There are COUNTLESS webpages, articles and even videos stressing the importance of Content Marketing in today’s economy. As for this article, you’ve guessed it; it’s another one! So we’ll just dive right into the shallow end and DEFINE IT.
CONTENT MARKETING is the marketing practice (more like art form if you’re that awesome!) of strategically positioning a brand’s online text, audio and visual components to influence awareness and promotion and overall digital presence.
It is its own field under the marketing umbrella because it is THAT IMPORTANT to master. Every single marketing category is affected by the RIGHT content reaching the RIGHT audience.
Since a significant portion of what I do IS content creation, I’ve decided it is time to remind you fantastic readers of a few key points to consider when developing the perfect content marketing strategy for your brand and/or business.
Start your Content Marketing planning off by outlining a Content Strategy. Essentially, where CONTENT STRATEGY focuses on the scope of your content efforts, CONTENT MARKETING focuses on actually carrying out implementation of that scope when it comes to marketing.
Make sense? Where a content manager will evaluate, strategize and set goals for how the brand expresses itself to the consumers, a content marketer will follow through with the creative, hands on coordination to achieve tangible goals.
A huge factor you’re going to want to focus on is RELEVANCY.
- How relevant is my content to what my target audience values?
- What better way to increase audience reach than to communicate exactly what they want or need to hear?
- Does my content provide an answer or fulfill the needs of a targeted market?
Effective content goes beyond how it ranks and how many impressions or views it gets. Yes, these are important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and advertising purposes. However, the real value found in great content is the level of communication accomplished.
Content may be King but communication is the Queen! And if recent protests like #DayWithoutAWoman have anything to say about it, the game of life (or chess for all my Bobby Fischer lovers!) is nothing without an effective Queen strategy!
Make sure your content communicates the message you want your audience to receive. Be creative, unique and above all else, relevant!
Another focal point for content marketing mastery is the cultivation of INFLUENCER positioning.
- How influential is what my brand has to say?
- What better way to increase accreditation than to show the world your prowess?
- Does my content influence targeted consumer behavior?
Everyone has something to say, something to show or something to sell you. Both the global marketplace and information network are oversaturated data on every topic you can think of. It is probable that what you have to say has already been said…a lot.
This is where the strategy aspect of your content marketing comes in to play. While it is vital that you are making yourself known via various channels, cultivating that digital presence is useless if no one cares about what you have to offer.
The best way to ensure that your content is tugging the right strings and sitting in the favorable inboxes is to create content that resonates with various audiences. Branch out from the obvious contexts and hone in on what captures attention. It may be the job of SEO professionals to get each message to the right eyes & ears but the message itself has to be up to the task as well.
It is equally important that your content marketing strategy produces ONE-OF-A-KIND content.
- How unique is the content I create?
- What better way to increase market positioning than to provide something fresh and progressive?
- Does my content touch on topics in an attractive enough way to produce conversions?
Whenever I start a new writing venture, I head straight to sources and see what has already been done. It is a helpful to evaluate what I find and look for strengths & weaknesses in the top contenders and then I ask myself what I want to say different. What can I say different enough to captivate the masses? Even if the message has already been regurgitated over and over, it has never been shared using YOUR VOICE.
Depending on what you want communicated, you will need to be sure your content can be held accountable for audience retention and, more specifically, customer loyalty. Flashy and fabulous goes a long way but only when your target audience is amenable to it. Remember who you are writing to and keep that audience in mind with every step of the creation process.
Remember, the key to content marketing lies with not solely how much you pump out content but rather the content itself.
Content marketing is about staying connected while plugging who you are as a brand and what you bring to the table. Hopefully you know how important repetition and consistency are to cultivating a digital presence, so we’ll stick to the flip side of that perseverance coin.
Sorry not sorry if you thought content marketing got you away from numbers and statistics; because analytics play a defining role effective content development. With the help of Attribution Modeling, you can perform multi-channel tracking to know exactly how various pieces of content are performing.
You’ll see increased:
- SEO Ranking
- Site Traffic
- ROI (if outsourced)
- Conversion Rates
Just because content development is high up there in the marketing funnel, you cannot deem it less valuable. Content marketing done right promises the micro conversions as well as more long-term brand devotees. Once a brand gains the trust and esteem of their target audience, that audience turns into tangible conversions. It is as simple as that.
