Category: content ideas

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How can your marketing look after your existing customers?

Image shows a guest guidebook, which is one way of creating marketing to look after your existing customers.

You know that good customer service is vital to your business. You might think that marketing is all about bringing in new people, but it can also look after your existing customers.

It’s about going above and beyond basic information, like your delivery updates, booking confirmations and contact details. Here are my favourite ways to use your content marketing to look after your existing customers.

Product tips and tricks

Showing customers how to get the best out of a product they’ve already bought shows them you’re interested in more than their money. You want them to get the best results. Instructions on product use are essential, but you can enrich the experience with advanced tips or alternative uses. This could help you attract new customers and support existing ones with the same content.

Sudocrem did this in a recent advert. It’s famous as a nappy cream, but they showed how it can be used on injuries or for skin conditions.

Getting ready

Sometimes, the best way to support your customers is to help them prepare in advance. If they’ve booked a beauty treatment, you should provide safety information, but you can also offer advice on how to make their spray tan last longer or maintain their hair between appointments.

Holiday packing lists can reduce their stress, or if you sell meal kits, you could let them know what kitchen equipment they’ll need. You can use all of these as blog posts to give your audience a taste of the customer experience you offer. It’s even better if you recommend things you don’t sell, as it shows you’re not just looking to make another sale.

Destination guides

I love planning holidays and looking for fun things to do while I’m away with my family. We’ve had some holidays with Eurocamp over the past few years, and they send destination guides via email. Eurocamp design the guides for their customers, so they include details of the facilities and activities on site. However, they also tell you about other things to do in the area, how far away they are and what age group they suit. If I’d written something like this I’d put it on the website too, to attract people who haven’t chosen their destination yet.

I used to write blogs for a holiday park, where customers owned their static caravans. We got great feedback; customers felt the owners cared and wanted them to enjoy their time away.

User-generated content

Big brands often use user-generated content, which is a great way to generate social proof with minimal effort. Encourage your customers to use your product, take a photo of themselves and share it on social media with a hashtag that’s specific to your business.

If you’re sending a physical product, you could include an extra treat, like some sweets or a bar of chocolate, with their order. Alternatively, ask them to showcase the results they’ve achieved with your product by sharing before-and-after photos. You can offer an incentive, such as a discount or entry into a prize draw, for anyone who posts.

Repurpose everything

There’s more than one way to use your content. User-generated before and after photos can go into your emails, website and sales pages, as well as social media. Start with a simplified version of your destination guide on a sales page and create a longer one for customers who’ve already booked their holiday.

You can use almost anything in an email and a blog post. For example, if your customer’s meal kit is on its way, you can let them know what kitchen equipment they’ll need. It could also encourage people who are reluctant to try your product because they’re worried they’ll need lots of fancy kitchen gadgets.

If you want to create marketing content to look after your existing customers and speak to your target audience, I can help.

When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business. I’ll suggest topic ideas if you need them, and we’ll spend half an hour a month (or longer if you prefer) chatting about your business and our latest topic. Then I’ll write a post that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. To find out more, email me to arrange a chat or book a call.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and you could win a free copy makeover.

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What are your big marketing topics?

Does the phrase ‘content marketing strategy’ bring you out in a cold sweat? Yeah, me too and I write the content! It’s easy to overcomplicate things, but marketing only needs to tell people who you are, what you do and how that helps them. In practice it can be a bit more complex than that. So let’s make it easier. Thinking about your marketing foundations as the big topics helps you work out what you want to say.

Here are my building blocks for your big marketing topics

Why do your big marketing topics matter?

When I first started writing for a living my marketing had lots of useful tips and information about different types of marketing, but very little about how my services helped my clients. Working out what your big topics are helps you focus on what you do and how you help your customers. When your offer it clear your customers know what they’re going to get, so it makes it much easier for people to say “yes, I need that” and contact you to get started.

What products and services do you offer?

Your marketing can talk about different facets of the services and products you offer. For example, I might write about blogging, article writing, email marketing or website content. They’re all services I offer and my marketing can help people understand how they work.

You might have various products with different benefits. Identifying what they are or what groups they fall into helps you work out all the different subject areas you can talk about in your marketing.

Who are you?

I know you know who you are, but what do you stand for? What are your values? Think about the knowledge you’ve picked up along the way, the experience you’ve gained or how your story might resonate with your customers.

Sharing your stories can be a fantastic form of content in itself. However, you can talk about your values and share your experience in many different ways so getting clear on the fundamentals can make your writing better.

What do you want to offer?

You might look at your list of products or services and realise that while you could offer all of them, some of them leave you cold. Getting everything down on paper can help you create content but it also lets you review your business and what you want to offer. You might decide to offer a service if people ask but not include it in your marketing.

If it won’t light you up to offer the service or talk about the product, leave it out of your marketing.

What do your customers want?

Giving your customers what they want doesn’t mean offering services or selling products that you don’t want to. However, it is worth considering what they want or need that you can provide. For example, they might be overwhelmed because they’ve got too much to do and not enough time. They might have a problem that you can solve. Some of the benefits you offer could be tangible while others will be emotional. Think about who your customers are and how you help them.

I don’t do marketing strategy, but once you have a plan I can write the words that help you bring it to life. Book a call here and let’s have a chat about how that could work.

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What do beginners need to know about what you do?

What do beginners need to know about what you do?

You’re an expert at what you do, so it might be hard to remember when you were a beginner. However, when new people see your content, a few of them will probably be completely new to the kind of work you do. It’s worth thinking about ways to talk to them, so ask yourself: what do beginners need to know about what you do?

What knowledge helps people work with you?

Does your business help beginners, or is there an entry point that makes your working relationship easier? For example, selling a product is often quicker and easier if your customers know exactly what they need.

I don’t do marketing strategy, so I love it when people come to me with plans or already know their customers well. I can help with topics, but they’ve done the groundwork and know what they want their marketing to achieve.

What information can you share?

If your business offers training, your content can share your knowledge and give your customers a taste of the training they’ll receive. Even if you don’t train people, your marketing can educate them about what will help them work with you. For example, I talk about ways to get to know your ideal customer even though it’s not part of my core service.

Sharing the basics in a short guide or quick tips can also give your audience the confidence to contact you without worrying they’ll sound stupid or ask silly questions.

Use lead magnets

Lead magnets encourage people to sign up for your email list and can work in the same way as the rest of your content. A lead magnet doesn’t have to be complicated; the shorter, the better. The idea is to offer your audience valuable information that gives them a quick win when they put it into practice.

Creating a lead magnet that helps beginners who may want to work with you also means you only spend time emailing people who could be genuine customers.

Create products

You don’t always have to give information away for free. You can offer products even if you offer a one-to-one service like I do. For example, if you have a craft business, you might write about different craft techniques, equipment and how to get started. You can also create a beginner’s kit with a simple project, materials, and instructions that help customers learn and build confidence.

My version of this is in my eBooks, which include ideas for your content marketing and your Christmas posts.

Team up with other businesses

This is one of my favourite ways to work. Collaborating with businesses related to yours but that don’t offer the same service helps you reach a wider audience. You can share guest blogs on each other’s websites and social media feeds, organise joint events, or refer your clients to each other.

This approach can make your clients’ lives easier. If you’re a wedding photographer with a network of other wedding professionals, recommending people can save your clients time and stress. I work with marketing consultants and trainers, graphic designers, and web designers so our clients don’t have to build a whole team from scratch when they start a new project.

If you have a plan but lack the time or energy to turn it into new marketing content, I can help. I’ll write blogs, posts, emails, and whatever else you need to engage your audience. Head to my shop for eBooks with marketing inspiration. If you’d like to chat about how it works, you can book a call here.

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Can you create a new angle on an old marketing idea?

Image shows me sitting at my laptop, coming up with a new marketing angle on an old idea.

If you’ve been creating marketing content for a while, you might feel like you’ve said it all. (I know I sometimes do.) However, your existing content can be a great source of new ideas. Here are some ways to find a new marketing angle on an old idea.

Revisit an old post

What do you see when you look back at your old blog or social media posts? Do they make you cringe because you’ve changed or learned more about your audience since you created them? You might find posts discussing issues that are still relevant but where your advice has changed. You can base a whole new post on the same topic, sharing the knowledge you’ve gained since then, and it’ll still be relevant to your audience.

Update a resources post

Sharing the tools you use can help your audience in multiple ways. Say you run a craft business selling tools and materials; showing people what you use yourself can help beginners and improvers. A hairdresser can share products and tools to help customers maintain their locks between appointments. I talk about software such as Grammarly, which helps me with my grammar, so you can use it when you write your own posts.

Expand a subheading

If you’ve ever written a post with some quick and easy tips, review it to see if you can expand on one of the subheadings. For example, some of my posts on writing a blog mention creating a good headline to catch people’s attention as a subheading. I expanded it into a full post on ways to do that. (https://www.kirstyfrancewrites.co.uk/write-a-headline-tips/)

You may have kept things short and sweet for a tips post, but expanding a subheading lets you share more of your expertise. You can also link between the two posts to improve your SEO.

Have industry updates changed how you work?

Looking back at old content, you might find that your advice has changed because of external changes in your industry. ChatGPT has impacted marketing, so you could create a post discussing the issues or recommending ways to use the technology. (https://www.kirstyfrancewrites.co.uk/ai-help-content-writing/)

There may also have been changes in the law that impact your customers and that you can educate them about. Legal changes might also mean people need to review their will or investments. You can contact existing clients, but sharing updates in your marketing could attract new ones.

Create new case studies

Case studies are a great way to show potential customers how you work and showcase the results you’ve achieved for others. When you review existing case studies, you might find that your process has changed with time or that you haven’t talked about a service that has grown in popularity. Creating new case studies with more recent clients ensures your content stays up to date. If you have business clients who are happy to go public and share that they’ve worked with you, it can be a great marketing opportunity for you both.

If you have a page full of ideas but lack the time or energy to turn them into new marketing content, I can help. I’ll write blogs, posts, emails, and whatever else you need to engage your audience. I’ll even look at your existing content to create new marketing ideas. If you’d like to chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here. Or, use the form below to sign up for monthly content writing tips straight to your inbox.