Puzzled by what is “Content Marketing”? 

Here are 12 tips on how to do it.

What is content marketing? Content Marketing is a marketing approach to delivering valuable information to a specific audience.

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as:

“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

This involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) the value is that created is meant to spark interest in its products or services.

The benefits of creating content go far beyond that. In a world where the attention of most everyone is online, creating content that entertains, educates, and engages can be a great way for your target audience to get to know the “personality” of your business. By personality, we mean literally everything about your business such as the ambiance when they walk in, the story behind your business, your team, visuals of how your most popular products are made, and more! The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating content and the best part is that there are many different ways that your audience is able to consume your content. Photos, videos, podcasts, infographics, and blogs are just a few of those ways. However, it is that you choose to share content with your audience, there is always an ultimate end goal of driving profitable customer action. This is content marketing, and the value of content marketing lies in the relationship between your customer and your company. Here are 12 tips to help you organize and execute your content marketing strategy:

• Know your audience

Picture your typical customer, their age, income, and problems? One of the best practices to get to know your audience is to create a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a fictional character that represents the average user type that might use your site, brand, or product. By creating a buyer persona you get to know who your demographics are and what type of content they will be interested in. 

• Create a Content Calendar 

Why create a content calendar? A content calendar helps you plan and organize your topics up to months in advance. Make sure to share it with your team!

• Repurpose content

Think smarter, not harder. Repurposing content is an easy way to recycle your content and give it a fresh look on another platform. For instance, a blog post can be used in many different ways by taking segments of the blog and using them on social media. Think about segmenting one piece of content into different parts. 

• Write in-depth content

When writing your content for your website it’s the best form to write longer pieces with more information. Make sure what you are writing about has relevant information for your customers.

• Target topics with search traffic potential 

When it comes to the planning of content creation, you want to make sure that you are creating content that your audience would be interested in, or is already searching for. This may mean answering a common question in a video or creating a blog about specific tips to help them market their business. Focusing on these will give you a competitive advantage in the search engines (SEO) because you know they are topics that your audience is actually searching for. A great way to start looking for ideas is by looking at your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If you would like to dive deeper, you can register your website with Google Search Console which will help you determine which keywords your website is ranking for in the search results. Knowing these keywords can be very valuable because you can then create content that is relevant to those popular keywords, thus giving you a better chance to rank higher in search results. 

• Solve for the reader

When creating content remember your two primary goals to educate and solve the reader’s problems. Chances are you will have good success by providing content that is helpful and informative. Who doesn’t love free advice?

• Get consistent 

Keep content consistent and up to date. A content calendar will help you manage and stay consistent with your content on a weekly basis. Overall, consistency is key. Publishing consistent content will help build trust with your readers.

• Try putting out a series of content

The best way to stretch your content is to make a series out of one topic. This helps your audience get engaged and look forward to the next part of the series. Ideas to think about are a video series that can then be posted on other social media platforms. Try making it into a podcast or a series of blogs. Putting out a series is a great way to pull in the reader and have them wanting more.

• Put thought into image selection 

Images are the second most important factor when it comes to content on your website. Make sure your images are at a good resolution and put some thought into which image will go well with your topic. Try avoiding overly stock images and go for images that connect with people. People love seeing real faces in photos. 

• Know your industry and keep it to your niche 

Knowing your industry is more important than ever to dial down and target a specific group of people. When you become an expert in your niche in your industry you can enhance your customer relationships and become a thought leader in your community. 

• Publish original content

Original content is content that is around a topic that has never been published before. This means writing about a topic that has not been covered before. Think about how you can make your content different from what others are publishing. Original content coming from your brand will help your audience connect with you better. 

By having originality you’ll be able to grow your brand and set yourself apart from your competitors. Here are a few examples you can use for original content:

• Case Studies

• Videos
• Infographics
• Social Media Posts

• Make sure you analyze your results with measurable metrics:

 It is important to ​​track your performance so you can decide if you are going in the right direction. Quality content is important but doesn’t mean much if your viewers don’t convert into customers. Focusing on your analytics can also help you refine and improve your strategy when you see what content is resonating with your audience.

It is safe to say that there is no one way or correct strategy when it comes to content marketing. Each industry will have its own target audience with its own unique demographics and behaviors, so it is important to test and find out which content your audience best responds to. Remember to always have in mind the idea of educating and providing value for your audience. The more you understand, provide value to, and build the relationship with your audience, the more they will trust you and eventually take the actions in your funnel that you want them to take. Content Marketing is a long-term strategy and once you acquire momentum and build a stack of valuable content for your audience, it will be like a library that they can refer back to. The first step to creating a great content marketing strategy is to get started.