Joe PulizziHi, I’m Joe Pulizzi, founder of Junta42. The simplest way to introduce myself and this week’s posts is with one word: Content. Creating a valuable online experience for your customers directly correlates with the quality of your online content. Think about it: your community goals, conversion goals, traffic goals, linking goals, SEO goals, etc. all depend on relevant, valuable and compelling content directed at your target buyers.

This week we’ll take a look at content from a customer conversation, community and accessibility angle. The point is, as an online marketer, you have to think and position yourself as an expert publisher. Nothing less will do, and your customers’ expectations are only going to rise.

The topic of the week is Website Strategy and Planning. My take is that the key to a successful web strategy revolves around the informational needs of your buyers. Before you launch into your next web redesign project, remember that the website is not for you, it’s for your customers. Content is the key in that process.

5 Important, Yet Often Overlooked, Content and Conversation Marketing Questions

In working with our clients, as well as dealing with our own content and custom publishing practices, here are some key questions that businesses need to continually remind themselves of in order to grow. Often, these are overlooked, but are extremely important.

1. Are you and your executives easily reachable by phone or email? Many businesses make it extremely difficult for their executives to be contacted directly. Consumers now expect that they can reach anyone at any time. This is the new reality we live in. Make sure that your contact information is current and that your employees can be easily contacted by customers and prospective buyers. Email addresses and direct contact information is a must.

2. Are you keeping your content promises? If you deliver consistent information to your customers via email or print, are you staying on schedule? You have made a commitment as an organization and a business partner to keep set dates, whether daily, weekly or monthly. Be sure to adhere to your editorial calendars. By missing dates, you fall off the radar screen, which makes it difficult to continue long-term relationships.

3. Are you honest with yourself about your content expertise? Most businesses are set up to create and distribute products and services, not consistent, valuable and relevant content. Most marketing departments are not equipped with the journalistic talent to make sure that the content you are creating is as good or better than anything else out there. Is your content first rate? If not, look into hiring a journalist or content team to manage your content projects (which is why we created Junta42 Match).

4. Are you expecting the media companies in your industry to keep your customers and prospects educated on the information that is important to your business? If you are, don’t rely on outside sources. Shouldn’t you be providing this type of information? Shouldn’t you be the expert resource that your customer and prospects turn to?

5. Are you on the cutting edge of your customers’ behavioral patterns? How are they making their decisions? What information are they using to make those decisions? Are they starting with the web first, as most seem to be (IBM notes that 95% of buying decisions in their sectors start on the web)? To find this out, you need to be talking with your customers on a consistent basis (talk to them, don’t just sell them). What are their challenges and pain points? How can you solve their problems, not just with services, but the content and information you create on a consistent basis?

By answering and continually monitoring these questions, you WILL grow and be successful. Simple, yet complicated, at the same time. The information you create and distribute as a corporation is what fosters the customer conversation. If you don’t consistently create valuable, relevant and compelling content, why would anyone want to have a conversation with you?