The Internet is abuzz with articles and info-pieces on how content marketing is the stepping stone for pushing your business towards success. However, most of these are filled unnecessarily with jargon and hyperbole. Our article will cut out the frills and tell you what exactly content marketing is and how you can use it for building a brand for your business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a rank newcomer into the world of content marketing or someone just looking to brush up on the fundamentals, you will find this article has something for every one of you.
To understand what content marketing is, we have to understand what we know to be content. What is content? Content is the communication that businesses use to reach out to their existing client base or potential customers. It doesn’t matter which form it comes in. It could be an article, a video, an infographic, a podcast and so on and so forth. Now, what is content marketing? Content marketing is when we use this content to achieve a certain marketing goal for our organization. For e.g. Make new conversions or retain customers. We hear a lot about SEO. SEO would not exist if not for content since it is the content that we optimize, so it is easily found by search engines when you type in a related keyword to find similar content.
Even though more and more companies are waking up to the benefits of content marketing, there are still some that do not quite comprehend what it is all about. Firstly, content marketing builds brand value. It keeps your brand active in the popular imagination, so the brand recall value is high, converting to increased sales. Secondly, it is an exercise in trust-building between your audience and you. If you consistently put out reliable content, the audience will seek you out for advice on their purchase. Next, when you produce interesting eye-catching content, you are grabbing eyeballs. These new visitors to your website/social media page will now be curious to find out more about your company and look through the products and services that you offer. It can easily translate to them liking something enough to make a purchase. Content marketing will also increase incoming traffic to your website and improve your SEO ranking.
Once you’ve decided that content marketing is worth the effort, what you need to do is decide on a content strategy. The content strategy will shape your content marketing strategy. Once, you’ve finalized the vision for what you want your content to achieve, you can get to work on how to achieve the same. In order to have a good content strategy, you need to figure out who your audience is. Everything from the demographic to their preferred channels of communication to their pain points should be carefully considered. A good place to begin is a content audit. If you already have existing content that you have created earlier, go through it and organize it to make it more readily accessible. Always remember to tailor your content to reflect your company’s perspective.
Content marketing can be divided into four stages – Discovery, Consideration, Conversion and Retention. In the first phase, your efforts are directed towards generating interest among people. Blog posts, videos, webinars and email newsletters all work well to market content in this stage. Consideration is to the middle of the content marketing funnel where you’re trying to engage the customer one-on-one. Product descriptions, case studies and how-to articles all help differentiate your offering from that of your peers. Conversion comes next, you are trying to make one last attempt at securing the transaction that you know is already coming. Reviews, testimonials and such content work great at this stage. The last stage i.e. Retention is where you try to convert one-time buyers into regular customers. Customer support, email outreach and special offers go a long way here.
Content Marketing is the driving force behind businesses today. You cannot stand to be oblivious to it or you will be missing out on crucial business leads and opportunities for conversion. So what are you waiting for? Dive into the world of content marketing and learn the tricks that will keep your business afloat even in the times to come.
