Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard the latest buzzword being thrown around among your colleagues, your friends, and probably your CEO. Content marketing is a topic of conversation for many people, but not everyone knows what it is or how to use it effectively.
If you are already engaged in content marketing, you should intensify your efforts, focus on precision targeting, and measure your results accurately. If you are not yet engaged in content marketing, you need to take notice and learn more about it. This article provides the information you need to know, presented in brief, manageable sections.
How to Generate Your Content Marketing Asset
An effective idea is a powerful tool for content marketing. If content marketing is designed to make a client’s brand more successful, then the idea that the content is based around is the foundation of the entire campaign. So, how do you create an idea that has the potential to improve your clients’ brands? We suggest that regardless of the size, scope, and style of your client, innovation is the key. This means being innovative in your approach, your method, and your selection process for ideas.
Collaboration Is King
Content marketing is constantly evolving. You need to have the best content to be successful in digital marketing. To get the best ideas, it is important to involve as many people as possible.
Workplaces used to be a lot more secluded, with people working in their own little cubicles. But now, it’s much more common to find places that are open plan, spacious, and conducive to collaboration.
The most important part of generating ideas is collaborating with others. Get your team together in a quiet room and start bouncing ideas off each other. The best ideas come from throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks.
Topic Mapping
If you collaborate using a strict methodology, you will be highly productive. A great method to use is topic mapping.
Topic mapping is a way of taking the product your client offers and brainstorming different angles for engaging content. For example, if your client sells running shoes, you might brainstorm different ideas related to running, like the best running routes in your area, how to cool down after a run, or running endurance and health tips. By brainstorming different ideas and mapping them out, you can come up with different content ideas that are all related to the main product.
The second step–choosing an idea–is more complicated than the first, but luckily, there are some very useful free tools you can use. Google Trends lets you see how popular a term is online, which can give you some insight into what topics are currently trending. Another helpful tool is Google Analytics, which can show you what content your client has been successful with in the past. This can help you verify that your new idea will be well-received by your client’s audience. These are just the basic tools–professional content marketers have access to even more powerful, paid tools. However, even with just these free tools, you can come up with a great idea. Remember, an idea is just a seed–if you put in the effort, you will be surprised by how much your idea can grow.
Creating Content that People Want to Consume
I consume a lot of content every day, much of which is not very good. I read content before I get out of bed and sometimes listen to it while I’m working out, and I listen to podcasts sometimes while walking. I usually only find one good piece of content a day among everything I consume.
The reason? Relevance.
If something has no relevance to my life and no benefits for me, then I will lose interest in it.
Secrets to Creating Relevant Content
- Make sure your content has an “ah-ha”. Answer the question, and give away at least one good tip, tool, or link. It’s for the greater good.
- Make sure your content is relevant by targeting: the buying process, customer needs, or personalization.
- Even if it’s B2B, try to create content focused on emotion. People buy people.
- Focus copy on “You” and not “We”.
Why an Integrated Approach to Content Marketing Works
There are many different types of content, so how do you know which one works best for your company? It might seem like a money saver to fixate on one type, but in fact, that would only limit your marketing potential.
If you only use one type of content, you will only appeal to one type of person and fulfill one need. Diversify your content to make it more interesting. Mixing different types of content will allow you to target a wider variety of audiences.
Produce an infographic that is accompanied by a blog article highlighting the key points can be effective. Alternatively, you could create video explainers or video blogs to communicate the messages in a more visual and interactive way.
Text
Content that is solely text-based can take many different forms, from news articles to opinion pieces to step-by-step guides. This type of content is generally easier for people to consume than video content, and as a result it often receives more web traffic.
Visual
Video content is especially good at increasing brand awareness because it is so shareable. Other visual content, such as images, live streams, or infographics, can also be effective at boosting awareness of your brand.
Audio
Podcasts are a form of audio content that is usually a conversation answering questions, reviews, information, or something humorous. Even though podcasts are somewhat undervalued by marketers, they can be a great way to grab attention.
Why Do Content Marketing at All?
As more people have ad blindness and many people even install ad blockers, it becomes increasingly difficult to get people to purchase products through digital ads. Since this is a growing problem, content marketing is a better solution than paid ads, which are becoming less effective.
Done well, it will…
- Get your brand in front of a new audience.
- Help potential customers see you are a genuine thought leader through your top-notch content.
- Engage visitors and often lead to them giving their email addresses to you in exchange for more invaluable content.
- Allow you to nurture them with more content through email marketing and occasionally ask for the sale as you earn their trust more and more.
It can pay off for you, too. A good content marketing strategy is needed for most businesses to get potential customers to take action.
Content Marketing Strategy Mistakes
There are many types of content marketing, but there are some important aspects to consider when planning your strategy to make the most of it.
This means that if you don’t have a clear plan, you’re more likely to fail.
There are certain content marketing strategies that you should avoid as they are not effective.
Pitching Instead of Educating Deeply
You should not use your content to promote a product or service directly to your readers since they are likely not ready to make a purchase. Instead, let them know what you sell through your content, and then follow up with emails that have a pitch or two.
If you focus on teaching people, they will eventually become paying customers. Create high-quality, comprehensive content to help you stand out from the competition.
Choosing Quantity Over Quality
If you can afford to, you should produce both a lot of content and high-quality content. If you have to choose between the two, it’s better to produce less content but make sure that it is high quality.
We recommend that you create less content if that means you can take more time to create something robust and invaluable to your reader.
Following “Best Practices” Without Data to Back It Up
There are copious amounts of “best practices” provided by plenty of “experts”. Some of them are true professionals; others are not. Also, what worked for someone else may not be applicable to your specific situation.
This is why it is beneficial to examine case studies within your industry that contain concrete statistics and figures regarding their productivity. Doing this will help eliminate strategies that would not be effective for your company or are simply someone’s opinion. Afterward, determine how to adapt them to suit your company’s needs.
Bona Fide Benefits of Content Marketing
The term “content marketing” has been used so much that it is almost meaningless. The popularity of the term has led many organizations to believe that they need to create content marketing, even if it is not necessary.
Why should we get involved in this rapidly expanding movement? And how can we achieve noticeable, concrete results?
Are there real benefits to content marketing?
There are many benefits to doing things the right way. Let’s take a look at some remarkable benefits of this hot trend.
Superior SEO Visibility in Google’s Search Engine
SEO has changed a lot in the last 10-15 years, and it’s much harder to do it well now. Even so, it’s worth the extra effort because it can bring you new website visitors month after month and year after year.
Creating quality content that is keyword researched and supported by technical on-page SEO is more likely to drive search engine traffic than creating a large quantity of content.
If you would like to learn more about a successful strategy for gaining organic traffic from Google, we would be happy to chat with you further. We have evidence from past clients and examples to show our experience in this area.
Enhanced Brand
The term “thought leader” is overused to the point where it doesn’t mean as much anymore. But there are still people out there who are genuinely leaders in their field, right?
Yes, there are.
If you want to be seen as an expert, you need to provide high-quality content on a regular basis. Creating a large volume of lower-quality content will not help you stand out. You must earn your visitors’ trust before you can ask them to make a purchase.
More Social Media and Referral Traffic
If you create content that is high quality, people will want to share it on social media, and other websites will want to link back to it. This makes your website look more trustworthy and authoritative to visitors and to Google.
Both are powerful!
Furthermore, every link from another site to your pages will improve your SEO while also providing referral traffic from the people who click on those links to visit your site.