Establishing your company as an industry leader is possible, and it’s really not as hard as you may think. It does, however, begin with the right content strategy. Here are a few things to remember as you work through that strategy:

Don’t Act Like a Copywriter; Become a Consumer Advocate

Unless it’s for SEO reasons, there’s little good that can come from writing the same article that already exists in 10 different formats. Instead, take a new approach on that topic and give it your own special touch.

Buying guides, for example, are commonplace and rarely all that unique. Instead of creating another mundane buying guide (that is already available online from multiple sources), create a buying cheat sheet that lists tips and tricks to find the right product and/or score the right price. In doing so, you begin to brand your company as a consumer advocate, rather than just another pushy salesman.

Don’t Replicate the News; Provide Commentary on It

Staying up to date in your industry is essential, but we often don’t take it to the next level for our companies. Rather than retweet the astonishing study or revolutionary product advancement that just came out, take a step back and think about what unique commentary you can provide on the topic. In fact, you should view any news or industry change as an opportunity to show your company is an expert and actually has an opinion—and a good one at that.

When news does arise, create content as your response to what was just announced, and spread it through multiple distribution networks. The trick with this tactic is to be relevant and timely, so don’t backdate your news searches too far. When you become a part of the conversation in this manner, you show your company has a backbone and a unique perspective, one which audiences will begin to trust and respect.

Challenge the Status Quo

The best way to bring attention to your brand is to spark a conversation. One effective way of doing this by making a clever discovery or taking a strong stance on controversial topics that go against the grain.

For example, if everyone in your industry endlessly promotes idea A to consumers, go in and analyze idea A with an unbiased perspective and from different contexts, discovering other ways of looking at it along the way. Maybe idea A isn’t actually the greatest thing since sliced bread, and maybe there are other aspects or angles about the idea of which your industry and customer should take note.

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Following your outside-the-box analysis, go on to create content that embodies your discoveries. Titles and calls to action will play major roles in this approach, as you want them to be striking, yet still as honest as possible. Change your advertising offering, or start a series of content that is so against the grain that it’s impossible for readers not to crave more.

There’s no doubt that your content will be raw, rebellious and may bring some criticism, but more likely than not, it will bring followers, and influential ones at that. When you create content that challenges the current industry norm or traditional advertising message, you’ll find that others in your industry, as well as your customer base, will notice and respond.

Go Undercover

Even though you’re a marketer, it’s sometimes helpful to take a note from the basics of journalism. Don’t be afraid to go in and really test the products and services of your company and your competitors. Do a full review; give honest, raw reports of your experiences and your findings.

Of course, don’t slander, and don’t be biased; simply be honest and straightforward. When you do so, consumers will give your company brownie points for being transparent and reliable. Moreover, the tactic will help uplift your company’s reputation, brining industry recognition and respect.

It’s never a good idea to stop striving to build connections and relationships with industry thought leaders and reputable brands in your sector. But, at some point, you’ve got to start looking at your own expertise as credible and useful to the industry, too. By implementing these tactics into your strategy now, as 2016 kicks into high gear, you’ll be the one providing sought after advice and input before the year is over.

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The post How to Brand Your Company as an Industry Leader appeared first on Relevance.

At this point, it’s fair to say there’s no longer one clear path to purchase, which makes discovering consumer intent more valuable than ever. In fact, user purchase paths are beginning to more closely resemble star constellations than anything remotely linear. In this chaos of purchase paths, consumer intent is the driving force—a force that we, as marketers, must open our minds to understand, and then adapt our strategies accordingly.

Marketers who have a clearly defined understanding of consumer intent are able to better produce content that, in turn, produces actionable results. But how do you determine consumer intent if it can’t be easily traced in a linear fashion?

1. Don’t Just Collect Data; Collect Actionable Data

Every action, no matter how minor or repetitive, should be captured: purchase views, video or other rich content views, registrations, sharing, searching and everything else that involves a user interacting with your site. The more information you have to start with, the more easily you can start to determine patterns—which should consistently be reevaluated and refined.

2. Determine Real Starting Points

You know the buyer cycle starts before a user lands on your site, but how far back does it go? Often it’s further than you think. When users search, they do so with one of four intents: I want to know; I want to go; I want to do; I want to buy. Obviously, users who want to buy are the easiest to create profitable content for, but these purchase paths are becoming less and less direct as a whole.

A user could want to go, and then want to know, and then want to buy. Or a user could want to know, then jump right to wanting to buy. Regardless of the path (the concept itself becoming less and less important) your content needs to reach the user in aspects of his or her intent.

3. Strategize Content Around Pre-Intent

With some strategic thinking, you can capture the ‘I want to buy’ users before they realize they want to buy something. To do so, think about what likely sparks an, ‘I want to buy’ moment, and produce content around such topics to make your site a go-to resource for that user.

For example, if a user wants to invest in a painting service for his or her home, think about what sparked that intent and create content around it. Perhaps it was due to destruction from a rough winter or leaky gutters. Maybe this was the user’s first year as a homeowner and he or she didn’t know to look for signs of a poor paint job before purchasing. Or, on the flip side, the user could be looking to sell his or her home. All of these pre-intent moments are content ideas you could, and should, be catering content towards.

4. Identify Hidden Agendas

We all know about the big retail holidays, but there are many other situations in which a user will have money to spend. Tax season is an excellent example for working professionals, as are the summer months before college for high school graduates. Don’t let traditional holidays dictate your content. Instead, consider the lifestyle and major events of your target audience and base content around these areas.

5. Familiarize Yourself With Query Classification

Among SEO professionals, search engine queries are generally classified as either navigational, informational, commercial or transactional. However, as with most aspects of SEO, there are various theories around this subject. Understating query classification helps you identify consumer intent through keywords, which you can then base your strategy around. RIMSEO has an excellent list of keyword intent resources to get you started.

As we so often say with marketing concepts and ideas, the only constant is change—and the ways that consumers make purchase decisions is no different. Each new advancement in technology (especially in mobile technology) has the potential to disrupt your vision of your target market’s path to purchase. Collect actionable data, learn the logic of consumers in your vertical and study their behaviors to learn their true intent. Then you’ll be poised to help make those intentions reality.

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