What is Content Marketing?
There’s no doubt that great content is the foundation of any digital marketing campaign.
It’s all about improving what your visitors read and see on your website, as well as your social media pages in order to increase brand recognition while strengthening your site’s authority in they eyes of the search engines.
Our content marketing strategy is simple – create content that educates, provides solutions, and is worthy of sharing to your visitors and prospective buyers.
Not only does this position you as an authority in your space, but it builds trust and moves prospects closer to a buying decision.
Content marketing is when you publish and distribute articles, graphics, videos, and other types of multimedia in order to get the attention of new prospects as well as retaining the trust with your current audience.
It’s what defines your company’s “voice” and makes you stand out from the rest of your competitors in the space…instead of blending in.
Why It’s Important to Your Business
The purpose of content marketing is to attract and retain your customers by consistently creating or curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of enhancing or changing their behavior.
It’s a process that should never stop because it’s a critical component to your overall digital marketing strategy.
Content is all about establishing yourself as the authority in your niche by displaying as much content, in as many “right” places, at all times.
While most people think that content marketing is throwing up a blog on their website in order to get it shared in as many places as possible, in actuality, it’s so much more than that.
Example 1: Amazon.com
Amazon.com has mastered this, which is why they are known for their “Amazon Effect”.
You see, content isn’t always about the actual “content” so to speak – it’s also about how you’re delivering that content to your visitors in a way that you are influencing their behavior.
Odds are that when you are searching online for (virtually) any product, you know that you can go to Amazon and get a great price with fast shipping.
But in addition to those two things, you’ll also find customer reviews, tons of related products or services, discounted offers, price comparisons, and so forth.
These are all different forms of content that add to the notion that you’re in the right place when you’re looking to buy something. It leaves no doubt in your mind as to whether or not they have what you want…and the fact is if you have a good experience, you’ll go back there and buy again because your mind is creating that association between you and the business.
Example 2: Facebook.com
Let’s take Facebook as another example.
Odds are that you don’t log in just because your friends or family are simply there – you go there because you want to see what’s “going on” and what content is being shared by them.
So what type of content are they actually sharing?
While we won’t go into how and why content goes “viral”, there are specific reasons why people love to share certain types of content when they find it…and Facebook is a prime example of people sharing content that usually ties to human emotion and things that people can relate to.
The 4 Steps of Putting Together a Content Marketing Plan
Clearly define your goals
You want your goals to be as specific as possible and with attainable time frames that you can meet. If you have partners in your business, make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Know your target demographic
Before you start publishing anything, you need to have a very clear target audience in mind. This can range anywhere from teenagers, college students, young professionals, retirees, or even other business owners (B2B). The more time you spend on researching the demographic, the better traction you’ll get.
Decide on the type of content you’re going to use
This falls in line with understanding your demographic and your product because different people digest information very differently. For example, it doesn’t make sense to promote “pop culture” type content to senior citizens if you own a nursing home business because they will not identify with it. By knowing what you’re trying to promote and who you’re trying to connect with, it will help you “talk to them” in their language. You can talk to your demographic through articles, video tutorials, soundbites, graphics, and more interactive forms of content just to name a few.
Choose a content management system
After you’ve determined what form of content you’re going to use, now you need to create (or have it created on your behalf) and publish it. You also need to make sure that you have something in place where you can analyze how effective your content is as time goes by.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that content is just another way to get more eyeballs on your business.
Even if you’re just a local business in the most boring industry imaginable, that doesn’t mean you can’t create something that people will want to see and share…you just have to be creative.
Taking advantage of the fact that information moves at light speed these days, and by consistently creating content that reaches, speaks and builds trust with your audience, your audience will respond to you by learning, sharing, and converting into loyal customers.
More Digital Marketing Services That Will Make You Money:- Search Engine Marketing/Pay-Per-Click (SEM/PPC)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Website Design
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
- Online Reputation Management (ORM)
- Content Marketing