Humans have been telling stories since the advent of time itself. The only thing that has changed is the medium we use. As civilizations evolve, so has the technology, and we’ve gone from drawing on walls to publishing infographics on the internet.
Consequently, this evolution has led to an extremely fast-paced and noisy online world—one where a customer’s attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish.
Therefore, in times like these, your content marketing strategy needs your undivided attention. You need content that not only engages your consumers but also keeps them hooked to your brand.
To do that, you’re going to need a sound understanding of what content marketing is and how you can get better at it.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a technqiue where you develop and distribute worthwhile content that appeals to your prospective customers and converts them into customers. The primary purpose of this strategy is to build brand awareness by educating, entertaining, and inspiring your target audience.
Content marketing goes beyond just pitching your product or service for sale. Instead, this approach is more about helping your customers solve their issues, with no personal gains.
Why Is Content Marketing Such A Big Deal?
Traditional outbound marketing techniques have become somewhat obsolete in today’s era. People no longer appreciate interruptions, so you need to devise a new strategy that does something more for your audience than just pushing adverts in their faces.
The solution is simple; content marketing.
While there are many reasons as to why you should be focusing on content marketing, the first and most important reason is this: it works!
Beyond that, here are ten reasons for you to engage in content marketing:
- Builds trust:
Regularly publishing about stuff you’re an expert in makes your consumers see you as a maestro in that industry. They start referring to your blog for advice on matters related to your field, and before you know it, you’re established as an authority.
- Creates brand awareness:
Content marketing is the ideal way of getting exposure for your brand. When you post things online, people will visit your website to read it, thereby increasing the traffic to your website and the awareness around your brand.
- Perfect SEO strategy:
If you publish useful and relevant information on your blog or website, search engines will recognize your content as such and display it to people looking for similar information. As a result, your website will rank higher in the search results. To better the odds in your favor, you need to keep your content up to date and pertinent. SEO and content marketing have long been interlinked, and to succeed online, you need to ace both.
- Brings in new leads:
Every new person that comes to your website for your informative articles is a prospective customer. By putting more content out on the internet, you increase the chances of people visiting your website and making purchases.
- Attracts ideal buyers:
Of all the leads that your content generates, only a fraction will lead to sales. Over time, you can side through these leads and identify the futile ones so that you do not end up wasting time and money on the audience that will not benefit you.
- Paves the way for Lead Nurturing:
People search for stuff when they’re in need. When you publish content that helps fulfill their requirement, they will trust you. Hence, when they ought to finally make a purchase, they’re more likely to do business with you than any other company that they did not know.
- Gets you on social media:
Excellent and helpful content gets shared across social media platforms since people would want others to read it too. As a result, more people in their circle will hear about you, and your chances of finding fruitful leads increase.
- People have a reason to come back:
If your content helped someone with one problem, they’d think of you whenever they have a similar issue. Therefore, resulting in a long term, trusting relationship.
- Establishes your authority:
The more you talk about industry-related stuff, the more your audience sees your knowledgeability, thereby making it evident that you’re the best at what you do.
- Increases backlinks:
Having creative content on your page will give other websites a reason to link back to you. Since backlinks are a criterion upon which search engines rank your website, more of them are an absolute win.
What Are The Types Of Content Marketing?
You can use various types of Content Marketing to reach and engage with your target audience.
- Social Media Content Marketing:
Social Media is consumed by 3.7 billion people worldwide, so the choice to invest in social media marketing is, therefore, rather obvious. You can target popular platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn. These serve as a great way to connect and bond with your audience.
- Blogging:
Blogging is perhaps the most mainstream method of content marketing right now. Blogs serve the purpose of sharing information with your audience across the world.
- Infographic content marketing:
You can use graphic formats to create colorful, easy-to-understand content. Infographics incorporate images and text to make your content educational and informative.
- Podcasts:
Podcasts have gained popularity due to their convenience and enjoyable nature. Content marketers have turned their attention to creating podcasts to help raise awareness for their brand. They promote your products and services and build relationships with your customers.
- Video Content Marketing:
Most of your consumers would prefer to watch videos about a topic rather than reading about it. Of course, there are a lot of rules that you must follow to ensure that your video campaign does not flop. In addition to being convenient, videos are also effortless to share. You can post them on your website, your social media accounts, and other websites.
- Paid Advertisements:
While there are many legitimate ways of generating traffic for your website, paid content has not yet wholly gone out of style. Paying for ad spots is still the easiest way to display your brand where your audience will see you.
Building The Perfect Content Marketing Strategy:
To get started with your content marketing, you need to have a strategy in place to guide you throughout the process and keep you on track.
Here are the steps you should follow:
- Set SMART goals:
The first step is to set goals Specific to your business. These goals should be Measurable to monitor them easily. Furthermore, you want these goals to be Achievable and Realistic. You do not want to aim for something you will not be able to attain. Lastly, set Timely goals; pick a deadline for when you want to achieve what and make sure you stick to it.
- Determine KPIs:
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable values you can use to measure your performance against your goals. Establish KPIs for every individual plan you have to guarantee consistent success in all departments.
- Choose the type of content:
The type of content you choose depends on who your audience is and where they would be looking for your content. You also need to determine the issues they’re facing and how you can help resolve these? Once you’ve answered these questions, you can choose from the types of content marketing we have discussed above and picked the one that can assist you suitably.
- Pick the right channels:
The type of content you choose to create will significantly influence your choice of channel. In most cases, this selection will be obvious (if you make a video, you do not want to share it on some random blog). But in some instances, the channel adoption isn’t as straightforward. For example, if you have an infographic, it might not be easy to find a popular channel for it.
- Set a budget:
Certain types of content are most costly to construct than others. Before you pick a budget, you need to take into consideration all your selections and find out what each decision will cost you.
- Create and distribute your content:
If you’ve planned out and implemented all the previous steps carefully, this phase should be a breeze. Create content that you’re sure is alluring and on-point.
To check if you’re distributing content regularly and consistently, get a content calendar. It’ll help you keep track of your content and even allow you to plan in advance.
- Analyze the results:
Once you’ve given your strategy enough time to work its magic, start measuring outcomes to see how it has performed. Go over your goals and KPIs to check if you’ve accomplished all of them. If you’re falling short somewhere, determine what the cause is and fix it.
Content Marketing Best Practices:
- Define Your Audience:
The first step is to identify what your target audience is. By knowing who your audience is, you’ll understand what content they need and what formats you should be focusing on.
Tools such as Make My Persona help create buyer profiles that you can share with your team. They can keep these profiles in mind while designing the content marketing strategy. It is a great way to know that you aren’t misdirecting your resources to dead ends.
- Create what your audience wants to see:
Once you identify who your audience is, you can tailor content for their specific taste. Identify the issues your audience has and give them the solutions.
One method to find out their problems is by hanging out where they spend time. Find out what social media platforms they use and engage with them there.
Another method is to conduct keyword research to find out what your consumers are searching for on Google.
- Develop a plan:
Having a content marketing plan gives you a better idea of what you should be doing. You want to develop a strategy that raises awareness in your audience and creates their interest in your product, eventually driving users to take action.
- Focus on actionable content:
When your audience has an issue, they do not care much for long and useless posts. Instead, they want actionable content that tells them what to do. They need your content to guide them through the steps of problem resolution.
- Make content desktop and mobile-friendly:
Internet users access your content on various devices such as laptops, desktops, tablets, and of course, mobile phones. If you want to reach all of them, you need to make your content compatible with all these mediums. A fluid user interface should do the job wonderfully, but custom-tailored websites are an even better idea.
- Repurpose your content:
You do not need to stick to one content format. Instead, you should use the same content in a variety of forms. For example, use your blog to publish an infographic or a video.
- Get a sophisticated design:
A good looking website seems more trustworthy. The more appealing your page is, the higher are the chances they will revert. Often, content that is designed for one device loses its formatting when opened on a different type of gadget, making it appear unprofessional. Make sure you plan your content, keeping in mind the factors discussed in this content marketing guide.
- Make your content readable:
The last thing your audience wants is straining their eyes, trying to read incoherent content. Font color and its size play a significant role in determining how easy it is to read your content. Leave the right amount of blank space to keep from cluttered pages. Never-ending paragraphs are also a turn off for most readers, so stick to shorter ones.
- Add visuals:
Visuals make your content simpler to understand and give it a more structured look.
- Stay consistent:
Use templates for your content so that you do not have to start from scratch every time. Not only will this make your content marketing strategy more effective, but it also maintains consistency throughout your content.
- Hire a team:
A jack of all trades is a master of none, so it’s vital to have specialists on your team for specific tasks. Get an SEO expert to find you the right keywords, find a professional content creator for your blogs or scripts, and hire an editor to fix the errors and check the quality, etc.
- Promote your content:
Content promotion does not get nearly as much attention as it should despite it being so critical. The best policy here would be to create a process so simple that just about anyone on the team can follow it.
- Keep an eye on performance:
All these efforts are in vain if the content marketing strategy you’ve devised isn’t working. To be sure, you’ve come up with a successful approach, keep an eye on your website traffic, email subscribers, and new customers.
Results usually take a few months to become evident, so you shouldn’t abandon your strategy right after implementing it.
While the process of content marketing is continually evolving, its core principles have remained the same – develop a foolproof strategy that draws people in. With the right methods, you can get the perfect amount of exposure and multiply conversions. The types of content marketing can get overwhelming at times, so you should just focus on one at a time and stay consistent in your efforts. Waiting for the fruit of your labor to show can also get frustrating but keep in mind that although the reward of content marketing isn’t instant, they are long-term and plentiful.