How To Convert Your Audience Into Buyers Using Content Marketing with Chris Marr

This week we have the amazing Chris Marr on the podcast. As an expert when it comes to becoming a ‘Wikipedia’ in your industry, Chris and I look at how to create content that leads people to buy. Although you may create content that is well-written or nice to look at, you need to think about how you’re going to use content to get people to buy into your product or service. Whilst we’ve spoken about this before, this episode goes much more into depth when it comes to creating valuable content. Grab a pen and a notepad, the episode is going to be filled with great snippets of information!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• Your customers and prospective buyers should determine the content that you create. Often, people create content for their peers instead, whereas, if you want to be an authority in your market is to create content that shows that you understand your customers.
• If you can serve your customers better, you will be seen as an expert in your industry.
• When creating your content, you need to think about how people go through the buying process. What problems do they have? What objections do they have? The content that answers this is the content that will perform well in terms of conversions.
• Buyers are doing research online before they make a buying decision so you need to step away and see the world as a consumer. On average, 77% of a buying decision is made online before a buyer contacts a company for the first time.
• The people that are vulnerable and honest in their industry effect their consumers in a positive way. If you’re not confident about your product and service, you’re going to hold back when it comes to creating content.
• If you’re worried about creating content in a different way to everyone in the industry then try to overthink it. You need to create content exactly how you want to. It will help you stand out!
• Although you should be keeping an eye on what your competition are doing, you need to have a unique approach to your content.
• Content is not about virality in your industry it is about your buyers making a buying decision. If one person has the ability to buy something and your content helps them make this decision, it is a success. Being famous to buyers is powerful.
• If your buyers have a question, it is your responsibility to answer it.
• There are 5 main topics that buyers want to have answers to when it comes to content. Those are price, cost, problems, reviews and comparisons and best of.
• You need to become the ‘Wikipedia’ of your industry. This means people use your website as an information resource to figure out what they want – whether they buy from you or not.
• By typing the questions you get from your buyers into Google and looking at the suggested searches, you will be able to get a snapshot of what your customers want to know. Once you’ve done this, you need to work out which questions have already been answered.
• You need to let go of the need to look smart.
• There are no secrets in any industry, so don’t worry about sharing them online. Let go of the need to control.
• It is not about being the first, it’s about who can do it better.

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…

Traffic to your website doesn’t necessarily mean leads. You need to differentiate between the two and ensure you’re writing content that leads to sales.

HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

• Introducing Chris Marr – 03:12
• What Should We Think About When Creating Content for Our Audience? – 06:06
• What Content Should I Be Producing? - 11:30
• Should You Post Controversial Content? – 16:00
• How to Stand Out and Be an Expert in Your Industry – 26:28
• How Do You Know How to Help Your Customers? – 34:46
• Should You Share Your Secrets? - 40:00
• Chris’ Top Tips – 47:50

Transcript below

Hello, and a super warm welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How has your week been? So this week, I am recording this episode from California. We're still here. We would have been well back but by the time this comes out but Phil, my lovely editor who's listening to this as I speak, he's going on holiday so we're just getting a little bit ahead and making sure that we batch this content so that it can be done before he goes. So it's a little early in the morning, and I have to say I had maybe one or two gin and tonics last night, so a little bit tired, but we're going to see how this goes. And thank goodness for you guys it's an interview, so you haven't got to listen to me go on the whole time.

So this week, I'm really excited to have Chris Marr on the podcast. Now I've seen Chris talk a number of times, but last year he keynoted MarketEd.Live, I was very lucky that I was able to keynote that event this year. But I saw him keynote MarketEd.Live last year and he said something that I have talked about over and over and over. And basically, he talked about being the Wikipedia of your industry. So whatever industry you're in, whatever your business is, that really people need to come to you because you're the expert. He gave a great example about how his wife actually runs another business and she did it with hers and it helped massively. So even though we've talked about content before and how important it is, he comes at it from two different angles; one talking about becoming the Wikipedia of your industry. But secondly, how do you create content that leads people to buy.

So you might create content that's nice for people to watch, or look at, or use, you might create content that is educational, or fun. But what are you actually doing to get them to physically buy your product or your service? So I really liked the conversation that we've had today, I really like what he talks about because this isn't something we've necessarily talked about. Well, we have talked about it before, but we haven't necessarily talked about it in this way before. So even if you've listened to lots of content episodes, I know we've talked about content before, he definitely puts a different spin on it and actually a really, really important spin. So I definitely want you to take a listen to this because it's going to be good.

So if you don't know Chris, he is a multi-award winning entrepreneur, and believes content marketing is the only way to set a business leaders free from a world of mediocre interruption marketing. He's also the founder and driving force behind CMA, the UK's largest membership organisation of its time. So I really think you're going to enjoy this one. So without further ado, here he is.

Introducing Chris Marr

I am super excited today to welcome the very smart and very lovely Chris Marr to the podcast. How are you doing, Chris?

I'm good. Thanks very much for having me along. I'm excited about this.

My pleasure. My pleasure. Now I've already said in the intro, that last year you were keynoting MarketEd.Live. And I've seen you speak before then. I'm sure I have. But last year really stood out, because you talked about content, and it literally blew my mind what you were saying and you came up with some great concepts. So to get you on to talk about this, I think it's going to be so much value to our audience. So just in case they haven't heard from you or they don't know who you are, can you just tell them who you are and how you got to do what you're doing now?

Well, my name's Chris Marr. I am based in Scotland in Dundee which is north of Edinburgh for those have never been before. And I work permanently from home full time. I run a small company called the Content Marketing Academy or CMA for short. And I've been running this company for about six or seven years now in various forms. We used to be an agency. We merged into a membership like that was 100% our focus and also consulting as well and obviously some speaking happens as well. So I spend most of my time working with our members, working with our clients. And I do most of that online. I've got a family just like you have, and some kids at home. Good to have the flexibility of the working lifestyle. So I pick up those kids from school and do all that kind of stuff. So I've got a fairly flexible working life and I enjoy what I do. It's great.

And content marketing is that the core of very much everything I do, whether we're talking about blogs, or videos, or websites, or anything type of content, there's a philosophy that we believe in. And that gets applied to everything that we do.

Yeah, no, I love it. And I love the fact as well that we are in a world now that we can work from home, we can balance that life a little bit better, and have those opportunities to do things like the school run and go to... not that I necessarily love going to the nativities, and the plays, and the things. But I can do if I want to and still do something we absolutely love and still help and teach and work with loads and loads of businesses. So I love the fact that we're in that position. And we were talking just before we got on this call about the fact of content marketing still seems to be an area where people really struggle. They really struggle to come up with that consistent content through maybe blogs and podcasts and vlogs, but then also they struggle to put content on social media. So in terms of content what do you think determines what we should create when we're thinking about content for our marketing in general?

What Should We Think About When Creating Content for Our Audience?

People do struggle with it. And I think, we'll cover off some of that, I think as we get into this conversation. But the reason we asked this question of what determines the content we create? The reason I asked the question is because I think, we need to be clear about this. And I think, it's obvious probably for a lot of people listening, they're probably thinking, "Well, it's our customers that determine the content that we create, or our prospective buyers that determine the content that we should create." And we see it, but then when we look at your content, are we truly showing it? And oftentimes... and this is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes and errors that I see that really it does irritate me a little bit is when I see people creating content for their peers. I think, we slip into this way of thinking when we're trying to look like experts actually.

Everyone wants to be the authority in their marketplace or be seen as the expert in their marketplace. And the way they think they should do that is they create this content that shows them to be experts. But what they're doing is they're trying to look good or look like experts in terms of their peer network. Which is nothing wrong with that, except it doesn't help your customers to make a buying decision. And if we're not helping our prospective buyers to make buying decisions, then what are we doing? We're going to be famous in our industry, but we don't have any customers. So it's kind of we're trying to get that balance. And the reason that we want to have conversations about this subject in general, is to help people understand that if you can serve your customers better, then you will be seen as an expert in your industry, you will get that recognition you're looking for. But that foundation work has to happen first, that we have to serve our customers first and that's what we get recognised for.

And you know what? That's so interesting, because one thing I always think about is... don't get me wrong, it's so lovely to be recognised in your industry. And I think, we're in an industry where it's very visual, there's lots of events out there and it's nice to be picked to be told that yes, you are an expert in the industry. However, when I've not been picked for something, or when I've gone for something, and I've not been chosen, and I'm thinking, "I'm not being seen. I'm not this," they're not the ones buying my stuff. They're not my customers. They're not the people who are going to join the membership. They're not the people who are going to want consultancy. So actually, am I doing it for me, or am I doing it for my ego? I'm certainly not doing it for the customers. So I find that fascinating.

So it's a balance, like everything. And I think we're all battling with our egos. Everyone has this battle. Some are better at winning over the ego than others. And I think, it's just important that you have that conversation with yourself and just make sure that you know why you're doing everything. So it's okay to do it I think, as long as you're honest with yourself about why you're doing it.

Absolutely. And be realistic about what that's going to get you. It is going to get you seen, it is going to get you put in front of other audiences, which is fine. But what's your ultimate goal at the end of the day? And especially when you're putting content out there it's lovely for other people to go, "Gosh, how smart is that? And how brilliant is that person?" But actually I've got people in the membership and I'm sure you have too that literally, we're starting right at the ground building up. And they don't want to hear what carpet bombing is, or some kind of crazy lead magnet funnel or whatever. They literally want me to go, "Okay, should you do it Pinterest? Or should you do Instagram?" Or, "How do you set up an account?" And that's the thing. So if they're the people who're going to be paying you, and you want to do that work then you've got to put content out for those people, haven't you?

I think that when we talk about our buyers, it doesn't matter what type of company you are, whether you're a B2C company or a B2B company or if you're a startup, a small company, a big company this goes across the board, is that when we're thinking from a marketing perspective, the biggest advantage you're going to give yourself is by seeing the world from the buyer's perspective. It sounds simple again, but it's a real challenge for a lot of marketers to move themselves into seeing the world from the buyer's perspective. And try to think to themselves, "How does someone actually move through the buying process here? How does someone make a buying decision? What frustrations do they have? What are stories that they are telling themselves about our industry? What bad experiences have they had? What bad experiences have their friends had? What objections do they have?"

And the content that we at CMA that we teach is that type of content, is helping people to create content that helps their prospective buyers to make an educated, and confident buying decision. And that content is oftentimes is not the content that we see companies creating. They might be getting click throughs, they might be getting traffic, they might be getting likes and comments and all that kind of stuff, but what they're not seeing is that conversion. They might say something like, "We're getting lots of traffic to our website. But for some reason we're not getting any leads." And it's like, it's because your content is interesting. It's perhaps valuable to a certain degree. It could be educational, but it's not really dealing with the buying process. It's not helping someone make an educated buying decision. And that's what content marketing is truly all about from my perspective is helping your buyers to spend money with you. But how do you get them to make that decision?

What Content Should I Be Producing?

Absolutely. So have you got some examples where... because someone might be sat listening to this thinking, "That's cool. I need to do that type of content. But what is that type of content? What am I putting out there? What sort of things do I need to be saying?" So have you got an example or couple of examples of what that might be?

Well, the first thing is, is that we have to... the [inaudible 00:11:47] anybody can make is by accepting that we're all consumers. So the first thing is, is to be much more self-aware of your own buying behaviour. So when was the last time you bought something? You maybe bought something online, maybe it was a holiday, a sofa, a new home, I don't know, whatever it, it could have been a tripod for a camera, it could have been salt or a moisturising cream. Just think back to that whole process that you went through. All the research you did, the reviews you looked at, the blogs you were reading, the comparisons you were making. Every single consumer, every type of buyer is doing all this research online before they make a buying decision.

So in some ways when you step away from the business perspective, or you step away from the marketing perspective and start to see the world as a consumer, you start to realise that there's this process that every single buyer goes through. It might not be linear, and it might not be straightforward, and it may even be quite complex, but there is this research is happening in every single industry. People call it the zero moment of truth. And what they found was in their report is that on average, 70% of the buying decision is made online before a buyer contacts a company for the first time. So on average, 70% of the buying decision is made online before a buyer contacts a company for the first time. And the people that are listening to this their industry it may be higher or lower, but it's the principle that matters here. It's the fact that people are able to now before they contact the company, do all the research online, before they contact you.

You have to ask yourself, "Why do we do that?" We don't want to have that negotiation. And we can, we don't have to do that anymore. We feel like we're in control, as consumers we have the control to decide what we want, when we want it. And we don't have to make bad buying decisions anymore. We've got all the information right there at our fingertips to make that decision. So that's the first thing I think, is to be just more self-aware of your own buying journey that you take for everything that you buy. And then think to yourself, if you bring the business perspective back and think about it from your company perspective, "Are we creating the type of content that's truly going to help one of our buyers that's never heard of us before, to not only find us, but to then use our content on our website, whether it be blogs or videos or whatever it may be, to actually help them move through the process so they feel confident, so they feel educated, so that they feel like they trust us and want to contact us for the first time. Because if we're not doing that, if we're not creating that content, then we don't exist to them. Because the information that they find won't be from us, it will be from someone else, probably your competition."

So this exists in every industry, the zero moment of truth. And it's really up to us as marketers and as business owners to understand how to win that zero moment of truth to create the content that helps our buyers to move through that process.

And that's so fascinating, because when I think back to the content that you're producing often I think people try and avoid some of the more not direct selling because it's not direct selling. It is having confidence. It is things like the reviews, and testimonials, and case studies, and all that kind of content that's helping you make that buying decision. Like you said, if I'm going to buy something online, that is some stuff I barely even pay attention to because the cost is so low that I don't mind taking the risk. But other things like you said, you will go and...