Over three-quarters of all companies use content marketing as part of their promotional strategy. If you’re in the one quarter, don’t worry, over half the companies doing content marketing are doing it wrong.
Content marketing represents a different approach to marketing. Instead of telling people what to do and why to care, content marketing aims to share information people want to consume but that also positions their product or service as the best possible solution. Examples of such content could be eBooks, blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.
Using content marketing in this way is a form of inbound marketing.
This is in contrast to outbound marketing, which sends information outwards towards the consumer. Examples include print ads, online display ads, direct mail, etc. This approach can be successful, but it has one major drawback: it’s hard to get people’s attention.
Content marketing helps to address this problem because it aims to pull people towards you by providing them with information that’s relevant and valuable to them. The goal is to get people to engage with your content and share it, and also to realise that your product or service is exactly what they need to solve the problem they are facing.
However, the major drawback is that content marketing takes time. You need to spend time figuring out which types of content work, and then you actually need to create the content, which is no small feat.
Creating Content People Want
Content marketing is designed to provide the people you are trying to reach with the information they want or need. This means that content marketing can work alongside a number of your other marketing efforts, such as:
- Social media provides a line of direct communication with your target audience.
- Email marketing allows you to promote content to the people who will find it most interesting
- SEO gets a boost from content marketing as pages get attention, social shares and backlinks.
- Advertising and search engine marketing (SEM) become more affective when you have good content to link back to
- Public relations help to boost your content to the widest audience possible
Know Your Audience
You content marketing efforts won’t likely do well if you don’t first have a good understanding of your target audience. Make sure to do some market research, and if you haven’t already, create a buyer persona. This is a fictional person who represents your target audience. It will help you learn what types of content your audience wants and how they like to get it.
Fit Your Product into Your Audience’s Needs
When studying your target audience, it’s important to figure out how their needs factor into the mix. Then, you need to think about how your product or service might fit into their search for a solution. Positioning what you offer as a way to fix people’s problems is a great way to generate interest for your products.
Make a Plan
As you get into the world of content marketing, it’s important to have a plan. This includes setting objectives, determining the channels you’re going to use, and also how you’re going to measure your success.
Overall, content marketing is a great way to generate interest for your brand and your product. If you’re not doing it, then it’s most likely time to give it a try.