By Marc Mendelman
Marketing is an important aspect of a business. There are several types of marketing in business and content marketing is one of them. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that is focused on distributing valuable and consistent content to attract a clearly defined audience and to drive effective client actions.
This type of marketing is done through digital media such as Facebook and Twitter and websites, though it comes before your social media strategy. Content marketing is not all about posting ‘stuff,’ it involves a well-calculated strategy.
Getting Started with Content Marketing
The old saying and the most overused phrase in the digital world “content is king” is true because it has proven itself over time. Easy as it sounds it might just be the hardest thing when you sit down and think of it in a broader aspect. Writing a blog and adding more pages to your site doesn’t necessarily constitute content marketing. You require an active keyword research, excellent grammar, a buyer’s persona, a top-notch creativity and a bucket load of ideas.
How to Build a Content Marketing Strategy
Quoting local Consumer Review Survey, eight out of ten consumers in the business industry trust online reviews more than a personal recommendation for a service or a product. Mr. Sujal Patel of the Content Marketing Institute said that the reason why content marketing is growing at a faster rate is that consumers need assurance that they are going to get what they pay for. He added that content brings the brand’s integrity and builds the customers trust in a product.
For you to create a content marketing strategy, you need to:
- Work with an internet bloggers or influencers and make sure they endorse your product.
- Make sure your content brings authority.
- Invite a ‘guru’ in your industry to come and share his content on your website or your blog.
- Link up with other site owners and secure a guest column of your content.
- Ask for some reviews from your clients and review base such as Yelp.
How Important is Content Marketing?
The Consumer: Consumer search for information about products. Consumers have a high appetite for information more so because they require assurance before purchasing a product or substance. The customer looks for features, compare prices before making a deal with the seller. It is so critical nowadays that consumer search for as little as groceries. Consumers need contents that help them make proper decisions. It has been proven that over 60% of consumer prefer to learn about business than the old form of advertisements. The survey also states that 80% prefers information about a product in the form of articles instead of the old advertisement technique.
The Business Owner: As seen, content marketing builds a good customer relationship while avoiding the “hard-sell” tactics which are less effective. By highlighting important topics that propel your business, you gain trust from customers hence business growth. When your content is well researched and articulated it will create traffic in your search engine eventually your content will reach many people as they will share your content.
According to campaignium, a recent survey showed that content marketing was the most searched topic on the internet for passing hot topics like marketing automation and social media marketing. According to the article, businesses with blogs attract inbound links and attract more visitors to the firm website.
How Content Marketing is Developed
There are five critical steps to follow when developing a content marketing plan:
- Planning – Create the objective you need. An example is how your content will compliment the sales, the promotion or the service.
- Audience – Is your audience homogenous or just a single one. Or is your content supposed to benefit many audiences. Is there a connection between your interest and their concern?
- Content development – Establish a tone that represents the value of your or business. Optimize your business objective.
- Implement – The distribution of your content matters a lot.if you are going to start your blog ensure that it is consistent and regularly updated.
- Monitor results – In this last step ensure that there is progress, ensure the impact of your content is positive, access the number of reviews, likes, shares. Check if people are asking questions or are they lodging complaints.
To be an established business person, your approach to marketing strategies matters a lot. So, if you want to prosper in your business try having at least a website or a blog because the future of advertisement is digital marketing. Try to follow the simple steps outlined above and see your business take a step forward.