What in the world is content marketing exactly? What makes it different than traditional marketing? Well, “it’s a strategic approach that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience” (Content Marketing Institute). Think of it this way. It’s much less spammy than traditional ads and doesn’t really pitch your product or services. Instead, it presents your audience with content that helps them solve their issues through the use of videos, blogs, social media, infographics, etc. with the intention of stimulating interest. But why is this type of marketing more prevalent now than it was 20 years ago? Well, for one thing, the internet has changed the market drastically since the 90’s, but another reason is that people cannot stand pop up advertising anymore on the web. Today, over 200 million people have installed pop-up blockers that, in turn, reduces the number of eyes on paid advertisements online, according to The Content Marketing Institute. Content marketing gets your brand out there without having to produce online pop-up ads. Here are some other key reasons why content marketing is on top today.
1. Higher website traffic. Content marketing leaders get 7.8x’s more site traffic than non-leaders (Neil Patel)
2. Increased Brand Recall. 56% of marketers believe that personalized content promotes higher engagement rates (IMB Digital Experience Survey) High-quality content that is relevant will increase the amount of time that consumers spend on their sites. Thusly, increasing engagement as well.
3. Cost effective! Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates 3x’s as many leads (Demand Metric)
4. Higher conversion rates. It’s nearly 6x’s higher than traditional marketing, according to Julia McCoy.
Now that it is obvious why content marketing has taken a seat in the front row, let’s talk about where your content marketing strategy fits into your business plan. Try to think of content marketing as something that sits alongside your other tactics, not separate from them. Therefore, there is no place that content marketing does not fit in. Some examples of what I mean are social media, inbound marketing, outbound marketing, pay-per-click, PR and even SEO. All of these strategies should include high-quality content marketing that is relevant for your audience.
We’re sure you’re starting to understand why and where content marketing fits in, so let’s now talk about how to develop your content marketing strategy. According to The Content Marketing Institute there are 3 key questions to ask yourself before you begin.
1. Who will be viewing the content?
2. What benefits does the content give the viewers?
3. What content experience can we consistently deliver?
Once you have the answers to these questions, it’s time to set your SMART goals and determine Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). For your goals, are you trying to increase brand awareness or boost engagement? There are so many goals to choose from so your brand will need to determine the main reason why you’re creating this content. This will also determine what KPI’s will be important to track based on the initial goals of the content. For example, if your goal is to increase engagement, then a good KPI would be looking at the engagement numbers for the campaign. Now that you’ve set your goals & KPI’s, it’s time to decide what type of content to create. What does your audience need from you and what problem are you trying to solve for them? After you have determined this, you must decide where you want your content to go: social media, print, etc. Most importantly, what is the budget for this content marketing campaign? This can alter what you create. For example, if your budget is smaller, then you may consider using a user generated content ad to save money while still getting a great connection with your audience. Once this has all been determined it is time create, distribute and track the analytics. Some things to look out for in a good campaign are:
1. It receives a lot of engagement
2. It provides worth within the framework of your field
3. You haven’t lost your brand voice
With an effective content marketing campaign, you can increase your conversation rates through building lasting relationships with your customers. Providing value with something other than just your service or products will create a sense of trust with your audience and will engage them with your brand. Also, using this inbound way of marketing are much more effective as a more organic way to gain new customers. And let’s face it, natural is always better!
