Content Marketing for Your Business

Content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media. This approach builds expertise, increases brand awareness, and keeps your business in mind when it’s time to buy what you’re selling.


A content marketing strategy establishes your brand as a thought leader, increasing trust among your audience by creating and distributing content in a variety of ways. Content marketing is a type of inbound marketing that attracts customers and builds loyalty, making it effective for customer retention.

Content marketing definition: what is content marketing?
Content marketing is the development and distribution of relevant and useful content—blogs, newsletters, white papers, social media posts, email—videos, and the like-to current and potential customers. When done right, this content conveys expertise and makes it clear that the company values the people it sells to.

Consistent use of content marketing builds and maintains relationships with your potential customers and existing customers. When your audience perceives your company as a partner interested in their success and a valuable source of advice and guidance, they are more likely to choose you when it comes time to buy.

Why is content marketing important?
Content marketing is an inbound tactic that’s proven to work. Also, it provides a competitive advantage. Take a look at what the data says about content marketing:

Businesses with blogs get 67% more leads than other companies.
67% of business to business (B2B) marketers say B2B content marketing increases engagement and the number of leads they generate.
88% of people praise branded videos for convincing them to buy a product or service.
Content marketing benefits businesses in many ways. If done correctly, an effective content marketing strategy can:

Increase online visibility. A content strategy can help you attract more customers and website visitors, especially when people are constantly looking for solutions to their problems. Offering educational and informative content on topics they are interested in can help you increase your online visibility through your website or social media accounts.
Generate more leads. You can increase leads when content marketing is used to drive traffic. Because educating customers builds trust and helps them feel more comfortable buying from your business, you can generate more leads and start developing relationships with potential buyers.
Increase loyalty. Loyalty is very important in marketing and business because the more loyal your customers are, the more repeat purchases they will make. Offering content that informs consumers can help them start building trust with your brand and see you as a thought leader.
Increase authority. Developing content is ideal for increasing authority and becoming a thought leader in your industry. Content not only helps you build trust, but it can also position your brand as the most authoritative on a given topic.
How content marketing works
Your business can use content marketing to attract leads, make the case for your product or service while someone is researching what to buy, and close the sale.

To use it effectively, you need to deliver the right content at every stage of the sales cycle-from awareness to consideration to purchase. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry: approaching content this way actually simplifies the process.

Here’s how companies use content marketing at every stage of the sales cycle to engage and sell.

Stages of consciousness
At the first stage of the sales process, your content should focus on the main concerns of your audience. Writing about their pain points, challenges, and questions gives you the best chance of engaging with them. Content at the stage of awareness should be educational, advice way. Save your sale for the consideration and closing stages.

The best content for this stage includes articles, blog posts, e-books, videos, and newsletters.

Examples:

A restaurant wrote a blog post about how to plan a menu for a graduation party in the spring.
A bike tour company made a short video on the topic “3 Ways to choose the right bike trip.”
An architectural firm created an e-book called “Questions To Ask Before Hiring an architect.”
Stages of consideration
At the consideration stage, the content should offer a mix of useful and marketing information. It should educate the reader on what features or functions to look for and how the various features meet their needs. Of course, your content should lean towards what your business has to offer.

The best content for this stage includes case studies, how-to articles, how-to videos, and checklists or worksheets.

Examples:__

The cloud-based phone system company created a checklist titled” 8 Ways To Improve Your Phone’s customer service ” that details the features and functions that enable great customer service.
A landscaping company made a case study of “the biggest mistake most people make when hiring a landscaper.”
Catering companies feature case studies of successful events with a focus on the benefits they offer, such as “how to accommodate food allergies at your next event”, or ” how to ensure your caterers use sustainable practices.”
Closing stage
Content marketing plays an important role when potential customers are close to buying. At this stage, you can focus on selling, as long as you keep explaining why you are the best choice rather than how great your service or product is.

Your main message here is expertise, knowledge, and benefits that differentiate from what you’re selling.

Best content for this stage: case studies, user-generated content, buyer’s guides, product videos, Research reports

Examples:

A consulting firm creates research reports that prove that businesses involved in strategic planning, appraisals by outside parties, and other services-shaped by what services it offers-experience higher growth.
A design agency creates short videos that showcase the diversity in its work in various industries to demonstrate its diverse skills.
The orthodontist’s practice encourages patients to contribute testimonials about its state-of-the-art equipment and excellent service.

How to get started with content marketing
Content marketing can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. A successful content marketing campaign must be manageable and sustainable. Take these steps to get started:

Identify your audience
To create content for a specific reader, you need to have a clear idea of their priorities, challenges and preferences. If you have detailed descriptions of your various segments, choose 1 or 2 to write. Otherwise, profile your audience members and prospects before you get started.

Determine the right format
The right Format corresponds to the stage of the sales cycle where you create the content. Other important considerations include what format will best help you display the value. For some, it will be a video; for others, a checklist.

Your audience will judge your content based on its quality, and they should. Identify the right resources, internal or external, to make this work. Regardless of who makes it, hire a professional proofreader to review anything before going out.

Decide how you will distribute
Are you going to post content on your site, email it to people, or print it for an event? Start with “where ” you know your likely audience is, and choose a format that makes sense. For example, an article makes sense to send by email, a checklist or worksheet can be posted on social media, and a buyer’s guide is a good follow-up to a promotion.

Choose a sustainable schedule
Once you know who your target audience is and the best format for each stage in the sales cycle, create a short-term plan (3-6 months). It’s easy to develop an overly ambitious content marketing plan. However, the plan you design should have content elements that you can realistically create based on your budget and resources. Keep track of how long it takes you to create each piece of content so you can incorporate that time into your schedule.

Follow best practices
Interesting content is clearly written and does not contain jargon known only to you and your colleagues. It should also include detailed instructions advice. Short, relevant, and actionable content is best.

Content marketing and SEO
Content marketing makes it easy for good prospects to find your business. However, you can improve your efforts with search engine optimization (SEO).

Here are some important best practices:

Keywords are the foundation of your SEO efforts. These all-important words and phrases are terms that prospects type into search engines when they search for a company, product, or service.

When you incorporate the right keywords into your content, you will attract more traffic. The best keywords are:

Simple language: the language your audience uses to describe their painful points and needs
Relevant: keywords that match the expertise, products, and services you provide
Specific: a combination of your focus, industry expertise, prospect pain points, and other relevant details
SEO has evolved so that search success depends in part on how well your content does what it says. Search engines review content copy, assess its relevance, and determine if the content meets what the headline promises.

Because of the importance search engines place on copy, using keywords throughout your content is important. Use the following guidelines:

Focus on 1 to 2 keywords. Avoid “keyword stuffing ” by writing about what’s important to your prospects by focusing on just a few keyword phrases.
Use keywords in the title. Make the article about what it is clear and explicit.
Use keywords in their entirety. Find ways to incorporate your keywords naturally into your content.
Stay on topic. Good quality content that provides suggestions related to the title will perform best.
Social Media and content marketing
Once you have your content, it’s time to spread the word about it. Instagram Facebook, Medium, and others-are proven and easy ways to promote your content. You write a post and link to your content, then voila! People are engaged.

You can do it through 3 steps:

Focus on high-potential channels. The best social media outlets for you are the ones that are frequented by your audience. Consider large, popular channels, as well as smaller, industry-focused channels that are more likely to connect you with good prospects. Ask your audience what channels they like and create a manageable list based on their preferences.
Make your copy to fit the channel. Each social media channel has its level of professionalism versus fun, votes received, and other details. Before you write a post for your channel, take the time to review the post to familiarize yourself with these details. Then, give your post some corporate spirit of your own.
Test and modify your approach. Successful social media promotion efforts involve trial and error. Track responses from different channels for quantity and quality. Fewer high-potential engagements can mean a channel is matched, as opposed to many clicks that never turn into viewers.
To learn more about how Mail can help your social media strategy and how to create an effective social media calendar, check out our comparison of free social media management tools with others.

Use content for your business
Let your unique expertise and value shine through by creating content that attracts, engages, and sells. With some planning and systematic content marketing, you can reach the right people and drive brand loyalty.

Mail can help you improve your online content marketing strategy by allowing you to create optimized content for your social media, website, and email marketing campaigns. Use our tools to create branded content, including landing pages and paid ads, that can inform your customers about your offerings and business. With your own brand style guide, you can start building a brand identity and let your business show its amazing personality to customers.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *