Content marketing has two essential perspectives, both equally valuable and indispensable for your digital marketing strategy.
From one side, it is a strategy that speaks, informs, and retains your audience. It has the potential to establish the brand and create a community that, further on, dictates the quality of your products and finally — creates a profit.
On the other hand, it is a purely technical craft that serves to speak to the behind-the-scenes algorithms which influence your visibility within the online market.
In the following text, you will discover all the essential information about content marketing basics. You can then have a clear idea on why content marketing is so important for your business and how to get started.
<H2> Why is Content Marketing Important?
Think of it as a first impression! And we all know the great importance of a positive first impression and how it can influence one’s focus direction. If content marketing was a person, it would be a true attention-seeker.
According to ProfitWell, 47% of buyers view 3 to 5 pieces of content before deciding to engage with the brand. If done right, content has the power not only to attract but also retain the customers, increase overall sales and build a successful brand. According to HubSpot 40% of marketers claim that content marketing represents a very important part of their overall marketing strategy.
Speaking of numbers, content marketing is perfectly measurable and can provide you an insight into 5 important elements that could be used for your marketing strategy improvement:
- Brand awareness – Track the number of people that your content reached out to.
- Engagement – Check if people are engaging with your brand via onsite content, or social media.
- Customer retention / loyalty – Inspect the number of returning customers.
- Lead generation – Follow up on how successfully you capture customer information; newsletter subscriptions, email signups, Facebook followers.
- Sales – Keep up with your conversion rates and overall success of marketing campaigns.
Last but not least, content marketing is quite cost-friendly. DemandMetric studies claim that content marketing has lower costs by 62% than traditional marketing while generating about three times more leads. So let’s dive deeper into this topic and save your money.
Growing Success Rate of Content Marketing
Source: VISME
<H2> What are the types of Content Marketing?
Content represents just anything that communicates a message to the client. Whether it is in the form of text, video, or image and whether it serves to inform, entertain or sell. Here are the most popular types of content marketing:
<H3> Social Media Content Marketing
According to Statista, there are 3.6 billion social media users worldwide. Therefore, it is easy to understand why many companies opt for this particular type of marketing. The second good reason must be the diversity of content type and all the different channels at your disposal that can cater to any company’s needs. Social media marketing comes in text, image, video, and podcast forms while using Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin, and Instagram as the top channels for promotion.
<H3> Blog Content Marketing
According to HubSpot, blogs are among the primary three forms of media used in content marketing today. You can use blogs as a strategy to develop your brand and enrich your website with some good quality informative content. Besides, ProfitWell claims that companies with blogs tend to get 67% more leads. Nevertheless, if words just don’t come easy to you, check out the next item on the list.
Business Blog in Content Marketing
Source: VISME
<H3> Infographic Content Marketing
Infographic content is a visual representation of information. It can consist of short sentences, words, images, and graphs in a single unit that serve to render important information super clear to any type of audience. This combination of verbal and visual content has the power to attract attention and effectively educate your potential customers at the same time.
<H3> Video Content Marketing
According to Wyzow research, 93% of brands claim that they obtained a new customer just by sharing a video on social media. Furthermore, video has proved to be a successful content strategy by increasing the traffic and time spent on the website. From the customer’s point of view, videos provide a better insight into the product information and often end up being reshared with friends. In fact, 84% of customers reported buying a product or a service after watching a brand’s video. Don’t forget that the customer is always right!
<H3> Podcast Content Marketing
Edison Research stats claim that podcasts are becoming increasingly popular, as 39% of men and 36% of women claim to be monthly podcast listeners. The reason why podcasts have become so attractive is because they provide a practical input of information while presenting content that is fun and easy to process. You can also involve other participants and stage quite a show for your followers while informing them about the product or service of your choice. The floor is yours!
<H3> Paid Ad Content Marketing
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 72% of B2B marketers say content marketing significantly increases engagement and the number of leads they generate. If paired up with good quality content, paid ads can reach a broader audience and display your brand’s name wherever you want to be seen. You can use paid ads to position your content on social media, Internet browsers, banners, landing pages, or sponsored content.
<H2> What Makes Good Quality Content?
The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to the rapidly increasing content marketing trend. However, there are certain elements you should consider if you want to offer only the good stuff to your audience. Take a look!
<H3> Relevance is the Priority
Whether you decide to write a blog post, present a video or create a podcast, make sure it contains something that your audience really needs to hear. Carol Forden research states that 78% of consumers will have more trust in your brand if you create customized content. Successful campaigns should contain content that is tailored according to the targeted audience, providing them with some kind of solutions or products that are supposed to fulfil their precious needs.
<H3> SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search engine optimization renders the content visible to the public and represents one of the key features in the digital marketing industry. When the market becomes so incredibly saturated, you want to do anything possible to stand out from the crowd, especially because only 0,78% of Google users click on the second page of Google search results ,according to IMPACT research results. Keyword selection and their wise implementation into the content is the winning strategy. However, the quality and the length of the content seem to be equally important for Google algorithms.
Google Keyword Research – Autocomplete Strategy
Source: WebsiteBuilder NINJA
<H3> Quality, Not Quantity
Before you decide to stuff your content with as many keywords as it can take, think about how it will affect the quality of the message it is supposed to convey. Yes, of course, search engine positioning is essential, but there is nothing that will chase away your clients faster than messy, unreliable, and irrelevant content. Databox research shows that content should target 2 to 5 keywords per unit, not more. And most importantly, good-quality marketing content should be accurate, comprehensive, and spotless when it comes to language use.
<H3> Consistency Is the Key
eMarketer claims that 60% of marketers create at least one piece of content each day. Consistency is the key to success for reliable and valuable brands. So keep it coming! Content creation should be ongoing and loyal to the quality, topics, and purpose that the audience expects.
<H2> How to Get Started?
First thing’s first, if you feel ready to embark on a journey of content marketing, make sure that you arm yourself with patience and perseverance. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was any known successful content marketing campaign. All the great things in life take effort and consistency. The good news is that conversion rates spike up six times higher for content marketing users according to Neil Patel, so let’s get to work with some good tips on how to get started.
<H3> Identify Your Audience
Customers are the most important part of your business, so make sure you go the extra mile to get to know them. Create your customer personas according to their age, demographic information, interests, and channels they use. Invest your time in researching and exploring trends, places where your personas hang out, and most importantly- get to know your competition. Once you establish your customer personas, base your content marketing strategy on their characteristics. And remember, even imaginary customers are always right!
Buyer Persona Creation
Source: yo!kart
<H3> Choose Your Formats Wisely
Take your time and brainstorm the formats that will showcase your products in the best light. This will very much depend on your audience type and the services you plan to offer. For example, if your target audience consists of younger consumers, focus on videos and podcasts as they are captivating and easy to comprehend. If however, you wish to demonstrate your expertise in a more professional way, stick to infographics and blog posts.
<H3> Set a Sustainable Schedule and Stick to It
If you are not in it for the long haul, don’t bother to start. Be honest with yourself and create a realistic and sustainable schedule for at least 3 to 6 months ahead. A successful content marketing strategy is an ongoing activity that requires consistent efforts. Also, make sure you are in the right place at the right time and realign your schedule with your audience. Stalk your followers and tend to post your content when they are the most responsive.
<H3> Track Your Progress
Marketing business is creative and progressive. Trends tend to change and customers will crave something new and refreshing before you can pronounce “search engine optimization strategy”. So don’t forget to track your progress and be ready to experiment and make changes along the way. Possibilities are endless, you just need to explore and choose the right ones at the right time.
Measure Your Progress
Source: WorkPack
<H2> Is Content Marketing Worth the Hype?
If you are thinking about joining the content marketing trend, the numbers are on your side. It has proved to be more successful in generating leads, it is significantly cost-effective, and experts tend to prioritise it. Possibilities are endless, and the only challenge standing before you is choosing the right ones. Curiosity, persistence, and creativity are the winning elements to make it all worthwhile.
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