As the saying (or misquote from Field of Dreams) goes, “If you build it, they will come.” You have big dreams of making the world better, and chances are, there are people out there who share the same dreams and values.
Connecting with people to grow a value-aligned following can result in positive benefits for your organization in the long-term. Not saying that short-term wins aren’t important, but focusing on them exclusively, is, well, a little short-sighted. Here’s why and how you should lead with your values in content marketing.
Why You Should Lead with Your Values in Content Marketing
1. Grow Your Community
By leading with your values, you humanize your organization, which makes it easy for people who share those same values to naturally gravitate towards your brand. This community is not only a place for relationship building and education around your important work, it’s also an invaluable source of feedback on how your organization is doing.
Plus, these followers represent a crucial part of your customer base. 90% of people buy from brands they follow on social media, according to a Sprout Social survey. The bigger your community, the more potential customers you have.
2. Maintain a Loyal Customer Base
When people like what you do and connect to it, they tend to stick around. And not only do they stick around, but they may become your biggest fans and cheerleaders. They’ll likely recommend you to your friends, write positive reviews, and continue to make purchases.
Loyal customers are the right people to have on your side, considering customers trust family and friends’ opinions the most before making a purchase. That’s pretty powerful stuff.
3. Improve Your Bottom Line
If you’ve read point #1 and #2, this point should come as no surprise. Leading with your values means growing a loyal following, which leads to growing a loyal customer base, which leads to word of mouth spreading to even more future fans and customers.
It’s also important to remember that the product or service you offer makes the world better. Not only does leading with your values help your bottom line and keep your organization growing, it also helps you achieve your environmental and social goals, because more people are making the better choice by interacting with your brand.
How to Lead with Your Values in Content Marketing
1. Prepare Value-Driven Content for Each Phase of the Marketing Journey
In case you weren’t aware or hadn’t considered how prospective customers become loyal fans, we’re here to convert you to using the customer journey in your content marketing efforts (wink). If you don’t have a marketing strategy, now is a good time to make one. And don’t worry, your marketing efforts don’t have to break the bank, there are plenty of ways to up your marketing game on a budget.
Here are the four stages of the customer journey to keep in mind when creating marketing content:
- Awareness – Like it says on the tin, this is the stage where you’re building awareness of your organization among prospective customers. Content marketing at this stage should be educational and start with why you do what you do.
This can include revamping your “About” page, informative infographics, or educational videos that communicate your values and how you’re making the world better. If you’re unsure how to communicate your values, check out our blog. What’s important here is to be genuine, prove your value, and show that you offer a solution.
- Consideration – Now that your followers know what you do (and why), they may reach the point where they’re considering your product or service. At this stage, you’ll want to stand out from competitors. While you no longer have to focus quite so much on educating customers, it’s important to move customers closer to a decision while not pushing too hard. You can build trust by creating content that positions you as an expert in the space, such as case studies and FAQs.
- Conversion – This stage is where your customers are ready to make a purchase – you just may need to edge them along. Your content marketing here should remind them why your product or service is the more ethical and sustainable choice, and what differentiates your company from any competitors.
- Loyalty – As mentioned in the first part of this blog, leading with your values is a great way to build customer loyalty. Continuing to create share-worthy content about the amazing work you’re doing enables your customers and fans to share your content and amplify your good work, getting more people into your customer funnel at the awareness stage.
2. Lean on Your Customers and Community
Remember your growing community? They’re also an invaluable source of impactful content ideas. Your community can tell you exactly what kind of content is important to them. Are they sharing an important cause? Using a specific hashtag? See if there are any aligned passions that make sense for your organization to get involved with. For example, Lyft Toronto acknowledges the pride of the LGBTQ2SAI+ community in the city and actively gets involved in the city’s pride events every year.
Get in Touch
At Sparx, our mission is to create content to make the world better.
If you need help securing your website, creating great content, building experiences to delight your customers, marketing your business, or you simply have questions, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. You can reach us here.
