3 Marketing Challenges and One Vital Solution for Wire ...

CORTA

3 MarketingChallenges and1 Vital Solutionfor Wire HarnessManufacturers,Suppliers andOEMs

Executive Summary 3How Best to Serve Your Niche 5Challenge #1 6Challenge #2 7Challenge #3 8What’s wrong with existing solutions? 9How do we know what people want? 10Bridging the Gap 11The Solution: Relevant Content Marketing 12The CORTA Planning Tool 13The Checklist: What to look for in a writer 15Conclusions 16Next Steps 17The CORTA Planning Tool Companion 18

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CORTA: CONTENT that’s OPTIMIZED and RELEVANT for your TARGET AUDIENCE

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Executive SummaryWhat is CORTA?

A realistic and simple planning tool for21st century marketing.

It’s essential and core for B2C and B2B.

This is a Development: not justanother marketing method. This is anew reality in light of historical events.

Three worlds were introduced to theinternet over 20 years ago. SEO,Copywriting, and Content.

Now, they’re converging.

Content that’s Optimizedand Relevant for yourTarget Audience.

The convergence of those three worlds isa serious reality in 2018.

“Content marketing is at a criticalinflection point.”Andy Betts, C-level executive consultant, freelancecontent / digital tech authorhttps://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/10/future-content-seo-trends/

The resulting new strategy: RelevantContent Marketing.

And the CORTA tool helps to build yournew strategy.

Relevant content focused byconversational copywriting and

search optimization

Discover CORTA

Relevant Content – Conversational Copywriting – Search Optimization

Relevant Content creation for your target audience is the only goal,reinforced by Conversational Copywriting and Search Optimization.


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The perfect content storm is the meldingof these three marketing worlds. For themarketing purposes of … everything.

All print and web creations – frombrochures to web pages to white papers –can be viewed through the lens of CORTA.

And there’s a checklist to interview andfind the right writer.

Through the lens of CORTA, you can besure each piece of content is relevant forand stays focused on your target audience.

We’re forever intertwined with theinternet. It’s the conversation andbusiness channel of this age. It’s bestto learn the language, methods, andtolerance level of the searcher.

All marketing documents find their way tothe internet. Your authentic voice andbranding should appear on every page ofyour website, business publications, andsocial media.

You’ll be consistent. They’ll get to knowyou.

And CORTA will help you plan it.

For that’s what it’s all about:

The Perfect Content Storm

“Content without copywriting is a waste ofgood content”

Sonia Simone, co-founder of Digital Rainmaker,https://www.copyblogger.com/content-marketing-copywriting/

Creating relevant content to serve your target audience – a niche of people –with every marketing breath.

Copywriting to create specificity, clarity, readability, and call-to-action.

Every document, every word, every graphic, optimized and dedicated to yourtribe.


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How to Serve Your Niche – Specifically Target Your Audience

To be certain: Brochures, web pages, andwhite papers are created differently.

Prepare to draw a different arrow fortargeting the various stages of marketingand sales.

The basics of marketing remain: identifyyour tribe, introduce your benefits, andcreate trust. Get people to raise handsindicating interest. Then, give leads to thesales team.

Whether in the marketing or sales cycle,asking people to buy too soon is a mistake.

Understand Where Your Prospect is Along the Buying Cycle

Study the buying cycle of your B2Cprospect or the B2B complex sale.

Then decide which different arrow to use– web page or white paper – that servespeople best at that position in the cycle.

The B2C prospect buying cycle is described as Awareness – Consideration – Purchase:

Write copy showing you know and empathize with their need, tell your solution to their problem, give more detailed information on the solution. Then show proof points such as testimonials, explain free trial offers, and finally present the sales copy.

The B2B complex sale cycle will include a different set of documents:

The factory buyer will first request a brochure, attend sales meetings with presentations, and read white papers and case studies outlining the advantages. Then she’ll schedule a demonstration and request feedback, and prepare a slide deck for a group of approvers. Next, a 30-day trial period agreement. Then if accepted, sales proposals, quotes, and contracts are generated.

Identifying relevant content for each step is a precious part of your over-all strategy.

And your relevant content will cause the reader to shout, “Yes, I’m in the right place!”

CORTA will show you how.


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Confusion. Too manymarketing choices. Toomany voices.

Challenge #1Too many opinions. Marketing seems like a blackbox. You know you need it, but it’s confusing.

Inbound. Outbound. SEO, Content, Copywriting.Social Media, PPC and AdSense. Where to turn??

There’s no shortage of marketing firms and adviceout there on the web.

You know good marketing for your wire harnesscompany will pay off. But you have angst at payingmoney and trusting someone when they don’t evenunderstand your target audience.

“What consumers want frommarketers is, simply, simplicity.”Harvard Business Reviewhttps://hbr.org/2012/05/to-keep-your-customers-keep-it-simple


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Companies don’t oftencreate marketing plansbefore hiring writers.

Challenge #2Companies may have projects lined up. But there’sno prioritizing or understanding how they fit thecompany’s goals.

General marketing solutions designed for the massesaren’t in tune with or optimized for your targetaudience.

Writers and marketing agencies shouldn’t dictatewhat the message should be to your niche.

“63% of businessesdon’t have a documentedcontent strategy.”Content Marketing Institutehttps://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdf


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There aren’t enoughwriters out there thatunderstand how to writerelevant content.

Challenge #3You can’t find the type of relevant content writer orspecialist that understands your big picture.

You’ve heard about different styles of web contentwriters. Some call themselves SEO copywriters, SEOcontent writers, UX content strategists, or similar.

What are the differences?

How can I know they’ll deliver the right message atthe right time to my audience?

How can I interview them to see if they’re a fit for mywriting needs?

“47% of B2B businesses arestruggling to produce the type ofcontent that’s engaging.”Content Marketing Institutehttps://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/07/find-right-writer-content-creation/


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What’s wrong with existing solutions?

“Using sales andpersuasion copy fromseparate disciplinesresults in scattered anddisjointed messagesthroughout a marketingcampaign.”Steve Cass, freelance writer for WireHarness Copywriter

Marketing shouldn’t be complicated. People needsimple solutions – for B2C and B2B.

You might say – rightfully so – it’s important to leavemarketing to those who are experts. And there aremany smart and educated marketers in the world.

But that’s not a substitute for your leadership incommunicating to your target market.

The terms ‘content writer’, ‘specialist’ ,‘strategist’,and ‘UX’ are vague. They leave you in the dark.

Current industry buzzwords are ambiguous. Manypractioners don’t understand a relevant contentstrategy.

SEO, Content, and Copywriting for today’s worldaren’t the same as the disciplines they were in thepast.

Using sales and persuasion copy from these separatedisciplines results in scattered and disjointedmessages throughout a marketing campaign.

It’s not beneficial to hire a writer only because:

they’re good at English and grammar they know SEO and how to get you more traffic they can create nice looking documents and

web pages

They don’t understand your wire harness audience,or how you need to communicate with them.


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How do we know what people want?

Google ranks your website on how you show Expertise – Authority – Trust. We can takethis cue to mold our message.

“We believed we couldbuild a better search.We had a simple idea,that not all pages arecreated equal. Someare more important.”Sergey Brin, Co-founder, Google

1http://www.thesempost.com/google-search-quality-rater-guidelines-updated/

2https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

Google published a 164-page criteria Search QualityEvaluator Guidelines1 on July 20, 2018. It leaked – onpurpose? And it ‘leaked’ in past years as well.

They hire people to rate websites using the guidelineand then give Google a report. The evaluators ranksites based on the criteria of expertise, authority andtrust. Google adjusts their programming accordingly.

In the past, web servers were easily tricked. This ishow Black Hat SEO came to be (tricking searchcomputers) in the early days of the internet.

SEO experts would hire ‘link farms’ to spread a certainwebsite name or search term thousands of times.When a searcher looked for that name or term, theresults page ranked them artificially high.

(You do need your website name and pages shared far andwide. But today, it needs to happen in a natural way or Googlewill penalize your site.)

Similar practices exist today. Shady SEO firms andcontent mills spread links and info that aren’t relevant.

But, Google started fighting back. They’ve always hadthe goal of creating the most relevant and popularsearch results page.

Since 2002, they’ve released a steady stream ofupdates to their algorithm to thwart the cheaters.

Read the complete Google algorithm update history2.


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What can fill this gap is embracing the philosophy of Expertise – Authority – Trust.

That philosophy is here today becauseGoogle knows how people test content!B2B content is tested in the same way. It’swritten to persuade folks and tell stories.

We tell stories for people first, searchengines second. Search engines reflect thelanguage of your people. Discover thebalance that aligns relevant content withE – A – T.

What would a solution look like to overcome the 3 challenges?

Discover simple and specific marketing Decide that you will be the driver. Embrace the E – A – T philosophy. Commit to relevant content only.

Make a Plan Document your strategy. Keep it simple. Start with an overview. Develop the profile of your audience. Study your buying cycle and choose the

right content (white paper, web page, etc).

Hire the correct writer One that understands relevant content. One that you can have a conversation

with about your buying or offering cycle. A writer that understands search

optimization.

Don’t try to document your strategy in onesitting. Discern what’s important over time.

The first steps to agree upon are thosephilosophy points under ‘Discover’. Next,commit to documenting your plan.

Optimize Your Plan

As you learn more about your target audience andthe buying / offering cycle, you'll fine-tune yourrelevant content strategy.

The result: a cohesive strategy.

Nick Usborne – Short and sweet, must-read3https://www.copyblogger.com/conversational-copywriting/4https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/conversational-marketing

Bridging the Gap

Before the internet, copywriters createdpersuasive material – “InterruptionMarketing” – for TV, radio and magazines.Also, agencies created “ContentMarketing” to tell stories and entertain.Not for direct sales but to create andnurture relationships.

The internet was created as, and still is, aconversational medium3. It began withuser forums. Perfect for contentmarketing. Not for interruptionmarketing.

Today, we see the mix of traditionalcopywriting and weak / non-relevantcontent on a medium intended forconversation. Not bullhorn-style selling.

But, we need sales. These days, they’remuch more successful when the approachincludes conversational strategies.

Hubspot was able to generate 20% moreleads by merely adding a live chatchannel4.

SEO techniques can’t begin to fill this gap.


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The Solution: Relevant Content Marketing

5Strongly suggested scanning:https://coschedule.com/marketing-statistics

The vital solution is the cohesive strategy describedon the previous page. Relevant Content Marketing.

Why call the strategy Relevant Content Marketing?Because every step in your strategy – every piece ofcontent – is purposeful, specific, and focused. Eachelement nurtures the relationship with your targetaudience.

And the CORTA planning tool (below) will help youdocument your plan in light of this solution.

Content that is Optimized and Relevant foryour Target Audience.

CORTA shows you how to focus on the Why, Who,What, When and How of your target audience.

CORTA is a tool that helps you recognize the parts ofyour strategy and starts your plan of action.

When you focus on a documented plan, you’llexecute marketing more confidently. 5

It helps you find the type of writer and relevantcontent strategist that you need.

You might be your own content strategist. But,even if you hire another, you’ll now be the owner ofyour marketing strategy.

This is a new day. Start with a fresh, new plan!

Let’s dig in to the tool …


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The CORTA Planning Tool (see page 18 for the Companion guide)

Fill in the text areas below and save this form. Or, copy these sections to a different document before you begin.

The CORTA tool will help you focus on the Why – Who – What – When and How ofcommunication with your audience.

Write simple statements in each section. Return on a regular basis and optimize.

Remember, this action plan is just as pertinent for B2C as is it B2B.

Why do you have a plan? (larger marketing goal)

Who (all the other steps serve this one) Develop the profile(s) of your idealcustomer(s), often called a ‘buyer persona’. All your strategies and content revolvespecifically around this character(s).

What

1) List the steps in the buying / complex sale cycle for each product or service.2) Decide content tools to use.

As you list the steps plus content type, remember to position your company as thesubject authority. Tell the writer that you want to show you are the mentor providingthe solution. Your prospect or your business buyer is the hero.

Product, Service or Purchase 1 – Target Audience 1Buying or complex sales cycle description Content TypeWrite copy showing you know and empathize with their need, Email, blog, landing page, etc.The factory buyer will first request a brochure, Brochure, email, white paper,

case study, etc.


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When (the timing of the WHAT elements) Take notes. This is recognizing how thecustomer interacts with the company during their journey through the buying cycle.

Fine-tune the content offerings in the buying cycle as you see how they interact withyour system, based on what you know about their profile.

When do you release the content? Have you discovered anything new about theaudience which would require you to adjust the timing? Is it time to use a differentcontent tool to provide more proof? More trust? More encouragement?

Your target audience wants you to be the solution. They don’t want to lookanywhere else. Deliver the content accordingly.

How Keyword research is part of what a good relevant content copywriter does whenlearning the language of your people. But the marketing manager or owner mayalready have a list.

Your key words and phrases for each product/service for each step in the sales cycle:


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Checklist: What to look for in a writer

How they can help overcome the three challenges.

Interview them. Use your CORTA planning tool to see if you’d hire them as a:

Relevant Content Strategist (overall strategy) or aRelevant Content Specialist (copywriter/content writer/SEO).

Overcoming Challenge #1:Confusion. Too manymarketing choices.

Overcoming Challenge #2:No marketing plan.

Overcoming Challenge #3:Finding the writer whounderstands:

Understands how toexplain relevant content

Can talk with you aboutbuyer personas

Relevant content needsconversational copywriting

One that can explain thebenefit of conversationalcopywriting

Understands the prospector complex buying cycle

That optimization is about searchengine and copywritingtechniques

Desires to learn thelanguage of youraudience

Knows you need toposition the company asthe subject authority

How to write for people first butfinds a balance with searchengines

Knows the depth ofresearch creates ROI

Can explain the value ofsocial media marketing

Keyword research and placement

Knows that contentoptimization is searchengine and copywriting

Already understands thelanguage of your audience

How to make your site mobileresponsive

Copywriting skills: strongheadline, clarity,specificity, readability,and call-to-action

One that asks the rightquestions about yourtarget market

How to register your sites withthe search engines and work withweb analytical tools

Understands your ‘voice’with your target audienceis that of mentor

And can perform a simple auditof your website so your contentstays targeted

Showcases your UniqueSelling Proposition

And is passionate about yourindustry

And will align their efforts withyour plan

6https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/just-say-it-future-search-voice-personal-digital-assistants/1392459

Knows voice search will be 50%of all searches by 20206.


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Conclusions

Content that is Optimized and Relevant foryour Target Audience is a strategy and simplemarketing tool.

It’s designed to keep the focus on RelevantContent Marketing. An audience-firstapproach. It will keep your plan on-target andat the heart of your efforts.

And you’ll be confident. You’ll know yourtarget audience and how to communicatewith them.

Choose only the marketing channels anddocuments that make sense for yourtransaction/your business/your tribe.

And refrain from acting on opinions of ‘what’shot in marketing’.

SEO is still important

Technical adjustments are critical for yourwebsite, but they must serve the plan. Searchengines report the queries of your people.

Discover Why Apple is a Great Marketer7.

They’re successful because they stuck with asimple philosophy. It had nothing to do withmarketing-speak and everything to do withtargeting a specific market.

Do you remember the “I’m a Mac, You’re aPC” series of commercials? Apple wasspecifically targeting the younger crowd andthose on the fence.

They didn’t want the PC faithful!

See ROI When You Hire the Right Writer

You’ll see measureable results when you havea thorough conversation about your audiencewith the right writer.

And here’s where to find them:

AWAI, Inc. They get it. Rebecca Matter andKatie Yeakle head the largest copywritingtraining center on the planet.https://www.awai.com.

"Simplicity is the ultimatesophistication." – Leonardo Da Vinci

AWAI-trained writers know simple, clear, andconversational writing. They’re trained inmarketing psychology from day one. Web siteauditing, B2B case studies, and white papersare only a few areas of study.

All content is better when focused onspecificity, clarity, readability, and call-to-action.

That’s what copywriters do. And that’s whythey’re good creators of many styles ofbusiness documents.

Brian Clark and Sonia Simone get it athttps://www.copyblogger.com andRainmaker Digital. No one preaches relevantcontent marketing like they do.

They train writers and build contentmarketing companies using E – A – T.

And they know that content withoutcopywriting is a waste of good content.ibid

7https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinemoorman/2012/07/10/why-apple-is-a-great-marketer/#620f4361297d


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Next Steps

Your mission: make arelevant contentmarketing plantoday.

And when you need a writer that’s aRelevant Content Strategist and aRelevant Content Specialist, visit

https://wireharnesscopywriting.com/cor call 480.773.3484

With a relevant content strategy, every elementpoints to your target audience. This is the groundfloor of your plan.

Using CORTA, you’ve laid the ground floor to showyour Expertise to your audience and Google.You’re initiating Authority and Trust with yourexcellent content. And you’re showing you’re theundeniable expert in what you do.

Your content – the language, documents, andweb/technical aspects – is optimized and createsan open-and-shut case about your Authority.

But it’s not only Google rankings that matter.

Your uniqueness and leadership are proof topeople that you’re the expert that solves aparticular problem. For a particular audience.

This bedrock of excellent content is the foundation.And your Authority, Trust and audience will growwhen you stick with this plan.

Yet it could only the beginning …

If you’re interested in taking business to the nextphase of audience-building and relevant content,follow Brian Clark at coppyblogger.com.

Many of you won’t need that. You might have allyou can handle or want right now. And you don’tneed to chase after the latest marketing craze.

We’re not all building business empires, justfeeding our families. No matter your goals andchallenges, the undeniable champion of 21stcentury marketing is the audience-first approach.


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The CORTA Planning Tool Companion

Why do you have a plan? (larger marketing goal)

Create a larger goal. “Use marketing ROI to increase factory throughput” or “ROI from marketing tojustify expansion expense” or similar.

Who (all the other steps serve this one)

Develop the profile(s) of your ideal customer(s), often called a ‘buyer persona’. This can be:

Demographics — age, education, location, and work background

Psychographics — values, attitudes, interests, and challenges

Technographics — how and where the content will likely be viewed: desktop, tablet, phone, atwork, in transit, at home

But it doesn’t have to be that detailed. It can be a simple sentence. “A middle-aged person that spendstime designing wiring harnesses on a digital desktop nail board all day long in the Midwest.”

But you can get as detailed as you want. There’s no such thing as too much detail. You can create anentire character bible, just like a story board character in a movie or a novel.

Go as deep as you need in developing their character. The more detail you have, the more creativeangles you’ll have for content, and the deeper you’ll connect with your audience.

What (position your company as the subject authority)

1) List the steps in the buying / complex sale cycle for each product or service.2) Decide content tools to use.

As you list the steps plus content type, remember to position your company as thesubject authority. Tell the writer that you want to show you are the mentor providing thesolution. Your prospect or your business buyer is the hero.

The company is NOT the hero! Company information and awards that have nothing to do with howyou’re solving the problem need to be saved for the About page.

Let your prospect or business buyer discover your solution and be the hero.


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Sales cycle description

Define the parts of the buying or complex sales cycle. Do this for every product and target audience.This is a customer or purchase experience list.

Now, insert a content type that you’d like to try next to each step. The below are suggestions.

The B2C prospect buying cycle is described as Awareness – Consideration – Purchase:

Product, Service or Purchase 1 – Target Audience 1Buying or complex sales cycle description Content Type

Write copy showing you know and empathize with their need, Email, blog, landing page, etc. tell your solution to their problem, give more detailed information on the solution. Then show proof points such as testimonials, explain free trial offers, and finally present the sales copy.

The B2B complex sale cycle will include a different set of documents:

Product, Service or Purchase 2 – Target Audience 1B2B complex sales cycle description Content Type

The factory buyer will first request a brochure, Brochure, email, white paper,case study, etc.

attend sales meetings with presentations, and create white papers and case studies outlining the advantages.

Then she’ll schedule a demonstration and solicit feedback, and prepare a slide deck for a group of approvers. Next, a 30-day trial period. Then if accepted, sales proposals and contracts are generated.


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When (the timing of the WHAT elements)

Take notes. This is recognizing how the customer interacts with the company during theirjourney through the buying cycle.

Fine-tune the content offerings in the buying cycle as you see how they interact with yoursystem, based on what you know about their profile.

When do you release the content? Have you discovered anything new about theaudience which would require you to adjust the timing? Is it time to use a differentcontent tool to provide more proof? More trust? More encouragement?

Your target audience wants you to be the solution. They don’t want to look anywhereelse. Deliver the content accordingly.

How

Keyword research is part of what a good copywriter will do as a part of learning thelanguage of your people.

However. As a marketing manager or business owner, you may want to be involved with– or in charge of – gathering the key words and phrases about your target audience andtheir thoughts along each buying cycle.

Consult with your writer or content expert about this process.

Find a writer that understands how conversational copywriting and search optimizationserve relevant content.

SEO isn't only for learning how to speak to web search engines, it's learning the languageof your people. You don't write for search engines, you write for people. Search enginesreflect the questions and problems of your target audience.

For related articles, visit https://www.wireharnesscopywriting.com/c

480.773.3484

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