Content marketing

You may have heard that Content is the king and it is undisputed King even after so many years. Marketers still keeps the content on the top.

What is content marketing

Content Marketing is a marketing approach that focuses on creating valuable content which can attract and retain the specific target audience and ultimately assists in a profitable call to actions.

Does only writing articles forms the part of Content Marketing?

Absolutely not.

Before telling about the various components of Content, let us know why Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is not a new concept as it has been used in various forms since ages but the old practices will not be applicable in this modern business era and in each and every business Content Marketing is some or the other way unique in itself.

So before investing in Content Marketing make sure you know what are you going to achieve with the Content Marketing and without a proper Content Marketing strategy do not take steps ahead as there are lot of instances of brands who have not done well in Content Marketing just because they have ignored their Content Marketing strategy.

Brands are creating more and more Content (various type of contents – blogs, videos, vlogs, pictures, social media posts etc) because every day some or other changes are happening in this digital village. Brands are finding an opportunity to target their audience in the right manner through Content Marketing. The key to Content Marketing is Content Creation as without the creation of your Content even your Content strategy would not work

There are many benefits of Content Marketing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as content plays very important role and whenever  you get a higher rank in Search Engine it is because of keywords which are present in your high-quality content. Another benefit of having great content is more backlinks. You get back-links on the basis of great Content as people would love to share your Content if they like it.

Focal Point Consulting – we help companies assess their skills and choose a new direction which utilizes the talents of the team and resources most productively.

Most effective types of content

Effectiveness score of different types of content

List of content formats

You will be surprised to know the types of content format available:

• How to’s
• Email Newsletters
• Charts / Graphs / info-graphics / illustrations
• E-books
• Case studies / White papers
• Reviews
• Videos / vlogs
• Webinar / Podcasts
• Meme
• Online Game
• Polls
• Press Releases

How to do content marketing

• Identify your Objectives – Before stepping into Content Marketing, you must know for what you are going to do Content Marketing and all your goals should be crystal clear
• Buyer Persona Research – Find out who will be your target audience and what type of Content do they like. If your audience from a specific geographic location likes Content in the form of video then make sure you are delivering them in a rightful manner. Persona research helps you know your target audience so that you can create more valuable Content which can convert your prospects
• Content Management System (CMS) – Before starting producing Content you must have proper Content Management System like WordPress or HubSpot. When the Content Management is all set then you should start pondering upon the Content ideas. You can also take the help of various Content ideas generator tools like HubSpot website grader, HubSpot blog ideas generator, Headline analyzer, Content forest and lot others
• Types of Content – Content is a huge ocean and you have to figure out what type of Content your audience likes the most.

Just making your Content will not work as Content has to be distributed on various other social media platforms for getting the maximum number of reach.

• Blogging – Blogging is nothing new but it can give you unbelievable results. You need to just start blogging on the topic about which your business is concerned and you can use the Content Management System -WordPress as making a blog in it is a lot easier and it saves time. Moreover, you just need to link your blog on the website of your brand
• Publish your Content– If you are not going to publish your Content then who will be going to see it. So make your Content in such a way that it goes out time to time and for further assistance, you can make Social Media Calendar and schedule your posts accordingly as updating Content time to time also involves a lot of patience and hard work.

Types of Content Marketing

• Videos – Making Content in the form of videos is so much trending nowadays because audiences are loving it as they are getting a whole lot of information in a video in a much more concise manner. Videos can be of various type like case studies, testimonials, entertainment videos and lots more. Brands are investing in Video Marketing as the situation calls for it.
• Blogging – It is another great way to engage your audience around what is happening in your concerned business as you can tell them whatever you want through your blog and even link your blog to the brand’s official website as users often visit a blog which is linked to a website. If blogging is not your cup of tea, you can even hire bloggers for that and pay to them accordingly.
• Podcasts – Another brilliant example which can reach to your audience. Remember the good old days when Television was not there, the only option was listening to Radio. Similarly, Podcasts can tell your audience the Content which you want them to hear. Some people call it new age Radio. You can listen to multiple podcasts available or can create your own there are various tools which can assist you in making a podcast like an Audacity, SoundCloud, GarageBand and many others.
• Infographics – When pictures are there in the text it looks appealing to the eyes. Similarly, infographics are such an absolute Content piece which retains your audience attention in the first look. You can include graphs, pictures, flowcharts in your infographic within your content so that it conveys the information to the audience. People love to share infographics so next time whenever targeting your audience do not forget to make a unique infographic.
• E-books – In the Digital world people love to read whenever and wherever. So including a downloadable E-book in your website or giving them free to your audience in their mail box will lead to greater brand acceptability for your business. People love to download free Content and that too if the Content quality is high then they are chances that can turn into prospects too.
• Newsletters – These are delivered right in your audience mailboxes and these can in form of product updates, congratulations email, promotional mailers, specific news, order confirmation and lot others.
• Interviews – Interviewing industry experts can give your business a higher range of audience viewership. So if you are updating your channel or interviewing different panels then the audience engagement will be much higher.
• Memes and Gifs – These are some of the creative ways to capture your audience attention as they make the Content fun and engaging for your audience to comprehend
• Templates – There are various free templates available on the internet as of today of various aspects of business and you can also give some templates for free to your target audience in order to gain the trust of them.
• Presentations – Producing Content in the form of presentations is not at all bad idea as various brands are doing it and you can also start one and upload on SlideShare or on your own Blog or Website for your audience to go through.

Future of Content Marketing

Content Marketing will continue to play the dominant part in the coming years and the trends which can be seen in this year are voice search and to make sure you should optimize your Content with keywords which people will be vocally searching on Google or various other search engines and for it you must know your target audience very well.