The term “top of mind” has become a bit of a buzzword in the world of marketing and branding, but what does it really mean? How can you tell if you’re staying top of mind with your target audience? And if you’re not top of mind, how do you get there?
To get an idea of what it means to be top of mind, let’s play a quick game.
When I say sneakers, what comes to mind?
If I say ebooks, what comes to mind?
If I say record-breaking Broadway musical about one of our founding fathers, what comes to mind?
OK, so that last one might not have a lot of competition, but you still get the point I’m trying to make: with each one of these things, chances are good that you immediately thought of a particular brand – Yes, Hamilton is a brand, and even Lin-Manuel Miranda has a very strong personal brand, so that last example still applies.
The fact that you were able to think of those brand names without hesitation means those brands have succeeded in achieving and maintaining top-of-mind awareness. How they managed to do so is likely to be a little different for each industry, but we’re going to take some time to go over how you can achieve top-of-mind awareness with your target audience using content marketing.
Table of Contents
1) Email Marketing
A lot of people complain that they put the time and effort into crafting their newsletters every week/month, only to see that most of them get deleted. There are strategies you can use to improve your open rate, but for the most part, I would advise you not to sweat it unless people are unsubscribing left and right.
If people aren’t opening your newsletter right away, there are two possibilities: either they’re saving your email to be read later, or they’re deleting them. If they’re saving them to be read later, that means they see value in what you’ve given them, they just don’t have the time to go through it right now. If they delete your email right away, but don’t unsubscribe, it means they don’t want/need your content right now (or maybe that particular topic wasn’t relevant to them), but they recognize you might publish something else more relevant to their interests at a later date, and they’ll want to be notified when you do so.
Unfortunately, most newsletter management systems, such as MailChimp or ConstantContact, only tell us how many emails have been opened, how many people clicked through to our websites, how many people subscribed, and how many people unsubscribed. They don’t tell us how many subscribers deleted our emails on sight compared to the number of subscribers that saved it to be read later (regardless of whether or not they actually went back later to read it).
On the other hand, they do show you when people are opening your newsletter, so while it’s not exact data, you can guess how many people are saving your email to be read later, taking into account some people just might not have checked their email that day.
So, the data we have to work with is limited, but my point remains that unsubscribing from your newsletter is the worst-case scenario. Even if they’re deleting your email right away, there’s still some value in that – not only because they aren’t unsubscribing (which means they’ll get your next email), but because the act of deleting your email still requires them to see and recognize your brand name.
Every email you send is an opportunity to get in front of your target audience – an opportunity to remind them who you are and what you can do for them. Just because they don’t have time to read your content right now, or they don’t need your products/services right now, doesn’t mean they won’t need them (or know someone who needs them) in the future. By sending them an email every time you create a new piece of content, you’re ensuring your brand remains top of mind, so when they do need to buy what you’re selling, your brand will be the first one they think of.
2) Social Media Marketing
When it comes to content marketing for B2B industries (or any industry with high-cost leads, such as attorneys and financial planners), I always recommend marketers end their blog posts by inviting their readers to either subscribe to their newsletter and/or follow them on social media because both of those venues provide great opportunities to remain top of mind with your blog readers.
The first goal of your blog posts needs to be providing value to your target audience, and that’s best done by answering their questions and telling them how to handle certain problems themselves, so the end of your blog post isn’t always the best place to ask them to buy from you. But rather than let them click away, never to be seen again, take advantage of that opportunity by asking them to, one way or another, request to receive more information from you, either in the form of your newsletter and/or your social media posts.
Social media is a great way to stay top of mind with your target audience, but as with any other aspect of content marketing, you need to use it consistently and strategically.
If someone follows you on social media and they look like they might be a prospect, follow them back, like some of their posts, comment on some of their posts.
Do the same thing with influencers in your industry to increase your visibility and gain credibility, not just with your prospects, but with other professionals in your industry. They might be the competition, but never underestimate the power of a referral partner – whether they’re in a related industry, or they’re a competitor who sometimes gets overloaded and needs someone they can trust to offload some of their overflow, social media can be key to both making and maintaining those connections.
As with your blog posts, the majority of your social media posts need to provide value to your followers. Not only does that mean you should be providing useful tips and tricks instead of just selling, it also means you should be doing more than just pointing people back to your website. Instead, point them to other interesting pieces of content by influencers in your industry and related industries. I don’t generally recommend you send your followers to a direct competitor, but look for the people who provide related products/services and whose client base might have some overlap with yours.
The frequency and best times to post will vary depending on the social media platform, so pick 1-2 social media platforms where your target audience is most likely to be spending their time and learn the ins and outs of those platforms. Even then, you might need to make some modifications based on what you can realistically accomplish in a given day/week, as well as the needs of your particular target audience. For example, data shows the most effective Twitter profiles post 15x/day, with some of the most engagement happening in the middle of the night. But most of my customers/followers are business owners located in the U.S. and they’re not necessarily checking Twitter in the middle of the night. As for frequency, I quickly found that 15x/day was not a realistic schedule for me, but that 7-8x/day was something I could consistently accomplish.
With social media, there tends to be a temptation to focus on likes and followers more than conversions, and while it’s true that likes and followers are not the same as sales, they can lead to sales – if used correctly. Encouraging people to like your posts and follow you on social media increases your visibility, which gives you a better chance of getting your brand in front of your target audience. Just make sure you know what to do to convert those leads into customers once you succeed in getting their attention.
3) Blogging
The key to achieving and maintaining top-of-mind awareness with your target audience is building trust, and one of the best ways to do that is through blogging. By providing free tips and tricks as to how they can achieve certain results for themselves, you not only demonstrate your expertise and credibility, but you build trust with your target audience.
A good blog post should also provide content for other forms of marketing content: videos, white papers, a chapter in your next book, etc. Perhaps most importantly, new blog posts give you something to post about on social media that leads people back to your website, where you have a better chance of converting them into customers. If you’re in a B2C industry selling inexpensive trinkets, you can get away with selling directly on social media, but if your leads tend to need a little more convincing, that’s where maintaining a strong blog can really come in handy.
As with social media, consistency does a lot to help you earn people’s trust and remain top of mind with your target audience. Publish new blog posts on a consistent schedule, make sure they’re full of valuable tips and tricks your target audience can use in their day-to-day lives, and your brand will be the first one they think of when they’re ready to buy, or when they know someone who’s ready to buy.
Chances are good that you can think of at least a few blogs you tend to go to for information on certain topics. If you have a question, you can always look to Google, but you might check their blog first to see if they’ve already covered it. That’s because you trust them more than whatever website Google might put in front of you, and because you trust them, they’re your go-to source when you have a question pertaining to something in their industry.
Achieving and maintaining top-of-mind awareness with your target audience is all about building that trust, and publishing blog posts with valuable content on a consistent basis is key to accomplishing that goal.
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Creating, editing, and publishing tons of content on a consistent schedule is key to building trust and staying top of mind with your target audience, but it’s easier said than done, especially with all the other things you have on your plate. If you’re ready to ditch the DIY and hire a professional to handle your marketing content for you while you spend your time and energy on the things you do best, we’re here to help.
