Tell Stories with Content Marketing

Understanding Content Marketing

Content marketing is an inbound marketing strategy that focuses on providing valuable information to capture the interest of a particular market. There are various strategies and techniques within content marketing, which is why it’s crucial for marketers to completely understand the concepts and principles behind it.

As a business owner or a marketer, you need a holistic understanding of the concept and its background, especially because there’s a thin line that separates inbound marketing and content marketing. It’s important to understand how they support each other, so you can then convince your boss to invest in a solid content marketing strategy that builds your brand and generates quality leads.

Benefits of Content Marketing

Not yet convinced you need the power of content marketing for your business?

Content marketing can benefit your company in a number of ways, namely through building brand awareness, establishing the brand as a thought leader and industry authority, improving online visibility, and generating/nurturing sales leads.

Identifying Buyer Personas

Identifying your target audience and having a clear picture of who they are is paramount to the success of any marketing endeavor. That’s why marketers need to create buyer personas. A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer and usually describes their demographics, characteristics, pain points, and needs, making them the foundation of your target market.

Without a buyer persona, there’s a risk of the content plan losing direction and focus. Remember, you want to create the right content, for the right people, at the right time. So, always keep your customers top-of-mind with the help of documented buyer personas.

Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy

Your company needs that edge, that oomph. These resources can help you develop a solid content marketing strategy that will boost your sales and profit.

Building a Content Marketing Team

Successful content marketing cannot be achieved by just one person. It takes a lot of time and effort that may be too taxing for an individual. But, who are the key players in a winning content marketing team, and what are the qualities of a great content creator? And for those forming the content strategies, what skills do they need to be successful?

Great content marketers never assume anything and do extensive research to support their statements with facts and data. They are avid readers who like to use more established authors’ writing styles as influences on their own. More importantly, content marketers should serve their readers, and as such, use language that’s direct, simple, and easy to consume.

Before you start hiring or outsourcing content creators, convince your colleagues to blog regularly. It’s also an integral part of the overall content strategy.

Content Marketing Tools

These days, there’s a wide variety of software and tools designed to help content marketers with their day-to-day tasks. These tools can help streamline operations and make you a better content marketer. But, which ones do you really need? Each content marketing tool offers unique advantages and features, but when it comes to content marketing, your content calendar may be your most important tool. The following posts will help you compare a few popular tools before you decide between paid, free, and premium software.

Creating High Performing Content

It’s time to start creating valuable content to boost your website traffic and generate leads. Cut through the noise and create content that your buyer persona needs and wants. Learn how to catch and hold a user’s attention, and make them see that you’re an authority in your field.

Content Formats

Blogging isn’t just about writing articles. Content can come in many different forms and styles, from snackables and resource articles to infographics and other visual content. So, how do you choose content formats that your audience will appreciate?

As a general rule, you have to remember that today’s online users have an attention span shorter than that of a goldfish. Yes, we know the study wasn’t definitive, but in reality, you really do only have about 8 seconds to grab a user’s attention and deliver what they want before they leave your website in search of other content that does.

This isn’t only true because online users have short attention spans, but also because they’re getting bombarded with content on a regular basis, making them more selective and discerning.

Go back to your buyer persona, and choose a content format that they will best appreciate based on their online behavior. Then, you can further optimize your process by testing various content formats and seeing which ones work best in your unique circumstances.

Promoting And Distributing Your Content

Your work doesn’t stop at publishing. To get your content in front of the right eyes, you need to promote and distribute it to the right people, using the right channels, at the right time.

Measuring Content Performance

You can learn a lot about your content marketing campaigns through data analytics. With a solid understanding of the important metrics to measure your blog performance, you can determine what types of content and what topics resonate with your audience.

Data analytics will also help you know when to expect your content marketing efforts to bear fruit. These metrics will allow you to figure out what a high-converting blog page looks like and what promotions strategies are the most effective. Capitalize on these insights by scaling strategies that work and abandoning those that don’t.

Remember: Consistently and continuously publish content. If you stop blogging, your metrics will inevitably decrease, and potential clients may wonder if you’re still in business. Show your audience that you’re an aggressive content marketer by posting valuable and informative content on a regular basis.

Struggling to achieve results, or not even sure how to measure the ROI of content marketing?

What Great Content Marketing Looks Like

Let the companies and businesses that succeeded in content marketing inspire you. You don’t necessarily have to emulate their every move, but you can adopt fundamental strategies and apply them to your strategies, to help you reach your target market and further your goals.