How To Turn Your Content When the Economy Leads Your Audience To Twist

How To Turn Your Content When the Economy Leads Your Audience To Twist

With the economy in flux, the only certainty is uncertainty.

As your audience reacts to the ups and downs, you must evolve your content strategy to adapt to their reactions.

Robert Rose, CMI’s chief strategy advisor, and Jane Qin Medeiros, general manager of StudioID, engaged in conversation in March about how marketers can take advantage of an economic downturn (registration required). Since then, the economic outlook has only gotten murkier.

Robert and Jane say marketers should react to and be proactive about their audience’s evolution.

Keep up with your audience

When economic downturns occur, Jane says, three buyer persona attributes manifest themselves:

• Save now – people (or companies) who cut all unnecessary costs and start saving
• Conservation – people (or companies) who don’t cut or buy anything
• Opportunity – people (or companies) who spend on the things to help them make the most of a challenging situation

Jane says you should incorporate these new persona attributes into your content marketing strategy. By understanding the related changing needs and pain points, you can create content that delivers the value they need now to do their jobs better.

But how do you know which downturn persona fits your audience and if the existing persona still targets the right audience? You can interview recent customers or survey your audience.

Look to aligning with sales. It’s always important, but it’s vital during economic fluctuations, Robert says. Given that the sales team acts as your brand’s frontline with prospects and customers, they can give feedback to help uncover what your customers think and need.

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