Steve Jobs first said this in 1996. Content is king. And since then, countless marketers, strategists, and industry leaders have repeated this three-word mantra.
While the digital landscape has changed significantly since the 1990s, one thing that has remained constant is the importance of content.
In fact, good content is more important today than ever, especially in a digital marketing strategy.
What is content marketing?
“Traditional marketing and advertising tells the world you're a rock star. “Content marketing shows the world that you are the one.” -Robert Rose, CEO and Chief Strategy Officer, The Content Advisory.
While there are many ways to explain content marketing, it is essentially about telling the story of your brand or company in a way that is more authentic and useful to the consumer.
The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) defines it as “a strategic marketing approach aimed at creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and, ultimately, drive profitable customer action” .
This is not about advertising goods or services. Rather, content marketing is about “providing relevant and useful content to prospects and customers to help them solve problems in their business (B2B content marketing) or personal life (B2C content marketing).
Why is content marketing important?
“People today want to learn before they buy, to be educated and not to be sold.” -Brian Clark, entrepreneur.
According to a study by the Ecommerce Foundation, 88% of customers research a company through online content before interacting with it.
But that's just one reason why content marketing is so important to a business's success.
Because successful content offers brands a meaningful and engaging way to engage with their target audiences, the benefits of content marketing are far-reaching.
When done correctly, content marketing can help you achieve many of your business goals and objectives, including:
- Increase brand awareness, loyalty and loyalty.
- Leading generation
- Connect with audiences avoided by advertising
- More traffic, sales and consumer activity.
- Thought leadership to build authority and influence.
- Implementation of corporate social responsibility objectives
- Strengthen other marketing tactics including SEO, public relations and social media.
How does content marketing work?
Content is anything that adds value to a reader's life. -Avinash Kaushik, Chief Strategy Officer, Croud.
Since each brand and company has a different story and unique value proposition or product to sell, the content varies greatly.
Content marketing has two main components: content creation and distribution.
Content creation
Content creation is about capturing the attention of your potential and existing customers by providing them with compelling information that interests them or serves their purpose.
While blogs and articles may be the first thing you think of when you think of “content,” content marketing can mean so much more. Here is a short (and not yet complete) list of tactics:
- Blog posts and articles
- White papers
- Case studies
- video
- Product demonstration and instructions.
- Podcasts
- Emails and newsletters
- Infographic
- e-books
- Webinars and interviews
- questionnaires
- ROI calculators
- Reviews and reviews
- Loyalty and rewards programs.
Content distribution
The distribution part of a content marketing strategy can involve multiple marketing channels. Essentially, these are places where your target audience might spend time or search for content. This can include:
- Website
- He
- direct mail
- Social means
- Paid digital marketing
- events
Who is my target audience?
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, will it make a noise?” -Doctor. George Berkeley
You can have the best content in the world, but if it's not distributed to your brand's target audience and the channels where it's seen and paid attention to, it doesn't matter.
No one sees him or makes a sound.
So, to create the most effective content, you need to determine who you want to reach. Different types of customers may require different resources and types of content.
Your brand may have an ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer personas that represent your best customers.
If not, you should consider demographic data such as age, gender, education, occupation, income, marital status and geographic location. You can also add psychological aspects such as values, personality traits, lifestyle preferences, hobbies and more.
Creation and implementation of a content marketing strategy.
Here's everything you need to know about creating amazing content in three simple words. Simple. In short, it's a must." - Damian Farmworth, blogger.
The beauty of quality content marketing is that it works everywhere and should be fully and seamlessly integrated into every stage of the digital marketing funnel: awareness, attention, conversion and retention.
There are five important steps to defining your content marketing strategy:
- Know your business goals and set content goals.
- Define your audience and who you want to reach.
- Create the best content marketing assets for this target audience. (Remember: relevant, valuable, and authentic content is vital.)
- Choose the marketing channels and publication frequency to distribute your content. (Remember: It's important to reach your audience where they are.)
- Analyze impacts and results and adjust accordingly.
There are downsides to content marketing that you should consider.
“Traditional marketing conversations with people. “Content marketing speaks to them.” -Doug Kessler, co-founder of Velocity.
We've already talked about why content marketing is so important and profitable, but what about the challenges?
Perhaps the biggest drawback is that developing quality content ideas and brainstorming the results, then publishing and analyzing them can be time-consuming.
The results are not always immediate.
Content marketing can often be a long game. Figuring out what works best for your target audience will take some testing, trial and error.
Results are not always measurable.
The results are also not always measurable. While metrics like web traffic and online conversions can be quantified, it's much more difficult to quickly assess the impact of content marketing on brand awareness, loyalty, and even reputation.
This may require investment in external resources.
Often companies may need external content such as videos, graphics, etc. because they don't have the skills (or the time).
If your business needs help developing and implementing a content marketing strategy, consider working with an agency that specializes in content marketing.
The best thing about working with a content marketing agency is that they don't have to be in your zip code to be an effective partner. The agencies work with brands around the world to improve their digital marketing strategies.
At Denver Post Media we do this for our customers every day of the week.
Another great resource is the Content Marketing Institute, where you can connect with communities and find additional links.
