What is Content Marketing
Since content marketing came to the fore, many have tried to formulate a viral definition. Even though it’s impossible to capture the entirety of it in a single sentence, it can be described as advertising or raising awareness of a brand, product, or program through easily consumable material. The most common form is the publication of blog posts, but it could occur in myriad other ways.
What is Content
The content could be in any format, from articles on blogs to graphical and video. It could also be in an audio form such as podcasts. If it is communication that positions yourself as an authority or a thought leader in your industry, it’s an example of marketing.
History of Content Marketing
Over the past few years, small businesses and larger ones have explored various means of reaching customers. The rise of the internet came with a deluge of advertisements. This type of marketing evolved to soft-sell instead of aggressively bombarding customers with ads.
How It Works
This type of marketing aims to provide enough value, and you’ll be rewarded by the customer. When you publish valuable information on a consistent basis, you’ll naturally form a relationship with your customers and potential customers who find your material via search, social media or other means.
When these people decide to purchase, they’ll likely buy your product or service above that of your competitors. This is because you’d have established a positive impression as being both competent and helpful.
Types of Content Marketing
The idea behind it is simple – provide enough value, and you’ll be rewarded by the customer. When you publish valuable information on a consistent basis, you’ll naturally form a relationship with your customers and potential customers who find your material via search, social media or other means.
When these people decide to purchase, they’ll likely buy your product or service above that of your competitors. This is because you’d have established a positive impression as being both competent and helpful.
Content Marketing Platforms
There are as many marketing platforms as there are possible types of material. If you want to post articles, for instance, you could decide to host a blog on your website or post your pieces to medium, Blogger, etc.
Here too, the decision should be based on which channels your audience is currently active on. Here are a few of the common channels which you’ll likely use:
Digital
Digital content marketing encompasses many other channels. It covers the gamut of online publishing and audience engagement. All types of material and channels which you’ll be considering fall under this broad heading.
The other type of inbound marketing is the traditional, offline marketing. In that, the same principles would apply, just in the form of publications in newspapers, leaflets, TV, radio and other ways of disseminating information to consumers.
Mobile
Mobile marketing is focused on reaching people via the activities they normally perform on their smartphones and other mobile devices. It could be mobile-optimized websites or apps, for instance.
The trend of browsing the web from mobile devices has increased over the years, so optimizing for mobile is imperative in any marketing strategy.
Social
Social media is a major frontier of marketing. The goal of all material is to be seen by the target audience, and social media is a great way to achieve that. Different social media platforms have their strengths and weaknesses and are suitable for different types of content, however. Understanding those differences is crucial to a high-impact marketing strategy.
Podcasting
From an obscure, nerdy hobby, podcasting has exploded in popularity in the last couple of years. Now, companies and individuals alike use it to share information and unique perspectives on topical issues. When done right, it’s a great way to cultivate customer relationships over the long term.
Video
Video, like podcasting, is a very immersive medium, with the distinction that its visual nature allows for even more flexibility. From human captures to animations and even just whiteboard videos, the possibilities are endless.
Written Publishing & Blogging
This is by far the dominant form of marketing, and for a good reason – it’s simple to make and can be used for any kind of information. Also, it’s accessible to all kinds of audiences.
Visual and Infographics
Pictures, memes, infographics and other visual media fall in this category. They are very effective since people are more attracted to graphics than text.
Webinars
Webinars are particularly great for b2b lead generation. Be sure to capture emails during registration and satisfied attendees will likely be happy to hear from you via a newsletter.
Ebooks
Also ideal for lead generation, ebooks take some time and effort to create. You can offer them as a signup bonus or use them to attract your audience generally.
Online Content Marketing
Online marketing efforts have been some of the most effective in recent times. Email marketing, for instance, has the highest ROI of all online marketing types. You can explore the various types and choose the best ones for your business.
How to Get Started
The first thing you have to take care of if you want to have an effective marketing strategy is to research your target buyer persona thoroughly. You need to understand their interests and how you can connect those to your products and services.
Strategy & Goals
After identifying your target demographics, the next thing you need to do is build a content strategy that’ll get your material in front of them effectively.
What is a marketing strategy?
It’s the totality of your strategy from creation to distribution, audience engagement, and conversion. If you’re using social media, for instance, your strategy will include the templates you intend to use for your material and how to incorporate user-generated content to increase the reach of your marketing.
Generally, it’s good to have a checklist to guide you through every step of the strategy. That way, there’ll be less risk of mistakes or oversights, and you can explore a different approach where necessary without missing crucial information.
Content Mapping
A strategy map outlines the different channels you’re working with and how they relate to your target audience. The map will guide your marketing efforts by making it easy to visualize your strategy.
Using Keywords
Keywords are the lifeblood of marketing. They are how your material gets found by your target audience. Whether it’s via search or on social media, having the right keywords embedded in your material is important. There are many keyword research tools you can use to determine the right keywords to optimize for. All of them have different features so you’ll have to see which ones work best for you.
Conversions, Testing & Reporting
For your strategy to be effective, you’ll need to monitor its effectiveness and iterate as necessary over time.
To do that, you’ll need to track certain metrics using tools such as Google Analytics. That way, you’ll be able to ascertain which part of your strategy is getting traffic and conversions, and which ones aren’t.
Content Planning
Data-Driven Writing is a crucial part of any content marketing plan. To achieve your goals, you’ll need to implement effective planning. Planning covers the workflow and processes you intend to use in achieving your overall strategic goals. It must include creation, publication, and analytics.
Publish Timing
As part of your planning, you’ll need to develop a content calendar that’ll guide you on what and when to post over time. Using a publishing calendar removes the guesswork and indecision that you might face if you had to decide what to post on the fly.
Quantity vs. Quality
The question of whether to focus on producing more material or on producing high-quality is one that every marketer thinks about at some point. The answer is nuanced, as is everything else when it comes to marketing. On the one hand, you need to post regularly to gain traction and build brand awareness. On the other, low-quality content will turn your audience off and probably get you penalized by search engines and social media platforms.
Content Types and Forms
If your strategy is centered around blogging or articles generally, you’ll have to narrow that down to one or more of the different formats.
The first distinction you’ll need to make is whether you’re focusing on long-form or short-form content. As the name implies, the operative feature in both designations is the length.
You can also use listicles – they are easily scannable and usually get high levels of engagement. That makes them great for lead generation. Ultimately, you can take your pick of the various types of writing, video, image, and the other forms available. Anything you create has to be of high-quality and deployed strategically.
Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is that which; as the name implies, is relevant and valuable over the long term. The comparison is with material which is based on topical issues and trends. Those will likely become obsolete after those issues have passed from the public discourse.
You should produce evergreen content as much as possible. When done well, it’ll bring immense amounts of ROI in the form of audience engagement, lead generation and conversion without you having to do anything further.
Avoiding Plagiarism and Duplicate Content
Since creating material takes time and effort, it can be tempting just to take other people’s work and repost them with little or no modifications. Many marketers used that method in the past and profited off others’ work. Since Google began to penalize websites with duplicate material heavily, it’s no longer a viable option even for the most unscrupulous marketers.
It’s okay to get your ideas from existing material online but be sure that yours is unique. First, that’s the only way to set yourself apart and make an impression on your audience. Secondly, you’ll be safe from Google’s penalties and copyright infringement reports.
Repurposing Content
Repurposing is essentially recycling, repackaging or republishing content to encourage fresh audience engagement.
You’ve got a few options here. There’s a translation, which you can use to break your stuff into a new market. You can also change your material from one format to another. For instance, the main points of a long-form content blog post can form the foundation for a couple of infographics.
Content Publishing & Promotion
Marketing does not stop at publishing valuable material. You’ll have to go beyond that and take steps to ensure that your content gets seen by your target audience. To do this, you might explore social media marketing (paid and unpaid), guest posting and working with influencers to get the word out.
Marketing Effectiveness & Statistics (Stats)
Keeping track of digital marketing statistics is crucial to fine-tuning your strategy over time, so it’s necessary to use whatever tools are necessary for tracking consumption statistics. The important ones include blog statistics, stats on video, visual marketing statistics.
What is Great Content
Interactive and engaging material is the holy grail of marketing. When combined with a focused and well-organized strategy, it’ll do wonders for any brand’s visibility and bottom line. The requirements of great material depending on the type you’re producing. Generally, content that is well structured and full of relevant, timely and helpful information will qualify as great.
Standing Out
For your strategy to be effective, you’ll need to have a unique selling point. That’ll be a factor that sets you apart from your competitors, delivers the message up front and ensures that it remains in your audience’s memory.
Engaging Examples
To find examples of engaging content, just check social media trends and watch for branded and user-generated material. Usually, they are the well-executed products of an intensive campaign.
Future of Content Marketing: Trends & Keeping Up
As marketing evolves, there are a lot of innovations coming up in various areas. To maintain relevance and achieve good results, you should keep an eye on the trends and implement the ones you deem fit.
Business to Consumer (B2c) Trends
B2C marketing has been dominated by influencer marketing in the past couple of years. Finding an influencer in your field and having them endorse your product/service can give instant credibility and a boost in sales.
Business to Business (B2b) Trends
On the B2B front, one crucial trend is the shift toward multimedia as opposed to relying solely on articles and blog posts. More brands are finding ways to establish a presence on YouTube and image-heavy social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
Outsourcing Marketing
As with every other aspect of your business, you should evaluate whether it’s more cost-effective to handle it in-house or to outsource. Apart from cost though, consider whether you have the requisite expertise within your marketing team. Bear in mind that poor-quality material can often be worse than none at all.
Hiring a Writer
Before you create a write for us page and invite applications, you should be clear about your needs. Outline the kind of writing you need, and streamline the hiring process to ensure you get one that’s experienced in it.
Hiring a General Content Creator
Hiring general content creators is very similar to hiring a writer. You’ll have to set out your requirements clearly and screen applicants till you find one that’s competent in all the different aspects of creation which you require.
Hiring an Advertising or Digital Agency
Hiring a digital agency such as brick marketing is a bit different. Even though some agencies specialize in specific industries, most of them can handle any niche and have staff who can handle all the different creation tasks. The most important consideration here should be how well you relate to them and if you’ll be able to cooperate effectively.
Resources & Tools
There are many resources and tools which you can deploy for your marketing campaigns. Some are free, but you’ll have to shell out some dough for others. Consider any money spent as an investment – you’ll probably make your money back with a lot more if you use the tools well enough.
Best Content Marketing Courses
In all, building and executing an effective strategy is something you can do, but it would be helpful to have some guidance as you start. You would benefit from taking a course on marketing from an experienced tutor. Content Marketing Institute offers many courses you can try out, for instance.