Is content marketing for you and what is a good strategy. There is a lot of talk about this so should you be onboard
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of contents
Content marketing explained
Content marketing is content created and shared for a specific commercial purpose, such as gaining website traffic, increasing brand awareness, or influencing people to buy your products.
Neil Patel
That just about applies to any business at any time. These are necessary inclusions to our marketing plans but how can you achieve this?
Your choice of methods is wide and would include blog posts, Funnels, Info videos, eBooks, or anything you do to influence and acquire an audience.
In a recent survey, 88% of recipients said they had an increase in Brand awareness and that would lead to a higher level of loyalty.
Furthermore, 72% said it was instrumental in increasing lead traffic, an objective of us all.
Examples of content marketing in action
First of all, you need to define your customer demographic and what would interest them more than anything else.
What does your company stand for? When you understand the strong points these can be built into a campaign of influence.
Influencers are the new market darlings
Have you noticed the rise of influencers in all products?
Three stand-out pursuits were;
Duncan Doughnuts used Charli D’Amelio
Magnum Icecreams used Halsy
Gymshark used Different individuals to promote the challenge
What I found interesting is that they all used TikTok as a channel and supported it with Instagram
This is now so valuable that anyone can do it. A friend of mine is very active on Instagram with several thousand followers. She regularly receives products to use and recommends all for free.
Posts still rock
With a few million posts every day and over a trillion on the market this is big business. The new change is an increasing post length. Yes, size does matter and the new norm is over 1400 words.
Ridester the Uber eats people made this work with a story to educate potential drivers. It was straight-shooting and to the point but refrained from being too technical or salesy.
We all take to a post when we want the answer to a question or seek a solution to a problem.
This post is approximately 1400 words so the ideal length is to provide sufficient information and keep your attention.
Referral codes gain momentum
This is one marketing idea that I noticed without taking a lot of attention to it.
Many companies ask you to use a code when referring people. This has several benefits to them
- First of all, it identifies a sales channel so they know what is working
- Codes can vary with offers identifying a price point that works best
- Buyers see exclusive value when using a code.
- Double-sided codes work
For example, both UberEats, as well as Constant Contact, use a double-sided code that rewards both the recommender and the buyer. Both sides win and the company gets what it wants.
There really is some enticement to use a code rather than a direct referral.
User-generated-content (UGC) wins the race
This is used more often than you think. Most Funnel marketers fill pages with mum and dad stories of success with a product. They do this because it adds credibility to the story.
Get fit advertising has always used before and after photos to show the remarkable results that can be achieved. ” Just one minute a day and I lost 50 pounds in just a few weeks”
Many bloggers ask for and receive comments on their posts. These appear at the bottom and maybe one or many more saying how good the blog is. feel free to comment below.
You are in full control of the material offered so posting bad reviews won't happen.
Storyarts sells child learning and includes a # tag variety of pictures and praise in a blog role.
They started on Etsy as an obscure brand and now have 82,000 followers on Instagram.
Their goal is ending illiteracy and they are going a long way to it.
The video market is booming
YouTube is searched nearly as often as Google and more than Yahoo and Bing combined.
That's a heap of traffic you are missing out on and it's not all that hard to enter the race.
Certainly, the big end of town will use very high-class videos costing a heap of dollars to produce to get the results they want. Small businesses can compete because it comes down to identifying needs and correctly choosing keywords.
We all look for easy ways to fix our daily issues. It could be a leaky roof, a squeaky door, or a pushbike puncture. The range of subjects in your industry will be many and varied.
Use Social channels or your own in-house experience to find the most common issues and target them with Videos.
a) Make sure you provide a solution
b) when necessary break the video into smaller sections to retain interest
c) Always have a call to action, you are doing this for business so branding and contact are important.
d) Seek internal information on the most common problems and even repurpose written material into a video for the best effect.
Never forget to maintain your website
This is often the ugly duckling that gets made and left to work as well it may.
Life is not like that and your webpage is the entry to your world.
It is there to inform and explain and lead the caller to a buying solution.
You should be getting a regular increase in traffic.
Your click-through ratio should also be improving
Therefore the resulting sales completions result
There has been a noticeable shift in web design over recent times. It has gone from information overload to a very plane face designed to attract clicks.
If you want the information you have to ask for it and be taken to a sales landing page.
This typifies the new approach and reportedly as high as 94% of consumers make a quick decision to stay or go.
However, it won't always work so testing is often required to get the best result. Methods include the old A/B test alternating on a regular basis to see what works best.
A professional page should bring far better results that a homemade one. However, you must have a clear idea of what you want to achieve before starting out.
As important as all this is Keywords are still the most vital component of any page. Without good keyword headings and spread throughout the page, you can not compete.
Check every page for statistics and know what is working and importantly what you need to fix.
You must love Viral marketing
This can happen with your post, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook page. When something takes off and gets shared world wide it is a joy to behold, Thousands and even tens of thousands of people clicking on your material.
Nadaré Co’s founder began posting TikTok marketing content to promote the brand’s unique waterproof jewelry. She now has over 91,000 followers, over 1.3 million TikTok “likes,” and videos watched by thousands of people daily!
Neil Patel
This was a simple solution of a video showing how to select a ring size.
This was the basis of a massive following of her jewelry range. Yes, it is simple but yes it had a bundle of followers.
When you use your analytics pages to find out what consumers are looking at build on the subjects. You know what is of interest so promote around that phrase to have a circle of interest all referring back to the one page.
Conclusion
This may be a heady subject however it is very important to review all parts of your marketing portfolio to ensure you are getting a bang for your bucks.
Content marketing builds a following and gains sales whilst growing your brand.
That is what it is all about
Is content marketing for you by Peter Hanley
