5 Unique Ways Content Marketers Read Minds (tools for content marketers)

Hey, don’t get me wrong. I am not conjuring some mumbo-jumbo for content marketers here. Good lord, why would I do that? In fact, this blog is all about the tools that content marketers use to read minds. If you are wondering is that possible, oh yes, its definitely possible my friend. Why? Because when you know what’s going on in the minds of your ideal customers aka audience, it becomes easy to market your product/service. Ready for some kickass tools for content marketers, hop on, ninja!

30-second summary

Ok, if you are in the habit of visiting content marketing blogs like Flash, I made this section just for you. 😏

• Successful content marketers know their audience like the back of their hand
• Their intention is not just to market the content, rather to understand the needs of the audience, create content based on those needs, and market (360 approach, not the 180)
• They use content marketing tools to answer who, what, where, when, why
• Tools for content marketers: Google (instant and related); Trends; Reviews; Surveys; Polls

5 Unique ways content marketers read minds

Content marketing has evolved from just a way to create and distribute content to wholesome content creation and marketing across buyer’s journey. Too boring a definition, right? Here’s the fun part.

Today, content marketing is the best way to convince your ideal customers to buy from you.

Ooh, I got your attention, eh! Let’s dive in, what are you waiting for!

1.     Stupid. Easy. No-brainer. Ask them

It can’t get easier than this. Really! If you’re creating content and dreaming (see, how I used that false negative) of results, my friend, its gonna be a long road. In 2021, assumption is the last thing you want in your arsenal, heck, it doesn’t deserve to be in your content marketing arsenal at all. Ditch that notion, today.

Here’s what you can do:

• If you already have an audience that has bought from you, ask them
• Use your existing content marketing channels (yes, all of them) to reach out to your audience
• Offer them something in return (if you plan smart, you wont need a freebie, really)
• Capture feedback, testimonials, reviews

Here’s how you can do it:

• Keep it interactive, use polls to gauge preferences
• Create multiple polls. People love doing polls because its interactive content (who gets bored of polls, no one)
• Go deeper, create survey form (Google forms are awesome) 
• Keep surveys short. Your audience is trading their time for the feedback, make it count (this is where a freebie really helps even if its as simple as a bonus tip or tool or starter discount/coupon code)

But, there’s a caveat! Why’s there always a caveat, Dev? I know and I understand but you really need to know this before you apply the above. 

‘Ask your audience’ only works if you have the right audience. If you’re unsure, go back to the drawing board and work on the audience persona from scratch.

Dev Matharia

Learn how to create your first ebook lead magnet

2. Don’t just Google! Bing, Duck Duck Go, Yahoo, do them all

A wise content marketer will never just look where everyone’s looking. See, that’s the benefit of working with Dev, I take you to unusual spots for research. The quality of results you get from your content marketing efforts is directly proportional to quality of your research sources. Yeah, its more important than you think.

Remember, you are dealing with a wide set of audience with even wider preferences. Not everyone goes to Google. They use a lot to different platforms to look for answers. Guess what you need to do as well? Search where they search. 

Here’s what you can do:

• Be active on all search platforms (every platform that allows you to ask questions should be on your list)
• Look for trends, questions, phrases
• Keep a tab on the answers/search results (you will know what your competition is offering and where you can make a difference)
• Subscribe to all trends newsletters in your niche
• Listen to industry experts on Podcasts

Here’s how you can do it:

• Use suggested search: Most search platforms offer predictive search based on past searches. There, all these suggested keywords are your content ideas because that’s what your customers are searching for
• Use related searches: Pick one pain point and search. Most search platforms will always offer a lot of related search keywords. This indicates that users who searched for the said keyword also searched for the others. Go ahead, answer all of them
• Google/Bing/Duck Duck Go/Yahoo: Use Google Instant and Related Search
• Pinterest: Use suggested search

3. Use these tools for content marketers

There are a ton of content marketing tools offering insights into what customers are searching for. So much so that you can now even search for customers intent when they visit a platform. Whoa, isn’t that akin to mind reading? 

Here’re the tools for content marketing you can use:

• Quora: use suggested questions
• Answer the public: the platform offers consolidated search patterns
• Buzzsumo: Get search trends, insights and more
• Ubersuggest: search for keywords, content ideas, search volume by platform
• Keyword tools by Moz, Keywords Everywhere, SEMrush, SERPstat, KWFinder etc

Bonus tip: If all of these seem too much to process, pick two and zero in on them. Search far and deep, pick keywords of interest, keywords of intent, and start funneling them to your content calendar.

4. Get actionable feedback

Hold on, what is actionable feedback? If you already have customers who have bought from you, well, that’s a gold mine you shouldn’t ever let go. But you need to be agile here. If you wait too long, perhaps the feedback you get will not be so relevant. That’s why its so important to have a nurture email sequence as a part of your content marketing strategy.

Here’s what you can do:

• Incorporate feedback forms as a part of your post sales strategy
• Gather any of the following upon completion of the purchase:
  • Rating of product/service
  • Testimonials for product/service
  • Feedback for product/service
  • Recommendation for product/service
• Onboard them for future purchase by offering exclusive offers in exchange for insights to make the product/service better
• Remember, this audience is already on your side, they have bought/used your product/service. You wont get any closer to your target audience persona than this

Here’s how you can do it:

• Create an email nurture sequence
• Integrate simple feedback forms
• Integrate a product rating system
• Exchange review for offers

Well, we’re almost there my friend. How do you like it so far? Isn’t content marketing the best tool yet to get acquainted with your customers/prospects? To get you started with content ideas based on your customer pain points, I made a free 22-page ebook that will help you come up with content ideas that your audience wants. Really, just use the formulas and generate a ton of content ideas. There’s a reason why I have named it ‘Unlimited Content Ideas Generator’. Grab you free copy.

5. Get serious with search

Yeah, I know, I spoke about this above as well. But this is such an important tip that I can write an entire blog post about this. Really, there are some tools for content marketers that are wholesome and this one is just that. Successful content marketers don’t just limit themselves to basic search. They go advanced and strategic with their search.

Here’s what you can do:

• Find out where your customers search
• Find out what your customers search
• Find out when your customers search (this would be easy if you already have your buyer’s journey mapped out to your content calendar)
• Find out why your customers search what they search (is there a gap they are unable to fill, that could be your chance to go viral)
• Find out who else is answering the same search queries and dig their content. This is where you will find what’s already working for similar audience

Conclusion

1. Stupid. Easy. No-brainer. Ask them
2. Don’t just Google! Bing, Duck Duck Go, Yahoo, do them all
3. Use tools for content marketers
4. Get actionable feedback from existing customers
5. Get serious with search. Search with intent

Whoa! That’s a ton of ways to learn how content marketers read minds, right? I told you, this is no mumbo-jumbo stuff. Even if you pick one of these ways to start looking for what your customers/prospects might be looking for, your content strategy is about to get a lot smarter.

That’s all, folks! And oh yes, if you liked this post, support me by leaving a comment or sharing this with someone who needs to know this. It will mean the world to me.