I’m just going to say it: the state of SaaS SEO content today is sorry. Marketers are too wrapped up in getting high scores in their SEO platforms (which usually translates to copycat content). And they’re paying too little attention to brand-building, thought leadership, and differentiation.
Ranking is, of course important — you need your prospects to find your content. But it’s possible to accomplish much more than increasing traffic. Your content has the power to increase drive demo requests if it’s written with a point of view (POV) that gets your prospects’ attention.
What Are Points of View in Marketing Content?
A brand POV is a belief or stance on an issue. It’s a perspective that serves to emphasize your positioning and the unique value you deliver — the differentiators that matter to your prospects. Points of view are related to (but not the same as) your messaging platform.
You’ll want to establish brand POVs on a variety of issues, which may include:
- Customer pain points
- Customer priorities
- The industry status quo
- Market trends
- Conversations linked to the problem you solve
- Social issues that your audience cares about
How Brand POVs Drive Demo Requests
If you’re not sold on the value of using points of view, let’s look at all the ways it increases a prospect’s likelihood of continuing through your funnel.
- Connects with pain points — Points of view can help demonstrate that you understand your prospects’ most problematic pain points.
- Creates emotional connection — Aligning with the things your prospects care about creates an emotional connection and makes them feel like you’re on the same team.
- Establishes expertise — A strategic point of view can help you establish your team as experts in the industry, positioned to best meet your prospects’ needs.
- Highlights your product’s unique value — Most importantly, a point of view can lead prospects to understand the significance of the problems you solve best (and why the status quo is so dangerous).
Tips for Developing Your Brand POVs
Center the customer
Being different for the sake of being different isn’t going to move prospects through the funnel. Instead, center your points of view around your customer. What do they care about? What should they care about that they don’t yet realize?
Tap your market research
Persona research, surveys, and focus groups are all treasure troves of information you can use to shape your points of view. What patterns do you see in the things prospects and customers are talking about? Or how they’re talking about them?
Keep your eye on social conversations
Social media is great for eavesdropping on conversations prospects and customers are engaging in. Set up a social listening tool to streamline the process.
Talk to sales!
Your sales teammates are chatting with prospects about pain points, challenges, and priorities all day, every day. They’re a valuable source of customer intel and can provide a different perspective from the one you see through market research.
Be authentic
A point of view will backfire if it’s not authentic. This is especially true when it comes to taking stances on social issues. If you can’t back up a point of view with action, you’ll be better served by first making changes to your company culture or initiatives to ensure you practice what you preach.
Weave Your POVs into Every Piece of Content
While it may not be possible for every piece of content to have a point of view, if you make it your mission, you’ll dramatically increase the effectiveness of your SEO content. Imagine coming to your all-hands meeting with a dashboard showing not only how your content increased traffic, but also how it ties to revenue.
Listen to this podcast episode to see how Sigma is using POV thought leadership in their SEO content.
Want more content strategy tips and tricks? Subscribe to my weekly (short and sweet) newsletter: Next-Level Insights to Level Up Your Content!