiest blog content to write answers “why” or “what” questions, but to best serve the right people you need to consider how you will help them throughout their buyer’s journey, which includes continuing your relationship beyond an initial product purchase.

When implementing the golden circle with your content strategy it’s important to begin with your buyer’s persona. The success of any marketing campaign or strategy starts with your message. Your campaign success increases when a finely honed message reaches the right people. Developing a clear persona helps ensure you create content for your target audience. Creating personalized marketing helps you to better connect with your audience by educating them on ways to solve pain points.

Not sold on leveraging your sales utilizing content marketing? Consider these stats:

Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. (Demand Gen Report, 2014) (Source)
38% of salespeople struggle the most with prospecting. (HubSpot, 2017) (Source)
64% of ad blocker users do so because they believe ads are annoying or intrusive. (HubSpot, 2016) (Source)
419 million people worldwide have installed an ad blocker on their smartphone. (PageFair, 2015) (Source)

Companies who embrace the entire Golden Circle concept and personalize it for their product or services will extend their ideal buyer’s journey and continue to attract sales qualified leads.

You will increase your opportunities to be found organically via search when looking to find the answer to a question or solve a problem. Effectively leveraging your content marketing can save your salespeople time and increase their opportunities for closing sales.

Let’s break down how to implement the Golden Circle into your content calendar creation:

Why – Why do I do what I do?

Answer: Why did I choose this business? Why did you develop your product or service the way you did?

How – How can I best educate and help my readers?

Answer: What are your customer’s pain points? What challenges are you helping them overcome?

What – What am I offering?

Answer: What is my product or service? What are the features and benefits of it? What makes my product or service better than the competition?

Figuring Out the Pain Points

The best way to know which problems to prioritize writing content around is to research your persona. Check Quora and social media, do keyword research, and Google your niche and see what a query pulls up. All these individual actions will combine to give you a clear picture of your persona’s most pressing needs.

Once you know what the problem is you can create helpful content that speaks directly to your customer and corresponds with their current place in the buyer’s journey. The more often you do this, the deeper their trust in you grows. Additionally, you will be solidifying your position as an industry expert.

How Content

Remember, people search on Google to learn to solve problems and answer questions. How content for your industry will inform potential and current customers of your priorities and focus.

Here are some titles to springboard your content brainstorming:

10 ways to use your new purchase
How to maintain X
How to know when to upgrade
How to maximize a product purchase
X action steps to take today
You’ve bought a X…do this first
FAQ’s about a product
How to use X to save time and money

Not only do these subjects educate your customer on how great your product is, but you have the opportunity to help your customer integrate the product into several aspects of their life solidifying its value.