Over the past few years, content marketing has become one of the most popular buzzwords in business. It’s not surprising why – it seems to offer a lot of potential benefits for businesses that want to succeed.
What is content marketing, though? And what are some of its different forms?
In this article, we will take a closer look at how to do effective content marketing for your business- whether you are just starting out or you’re looking to improve upon what you’re doing now.
Heck, even if you’re already doing a good amount of content marketing, you might find these tips helpful! We’ll talk about everything from what types of content to make to where best to publish them.
How to start content marketing
Starting your content marketing journey is the hardest part! After all, you will be creating new content every day, keeping up with social media platforms to promote them, and finding time to do both are easy things to struggle with if you’re not careful.
And we all know how expensive living a life of content creation can become!
With that in mind, here are our top tips for starting off on this adventure.
Create content strategies
A lot of people get stuck defining what content marketing is. This makes sense because it can mean different things to different individuals or companies. Some feel that having a social media account means doing content marketing, when in fact, that’s only part of it.
Content marketing should be considered more than just an online presence. It’s about creating content designed to attract new customers and grow your business.
It can include anything from writing a blog article (content) to producing a YouTube video (both oral and visual content), posting pictures on Instagram (sharing pictures with the world!), leaving comments on other people’s blogs and sharing information through them, and much more.
Some businesses still think that giving away free samples, or throwing a party are the most effective ways to gather attention for their products. These are definitely not forms of content marketing that aim to increase sales, but they may help gain some initial exposure.
Create marketing plans
Many people refer to content as “marketing” but this is not entirely correct. Creating quality content and distributing it using effective channels is what defines content marketers, but creating a marketing plan is something that most everyone can do.
Content marketing is the practice of producing and sharing informative, valuable experiences for your audience. But you must have an understanding of how business works before you can create content appropriate for engagement or sales.
Your content should be related to the products and services in your field, but they cannot rely solely on you being the source of information. Your readers want to see themselves benefitting from your knowledge, so they will look up more details about yourself and your field on their own.
When done well, content marketing builds trust, relationships and referrals.
Develop your brand
Being able to market yourself is one of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur or professional. Your reputation will directly influence how people perceive your business, and conversely, what business people think of yours.
Your personal branding comes down to three main areas: online presence, media appearances, and verbal communication. All three of these require consistent investment to achieve success.
Online presence includes everything from developing your own website and profile pages on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to producing quality content that attracts attention and shares. The more time and effort you invest in these areas, the higher your perception in the community.
Media appearances include anything from doing interviews on radio and television programs to giving speeches at conferences and seminars. Creating content that garners attention and feedback is a great way to get exposure for your message and yourself.
Verbal marketing involves talking about your products and services and promoting yourself via conversations. This may be done through blogs and websites, chat groups and forums, and even informal conversations with individuals.
Know your audience
A content marketer produces written material that appeals to his or her targeted audience. Their followers will come looking for this content, making it popular.
Content marketing does not necessarily mean writing a how-to article every once in a while. It can be posting pictures of yourself eating dessert after work or sharing funny things you read.
Instead of being focused on what kind of article you are going to write, focus more on who your readers are and try to cater your content towards them!
Your readers will influence which articles you should write so do research about your niche and find out what types of articles they want to see. Your readers’ behaviors will tell you what they want to see!
Generalization is very boring reading so make sure to include stories and examples to back up important points. Use direct quotes from conversations to add weightiness.
Produce good quality content
Having a business with no presence online is like having a house with no doors or windows- you can’t fully enjoy your home without them. The same goes for your business!
If you want to see the success of your company, you will need to put in work to grow its brand name and image. This means producing engaging written and multimedia content about your product or service and distributing it through various channels to people who may be interested in what you have to offer.
Content marketing is all around us these days – we read blogs every day, watch YouTube videos for entertainment, and check out reviews before making a purchase. Even advertisements include meaningful content to draw our attention.
Businesses that use content as their main communication tool are usually considered “content marketers.” It is not accidental that many large corporations employ professional writers to produce promotional material.
Distribute your content
Being a content marketer means more than just having a social media profile and putting up pretty pictures and fluffy posts. You will also be tasked with creating valuable information that people are willing to read or listen to.
Content marketers must produce quality written messages and/or audio products to ensure their success.
That’s not to say that anyone can write an easy fluff piece, nor should you underestimate the importance of writing quality material.
Build an online presence
A few years ago, content marketing was mostly talked about in theory. Now it’s one of the hottest trends to emerge within digital marketing strategies. Companies are experimenting with every way they can use content to draw attention to their business and promote new products and services.
Content marketers produce and distribute written materials or videos that appeal to your audience. Some examples include blogs, white papers, eBooks, and YouTube videos.
By creating and distributing quality content, you’ll increase your company’s visibility across many platforms. This will help you connect with prospective customers as well as current ones.
It also helps you develop your own reputation as an expert in your field. When people read your writing or listen to what you have to say, they’ll form opinions about you and your business.
