In an era where marketing and advertising opportunities are seemingly endless, especially with regards to online marketing, it’s more important than ever to develop a strategic hierarchy for your sales and marketing goals. At the very top of your strategy should be your content, or content marketing as it is often called.
Content is the best way to begin to build a relationship with potential customers, and it is also the way that you will keep your current clients engaged with your brand online and all the way through to real world sales situations. If you are in the process of establishing your marketing strategy and considering where to concentrate your marketing efforts, here is what you need to know about making content your priority.
Why use content as a marketing tool?
Content marketing, specifically with regards to online content production, is one of the most non self-serving but successful marketing tools out there. What this means is that when you produce content, you should not be doing it with the aim of constant self-promotion, but instead, you should be packaging valuable and relevant information that your specific target audience will find interesting and important. When you produce content, your goal should be to serve others with facts, figures, statistics, photos, videos, or articles on topics that are relevant to your brand and valuable to your customer base.[ctt_hbox link=”Ra9eu” ] Content can elevate you to a position of thought leadership, and it can help you build credibility as a brand and product or service.[/ctt_hbox]
Content Marketing Statistics
You may have heard the phrase that “content is king.” Whether it’s video, graphics, blogs, guidebooks, podcasts, etc., content is the driver of any successful marketing plan.
- 75% of marketers are investing more in content marketing strategies
- [ctt_hbox link=”ga21t” ]70% of consumers would rather learn about a brand through informative articles than through traditional advertising[/ctt_hbox]
- Experts predict content marketing to be a $300 billion industry by 2019
- Over 90% of marketers used visual content in more than 50% of articles they published
- [ctt_hbox link=”Ms2qN” ]79% of Internet traffic will be video content by 2018[/ctt_hbox]
What is a content strategy?
If content is the driver, strategy is the vehicle. Content marketing requires a strategic approach in the very same way that other marketing and advertising techniques require a plan. It’s an unfortunate misconception that you should simply throw anything out there and see what works.
When developing a content strategy, you should do plenty of research to find out exactly
why your ideal customer would buy from your business. Use your customer
psychographic information to formulate not only who your customer is (age, sex, salary-range, etc.), but
why your customer is interested in your product (motivations, interests, thoughts, buying decisions, etc.).
Once you know who your customer is and why they need your product, create content that solves a problem for them, and think about how to create an emotional connection with your customer. When your content educates by solving a problem, and you can identify an emotional connection to your customer base, then you have capitalized on the triggers that will create a reason for people to act by consuming your content and engaging with your brand.
Content Marketing Reminders
When creating content there are some things to always keep in mind.
- Remember to keep your content consistent with your brand across all marketing and social media channels. Don’t use random “popular” content if it doesn’t have anything to do with what you are promoting as a company image and product.
- [ctt_hbox link=”NxO4z” ]The fastest way to create distrust in your audience is to have an inconsistent brand.[/ctt_hbox]
- Avoid pushy sales content. Ensure that your audience is clearly defined and that you are creating content that is solving a problem for your ideal potential customer. Use your customer psychographics to define your audience.
- Use your content to educate and elevate your brand to a thought leadership position. Don’t get bogged down in trends; stay focused and high-level. Your audience will recognize quality and authenticity. (https://allproshadeconcepts.com)
- Think about how to repurpose your content to get the most out of your time and efforts while reaching the most people.
- [ctt_hbox link=”3HMe4″ ]Consider how each piece of content fits into your marketing sales funnel.[/ctt_hbox]
If you are in the process of creating a marketing strategy,
give us a call at Miss Ink. We can help you develop the right content for your blog and social media platforms. With over 10 years of experience in content and social media marketing strategy, we are here to help you build your brand online.
References:
Ahmad, I. (2017, June 22). Content Marketing Statistics & Trends – 2017 Edition [infographic]. Retrieved July 10, 2017, from http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/content-marketing-statistics-trends-2017-edition-infographic
