When people think about content marketing strategy, they often imagine it as a way to get more visitors to their site. It’s an old quest in online business. Indeed, having enough people know about you is essential. Just ask someone trying to launch a business with a small email list, most of them being family members.

You need a big enough audience to test new content ideas and to make offers for your products or services. However, there are many online publishers with large audiences but tiny businesses. If you focus only on grabbing anyone’s attention on the web, you’ll get lost in the noise.

Instead, it’s more effective to create a clear path. Lead potential customers from the vast web to a meaningful and lasting connection that addresses their concerns. Attracting the right kind of audience is far more crucial than merely drawing a significant crowd and knowing how to proceed from there.

Classic copywriting formulas can really help in persuasion. Copywriting is all about convincing people to take action without the help of a live salesperson. Many of these tactics focus on getting the audience’s attention first, often highlighted by the letter ‘A’. Getting attention online has always been a well-guarded secret. The AIDA formula stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. In earlier times, marketing had to combine all these elements in a single hit, like a sales letter or flyer.

Today, we have more opportunities to target each element separately through multiple content pieces. Another effective formula is P-A-S: Problem, Agitate, Solve. Even though it doesn’t start with ‘A’, it grabs attention by focusing on a major problem and diving into it before offering a solution.

Both these models are useful yet still fall short. They do not account for the complex layers involved, especially the middle elements, in a content marketing landscape. Introducing strategies to spark interest or stimulate curiosity are always well-embraced. Crafty headlines, catchy visuals, and clever hooks tend to stand out.

But the tough part kicks in during the middle bits of your marketing funnel. Creating and maintaining a relationship demands effort. Much of your content marketing journey involves giving out valuable resources generously while being approachable.

Build the relationship by providing engaging educational content and sharing what you believe in. Offer chances for your audience to make small commitments to try out your service or product. Understanding that there are challenging points within these paths is crucial.

These kinks involve customer objections:

– It seems costly.

– It appears complex.

– It looks suited to others, not them.

– It seems too difficult to start.

– The results feel distant.

A well-organized marketing path addresses these objections. Sharing stories of others who faced the problem can help smooth these kinds of worries. Use simple explanations of your product with infographics or videos to show how it resolves these issues.

So, what would a modern-day persuasion formula look like? It starts with understanding your audience — knowing what matters to them and what problems you can solve. You might begin with K for Knowledge or E for Empathy.

Next is Connection instead of Attention because in today’s fast-paced world, establishing a meaningful connection could be more effective. Building connections means addressing a problem they care about and showing shared values.

Being Useful is vital. Create valuable content and solve problems for your audience. Address possible objections and manage risks they might fear. Offer introductory chances for your audience to experience your offerings—perhaps through free samples.

If there are beliefs that your audience needs to adopt, make that part of your conversation. For instance, at Descrii, we highlight the risks of relying solely on platforms controlled by others, like Facebook. Use your useful content path to argue for your solutions while considering audience feedback.

Always Ask for your audience’s engagement with more significant offers and gauge their reaction. Did they like it? Repeat successful strategies. If they didn’t respond well, reassess and tweak your offers.

Lastly, focus on Sustaining the relationship. Building a business relationship that lasts long-term is far more beneficial than one-off transactions. Continue offering value and stay attentive to your audience’s changing needs.

This brings us to something like ECUOOBCAMEISD, or rather, let’s simplify with ECUBED:

1. Empathize

2. Connect

3. Be Useful

4. Beliefs

5. Engage

6. Deliver value over time

It might seem a bit tricky, but it covers the key aspects for an effective strategy.