John Hayes posted on September 13, 2011 |
There’s an element of magic to creating a content stream that matters your industrial audience. Done well, this content stream can set your company apart as the thought leader in the industry – the source your prospects turn to for the information they need.
This post is about creating the Twist, the intersection between what your product does and what your customers care about. This article is part of a series titled TACTIC - 6 steps to creating great engineering marketing content. TACTIC is an acronym for the 6 steps. The Twist is the second “T” in TACTIC.
In previous posts we talked about defining your Target Audience and researching what they Care about. The Twist is a brainstorming exercise where you seek to match the benefits of your product to the needs of your audience.
As a starting point, we find it’s easier to start with what the prospects care about before seeking the match to your product. When in doubt, simply interviewing a number of your customers and asking them about challenges in their jobs can yield a high quality content stream. Your prospects will enjoy stories about other technical people who are doing the same job as them, and learning how to do their own jobs differently or better.
At first you may not find a direct link to your product in every interview. That shouldn’t stop you from creating content for your audience. Once you have an audience of prospects willingly listening to your content, you will have an opportunity to link your product to it.
One of the requirements of this kind of marketing is that the product connections fit naturally into the stories you are telling. If you are shilling or selling you can quickly alienate your audience. Here are a few examples of content streams that we’ve created in 2011.
Example 1 Product = Documentation software
Target – Engineers in small manufacturing companies
Action – Download trial versions or instruction sets
Care – Engineers like to build their own fun projects
Twist – Show how to build fun projects, like a hovercraft made with a leaf-blower. Give away free instruction sets. [Some Assembly Required].
Example 2 Product = Sustainable design consulting services
Target – Engineering influencers in building projects
Action – Build awareness for the consulting engineering firm
Care – Designing sustainable buildings
Twist – Share technical information in an engaging way [2 R’s won’t make your U]
Example 3 Product = Design software
Target – Design engineers
Action – Look at some software
Care – How other designers solve design problems
Twist – Interview customers and share their stories with other designers [Product Design Show]. Mention that product designs were done with certain design software.
If you are looking for help in creating a content stream that appeals to industrial buyers and engineers, shoot me a note at jhayes@engineering.com