Think about the time where you became best friends with someone. What was the journey like that led you to the point where you could just look at that individual with all the confidence in the world and know without a shadow of doubt that you could trust them with anything?

Business owners provide products and services that they have slaved tirelessly over for years. They know their products and services inside and out. There is a lot of trust involved when a third party content marketing team is utilized.

Don’t Be a Fake Friend

First off, nobody likes a fake friend. When they’re not ignoring your texts and calls, they’re usually canceling the plans you made with them last minute and wasting your time. In business, fake friends don’t last. Content marketing teams with the “fake friend” mindset go nowhere fast and lose clients faster.

In digital marketing, a fake friend isn’t truly interested in what the client has to say or offer. To them, they’re just another name on the list of clients. These fake friends carry the lethargic mindset of, “What do I have to do for the client this time?”  That makes it nearly impossible to create effective content.

The best friendships are founded upon trust, love, and support. Best friends understand, listen, and accept each other. In digital marketing, these are the content teams that are willing to do anything to bring their clients success.

Understand Your Client

When money is on the table, there’s no time for fake friends. Being a good friend means creating effective content that converts and produces sales-ready leads. In order to do this, you have to take time to know your clients. This doesn’t mean a brief run down summary of their company. For content to be truly successful, you have to know the products and services of that company like the back of your hand . . . nay . . . you have to know them more than they know themselves. Here are just a few tips:

• Research the industry
• Visit their website
• Request a demo
• Have the client fill out a questionnaire to gather pertinent data

Understand Their Buyer Persona

Knowing the client and what they have to offer is still not enough. You have to know their buyer persona too. If you’re just creating content that you “think” might be good for the buyer persona without really understanding the buyer persona and what they specifically want, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to optimize conversions. Listen to you client and their buyer personas. Ponder these questions concerning buyer personas when creating content:

• What are their interests?
• What are they specifically looking for?
• How can you give that to them?

Give the People What They Want

Businesses and consumers are looking for something specific. Knowing what that is will give you the key to the city of conversions. Turning that key will unlock a treasure trove of sales ready leads for your client. This will show that you’ve put in the work to understand the client, their buyer persona, and how to give that persona what they want. Your client will trust you because they will know that you were genuine in your marketing approach. Businesses all over the world are looking for this kind of reliability.

Don’t lose clients with the “fake friend” mindset. Stop making guesses when creating content. Get to know your client and their buyer persona. Give the people what they want! With the “best friend” mindset, that level of devotion will be reciprocated and retention and referrals will become organic.

Much success,

Looking for more great reads? Check out these related articles:

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• B2b Marketing; Focus on One-on-ONe Customer Relationships
• How to Tell Your Client “No” Without Actually Saying “No”
• How to Convert an MQL to an SQL
• Understanding the Difference Between Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) and Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
• The Digital Marketing Benefits of Media Outreach