We have all heard the expression ‘content is king’ but what is content marketing and how can we use this in our marketing strategy? Well, here goes! Content marketing is the provision of informative, valuable and relevant information to customers, both existing and potential, with a marketing purpose.
Businesses have realised that they can build an online community and engage with potential customers by providing them with something of value for something in return i.e. an action from the customer. The desired action may be to get an email address, subscribe to a newsletter, click through to website, call a number, complete a survey or even a sale.
This content has subtle marketing messages within and builds a relationship with visitors with an end goal of sales and repeat business. It is a great opportunity to prove you know your stuff and build trust with your potential customers.
Did you know?
61% of consumers say they feel better about a company that delivers custom content, they are also more likely to buy from that company. Also interesting content is a top 3 reason people follow brands on social media. B2B companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month on average than non-blogging firms! All great reasons to get creative and bash out some engaging content! (Stats from inboundwriter.com)
What type of content should I produce?
The type of content you should be producing very much depends on your product or service and industry but here are some ideas:
- Blogs
- Whitepapers
- Videos
- Mobile apps
- Special Reports
- Tutorials
Remember…
Make your content irresistible! Your reader simply has to see it! Raise questions; solve a problem they may have in a really interesting way. Keep your content exciting and unique and stuffed with bags of useful information.
Examples of Content Creating Kings
A perfect example of a business that has truly grasped the content marketing strategy is Kraft Foods. Launching Kraftfoods.com in 1992 they provided really useful and valuable content from recipes, money saving ideas, cooking tips and an interactive community to share it all. Evidently the ROI on their content marketing efforts is among the highest of al their marketing efforts!
Another great brand is Colgate. With their Oral and Dental Health Resource Centre providing “fast answers to your Family’s oral care questions”. You can access heaps of useful information and visuals demonstrating good oral hygiene practises, tooth anatomy and common problems. Of course a full product range and its benefits is featured too!
Other Tips to Consider
Use social media as a platform to promote your content, don’t be afraid to encourage people to share and like it. You can share this post if you find it useful by clicking the social media icons at the bottom of the page – much appreciated!
Make sure you create a unique title that grabs attention and tells the reader what to expect when they click on your article or video. Use keywords and power words to put relevancy and emphasis on what you’re saying and be persuasive in getting people to click through to read/view your content.
Be sure to include keywords in the first paragraph of your articles to confirm to your reader that they have found what they were looking for. But beware of keyword stuffing, you don’t want to be penalised by Google.
Include a relevant feature image and don’t forget to add alt text to it with your keyword included.
Always take the opportunity to provide or get more information. If you don’t provide a way for them to give you their information or claim some additional information you have missed a trick! Yes the articles are great for SEO (search engine optimisation) but surely you want to get a new lead or customer while you’re at it? Be subtle though. You don’t want to go in for the hard sell. Let your landing page and sales team do that. Just deliver valuable content and ensure the visitor can click through to more information if they want to. Slowly slowly catchy monkey!
- Provide links to more content, for example ‘liked our article? Download this free eBook now’ or ‘Enjoy our short bread tutorial? See how to bake the perfect chocolate cookies – click here’
- Include hyperlinks to your website for more information
- Feature an enquiry or contact us form where you can gather their details and get your sales team to follow up with a phone call, letter or email
- Include a subscription box where they can provide their email address in exchange for your fabulous content rich newsletter each month, which may also feature some of your best selling products and tempt towards a purchase!
In summary, content marketing should be part of every marketer’s strategy going forward. Content marketing is changing what people expect from brands. Going the extra mile to provide something of extra use and value to your customers truly is great acquisition marketing tactic. Get brainstorming now!