Content Is King in the Digital Era
Did you know that content marketing is rated three times more efficient when it comes to lead generation than outbound marketing?
That means you can triple your lead generation numbers with the right content marketing strategy.
Content marketing, however, is about more than merely putting up articles, random images, and populating your social media pages. There must be a marketing strategy behind your content.
In the digital era, marketing is everything! We chatted with our man Kevin D'Arcy of Thinkfuel Marketing who also happens to run our Marketing CNNX group. We explore how to stand out amongst the crowd with a content marketing strategy.
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What is Content Marketing?
Various professionals may give slightly varied descriptions of what content marketing is, but the core concept always remains the same.
Content marketing is a marketing strategy that is based on the creation, publishing, and digital distribution of content related to your brand and business to a specific target audience. The goal of this content?
It is to bring new traffic to your website or business and thereby convert those 'visitors' to new customers.
The Basis of Successful Content Marketing
Before you can implement a successful content marketing campaign, you need to understand your target audience and where they "hang out" in the digital world.
An in-depth analysis is required, based on the research of your current customers and potential customers. Who are they? How old are they? Where are they from? What things do they like to see online? What do they interact with and engage with in the online world?
For example, if the product you're selling is targeted towards middle-aged, middle-class women, then you wouldn't advertise content that is suitable for 20-something-year-olds. You wouldn't engage the interest of the right type of customer.
Once you've performed the research, and created a report that gives you all the information you need to engage with your ideal target audience, then the basis of your content marketing strategy is complete.
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Why Content Marketing is Important!
(And What You Can Do With It)
From here, you'll need to build a strategy for your content marketing plan. This means that you'll be putting together the type of content your business will be posting and distributing online. So why is content marketing important, and what can you achieve with the right content marketing strategy?
1. Increasing Brand Awareness
Content marketing is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to build your online brand presence and awareness.
If you're posting the right kind of content for your audience, then you'll be directing the relevant traffic to your website with ease. People who may not have been aware of your brand and business will become mindful of your existence and thus start to engage more with your content.
The more shareable your content is, the more likely your brand is likely to spread, and therefore, your brand awareness should grow.
2. It's Great For Your SEO
Your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can only be improved through the right content marketing plan.
Posting the right articles and blogs onto your website can increase the keyword presence on your site, thereby slowly starting to increase your ranking in search engines.
If your content is relevant, and your links are of high-quality, Google will recognize your content as useful and show it to more people searching phrases that your business can solve.
3. Generate More Leads
Content marketing is the right way to create a higher rate of lead generation. If your content is relevant and useful to your audience, you're more likely to convert a visitor to an actual lead.
The right content will encourage conversions by allowing you to build trust and relationships with your readers.
This is purely because you're able to give customers content that allows them to make a more educated purchase as opposed to being indecisive due to lack of information.
4. Enables You To Be a Recognized Expert
If you search any given phrase on the internet, you're bound to come up with thousands of companies offering the same service. If you land on a website that has excellent, educational, relevant, and useful information, you're more likely to view them as an expert in their field.
This is what content marketing can do for you.
Content gives you the ability to showcase your expertise in your field as you'll be providing them with valuable knowledge.
If you're providing them with that valuable knowledge and being viewed as an expert, a visitor to your website will most likely become a customer as they do not only see your expertise, but they're building trust in your brand.
5. Show Your Brand's Lighter Side
As we've said above, competition is stiff in the digital world, and you need content marketing to set yourself apart from your competitors.
However, content is also an opportunity to humanize your brand.
Through content-driven videos and your social media platforms, you can choose to show your audience behind the curtain. It can be said that people these days enjoy being able to interact with brands that have light-hearted and relevant content. Don't be afraid to show them behind the scenes and a glimpse into what makes your brand tick, if you do so, customers will probably feel more connected to your brand on an emotional level than a more massive corporation.
Content Marketing is a Journey
Content marketing is a journey. It's as simple as that.
You need to remember that when you embark on this journey, that you need to be willing to adapt and evolve as time goes on. Your audience may evolve, and the type of content they want to read and see might change, so be prepared for this.
Make sure that you have measurable goals in place before you launch; this will allow you to make changes to your content marketing strategy if you're not getting the results that you'd initially hoped for.
If you'd like to see more sources on content marketing, read this.
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Kevin D'Arcy - Chief Marketing Enthusiast at Thinkfuel
Kevin strives to provide clarity, honesty, and unique insights into every engagement. Kevin helps companies improve their lead generation, enhance customer acquisition, and increase revenue. With over 18 years of inbound and content marketing experience with B2B technology companies, Kevin brings a straightforward approach to marketing with results that can be measured. He also has the most adorable hound dog that frequently comes to work with him.