Congratulations! You just successfully launched your small business. You have put so much time, money and effort into setting up a business and you can’t wait for your customers to walk in the door. The shelves are stocked, the floors are clean and there is only one thing left to do – sell stuff! However, there’s one problem that comes to mind as you open up your doors for the first time, how do I let my target customers know I have the best gluten-free smoothies in town?
Let’s start with three simple letters – SEO and more specifically, market segmentation and content development with SEO Strategy. You already have a basic understanding of search engine optimization and know how critical your website is to your start-up business. Let’s discuss some simple, yet effective ways you can use SEO for audience segmentation to make sure your site resonates with your target market, specifically through content strategies.
Target market and persona building
First off, if you haven’t fully identified your target market, there are endless, free online resources that give detailed information about finding your ideal clients. The more you know about your customers, the better decisions you can make to attract, retain and gain clients with similar needs and wants.
After identifying your target segments you may even take it a step further by building buyer persona’s to better understand the needs and wants of each of your customers. Not all customers have the same desires and interests and it is important to understand those differences when targeting them.
Content Marketing and SEO – a happy marriage
We get it, content is king, and your content strategy is crucial for making sure your customer persona’s feel like a king (or queen) too. SEO is all about content marketing. So since your new business idea was gluten-free smoothies, you want to drive as much traffic to your website for people who are searching for smoothies.
Through market segmentation, you found your biggest user persona group wants gluten-free smoothies solely because they have celiac disease. You would want to write content that is specifically geared towards their health needs and how you don’t have to sacrifice flavor for health.
However, you have another user persona who just needs a quick breakfast they can pick up on their way to work. They could care less about the smoothie being gluten-free, they just need a convenient breakfast option that tastes good and is affordable. The content written to this group would be very different.
Ready, set…smoothie!
You get the point, understanding your customer audience is important but it falls flat if they don’t know you exist. Content marketing and SEO strategy can help you reach them and ensure your website is ranking for terms that are relevant to your target audience. So, the next time someone goes searching for “gluten-free smoothies, smoothies on the go or weight-loss smoothies,” you’ll be there for them. And over time, your small business idea may not feel so small anymore.
Elaina Pappas