Get More Clients With A Personal Connection

More often than we would like to admit, people make decisions based primarily on emotion. Research and logic plays into it, of course, but there is a reason that first impressions are so important.

Consumers are led by their emotions, so if you want to convert readers into customers, you will need to find a way to appeal to them on an emotional level. People want to consume and share content that is helpful, entertaining or otherwise valuable.

By using content to build a relationship with your audience, you are laying the groundwork for future conversions. Follow these tips to create positive content that will help you connect to your customers.

Create a buyer persona

Imagine your content as a conversation between your brand and your consumer. You have probably heard about the importance of developing a consistent brand voice; creating a persona to represent your customer is equally necessary. Anytime you are producing content, you should have a clear mental picture of who you are speaking to.

Although the content you produce will be read by all of your followers, you want to get as close as possible to the feeling of a one-on-one relationship; if you do not have a specific persona in mind, content can easily start to feel generic.

Ask yourself who this content is for – who will it help? Why would they be seeking this information? Keep an ongoing mental dialogue with this person as you are producing your content.

Lose the herd mentality

There are certainly many topics that both you and your competitors could write about — so why would a consumer choose your content over anything else out there? Use your unique perspective to share insights that only you can offer instead of recycling the same ideas that have already circulated through your industry.

When your readers know that they can come to you for exclusive information they won’t find anywhere else, you have developed a new level of connection with them. Unique content also has the added benefit of being highly shareable; the ideal outcome of any piece of content is to make it useful enough that your audience does the work of promoting it (and, by extension, your business) for you.

Be relatable

When you are trying to make an emotional connection with a reader, it should come as no surprise that you will have to show some emotion as well. Whether it’s an honest look at an issue you struggled to resolve or a humorous anecdote about an experience with a product or customer, more personal looks at you and your business will help you connect to readers. You may want to share photos of staff events or any volunteer projects your company has done.

Anything that helps show how your business is connected to your local community will help to inspire an emotional reaction from customers. Readers will feel like they know your company, instead of looking at another faceless brand.

Take a stance

You want your audience to recognize you as an expert in your field. In order to do that, you cannot stay neutral or appear indecisive about the topics you are discussing. Your readers want to feel that they can rely on your opinion, not that you might be just as undecided as they are.

Take an expert stance; you will want to support your point with any relevant research, of course, but take the opportunity to show your readers that you are confident in your expert opinion.

Provoke thought

What better way is there to forge a connection than to start a conversation? Encourage your readers to be part of the conversation by asking them questions, about your business, services or the topic at hand. When they do answer, keep the conversation going.

You may want to focus on a hot-button issue that is sure to stir up opinions and ask your readers which side they land on; healthy debate and dialogue is another way to build the relationship between you and your followers. In addition to starting a more personal relationship with readers, you may be surprised how many new ideas you will get just from reader comments and questions. Best of all, these ideas are guaranteed to be relevant and interesting to your audience.

How to Convert More Leads Into Sales

The relationship your business has with your customers starts long before they make their first purchase or sign their first contract. By providing valuable, relevant and trustworthy content to your audience, you start to build a connection that will convert readers into customers.