How Marketers Can Spark Customer Creativity Through Content

As part of DMA Scotland's regional content, guest contributor Kathryn Strachan, Founder & Managing Director, Copy House, takes a deep dive into what these new consumer trends mean for content marketers and share expert tips on how you can spark creativity in your customers and increase revenue.

What does personalisation mean for content marketing?

As revealed in the DMA's recent research on Pathways to Creativity: Personalisation, British consumers are showing an ever-expanding desire for customised content. This gives brands opportunities to let consumers show their creativity.

With so many sources to access, your audience will likely suffer from "content overload" meaning your messaging must be laser-focused to capture their interest. In fact, 74% of consumers claim they will only engage with personal messaging from brands.

Personalised content yields a much higher return on investment, with some companies reporting a 19% increase in sales generated from personalised web experiences. Additionally, personalised email campaigns are 26% more likely to be opened.

As your audience becomes pickier and simultaneously get more material thrown their way, it's essential to create content that truly resonates with them.

Creating personalised content

It's not surprising that 66% of marketers are realigning their resources to focus on personalisation. People can spot a generic marketing message from miles away, and why would they bother to read it?

But creating personalised content that sparks creativity for your customers is no easy task. You can't write high-quality personalised content without doing the groundwork first.

At Copy House, we always start by conducting thorough research to establish who our clients are and who they target. You can't build the house without a solid foundation to rest it on. Copy House's Brand & Content Strategy workshops let our clients put on their thinking caps and tap into their creativity to get into their customers' heads. We only start creating content once we know exactly who to target.

Customer avatars

The best way to get inside your customers' heads and understand what resonates with them is to create personas for each segment you're targeting. You might think that creating customer avatars is a waste of time, but it's essential to create targeted and personalised content.

If you need a refresher course on how to create a customer avatar, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Who are they? (name, gender, age, marital status, etc.)

What do they do? (sector, job title, company)

What are their interests?

What do they worry about? (what problems can you solve for them?)

Where do they spend time online?

The more detailed your customer avatar, the better your content will be.

SEO

You can't create content that sparks creativity in your audience if the content never reaches them.

Therefore, you should always make sure your content is SEO optimised using keywords your audience is likely to search for. Conduct thorough keyword research before every piece of content to give you your best chance of reaching your target audience.

Spark customer creativity with content marketing

Once you've covered the basics of personalised content creation, it's time to identify the best content marketing methods to fuel creativity amongst your audience. Some proven ways you can do this include:

Social media

Social media is a great tool to engage and connect with your target audience and an excellent way to spark their creativity. Create personalised social ad campaigns where your audience can solve a puzzle or answer questions to win a prize. You can also keep it simple and ask them to solve a dilemma for your brand, which creates an opportunity for your audience to engage with each other as well.

User-generated content

Did you know that some brands increased sales by 50% after publishing user-generated content (UGC)?

UGC can boost your sales and help spark customer creativity. Create a contest for content ideas for your next blog article, or have your audience share their best holiday picture for you to include in your next Christmas ad campaign. Designing a new product? Have your customers submit their design suggestions and draw a winner who gets credit. The possibilities are endless.

To create personalised content that sparks creativity amongst your customers, the key is to get creative yourself and find new, fun ways to engage with your customers. In doing so, your customers will feel more connected to your brand, making them more likely to stay loyal customers.

Content marketing agency, Copy House, is offering free marketing consultations to help you identify gaps in your strategy and give you tailored advice that you can apply instantly.

You can book a free consultation here.

Kathryn Strachan is the Founder & Managing Director of Copy House, which specialises in creating high-quality content tailored to their clients' business goals and the needs of their target audiences. By combining thorough research and a creative flair, the Copy House team has empowered several brands in the technology sector to increase brand awareness and connect with their audience through content.