What is Content Marketing?
Think of it this way:
Content marketing is about creating great content to use in online marketing activities.
Content creation is a powerful tool because it allows you to control the content on your website. You can use it any way you want and it is yours to control.
Why rent a platform when you can own?
Media platforms make money by renting out their platforms to people who want to share their message. The money that you invest in promoting your website is yours, and as a result, your website is an asset that you own.
Content marketing allows you to control the narrative and shape how people see your brand. It’s an investment that allows you to build a relationship with your audience and create a more loyal customer base.
The secret to success in content marketing is to provide your target customers with information that is both valuable and relevant. Consistency is key when it comes to content. This is what search algorithms and your ideal customer need in order to help build your brand and domain authority.
Today’s content marketing allows our ideal customers to find us.
Whereas traditional marketing concentrates on broadcasting promotional messages through different channels, digital marketing uses new tools and methods to identify consumers and provide them with the information they desire.
We are able to capture the attention of your target audience by providing value that they are actively looking for. This could be in the form of solving a business problem or giving specific information about a product or service.
Your informative content causes them to make a connection!
Audiences will eventually trust you and see you as an expert if you consistently provide quality content. This will result in them being more loyal to your brand and doing business with you.
Is content marketing important to your business?
Content marketing raises your business’ online reputation. It uses various types of content, like blog posts, videos, infographics, presentations, and social media posts.
We offer value to viewers to both entice them and build brand trust. Viewers have an experience of discovering valuable content and feel delight in finding it.
There are 16 specific advantages to content marketing.
1. At the heart of every single digital marketing strategy is content
Content marketing is the most important aspect of your digital marketing strategy because it connects and supports all other elements of your plan. It is the hub that all other aspects of your marketing strategy revolve around.
Your content can be used for your blog, email marketing, social media, and PPC ads. Having a strong content marketing strategy will help you determine which marketing tactics to use in each channel to achieve your marketing goals and revenue targets.
The content on your website must be engaging and high quality in order to support your digital marketing campaigns. For example, if you want to run a successful PPC campaign, you need content that will keep visitors on your website and coming back again.
If you want potential customers to sign up for an offer on your website, you need to make sure they have a good experience when they visit. This means providing content that is relevant to them based on their relationship with your company and where they are in the buying process.
2. There is a very attractive Return on Investment (ROI) on consistent content.
Content marketing has a significant advantage over traditional marketing tactics, bringing in more website visitors and leads. The consistent production of content boosts website traffic, and as traffic increases, so do conversions. A good conversion strategy will bring in high-quality leads.
Content marketing is important because it allows you to nurture your prospects through each stage of the buying cycle by providing them with valuable content that they can use at each stage. This can include an infographic, a great explainer, a white paper, or a complimentary consultation. By providing this content, you are able to convert website visitors into leads, and then from there into new clients.
3. Write great content for better Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Each website’s content is crawled by search engines like Google in order to determine which users they will bring to your website. Good content will generate more website traffic because the search engines have a clear idea of the purpose of the business. This process of making your web pages better performing with search engine ranking is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.
SEO is a more technical reason to create great content, but also a great investment. Search engines use your content to connect you to your next customer! Creating great content helps you attract new customers and keep the ones you already have.
If you want people to be able to find your products or services online, you need to make sure that your website appears as one of the top results for relevant keyword searches. For example, if someone is looking for wedding dresses in Toronto, they might search for “wedding dresses Toronto” or “best bridal stores Toronto.” If your website appears in the top results for these searches, it will be more likely that people will find and use your products or services.
Businesses who know how to get to the top of search engines are the big winners when it comes to organic search. By creating great content, they are able to bring qualified traffic to their websites.
4. Content marketing is cost effective.
Content marketing is an affordable marketing tactic that costs about 62% less than traditional marketing tactics and generates about 3 times as many leads, according to a study by DemandMetric.
If you’re a small business owner looking to grow your business, content marketing is a great option. It’s less expensive than traditional marketing methods and more effective.
It is important to realize that content marketing requires time and patience to see results, especially when it comes to SEO. However, a little bit of effort can go a long way when it comes to creating quality content.
You will need to spend time and effort creating great content unless you hire an agency.
If you implement a content marketing strategy with compound interest in mind, you will see a staggering return on investment.
I can show you exactly what steps to take to reach your goal.
Step 1: Make a reinvestment commitment plan
To have compound interest working for you, reinvest your earnings.
To get a great return on your content marketing investment and generate a lot of business growth, always reinvest a percent of your revenue.
If you don’t commit to saving a certain percentage of your earnings, you will be more likely to spend it on frivolous things like coffee, shoes, and phones.
How much of your profit will you reinvest?
Now, write that down.
If you want to make a commitment that will last, put it in writing.
Put it somewhere you’ll see it (and others too).
Make a firm commitment.
You may decide to reinvest 5% or 100%.
In order to receive compound interest, you must reinvest your earnings and purchase additional content.
You’ll never be able to expand your content marketing efforts if you keep writing everything yourself instead of investing in more content.
Step 2: Commit to creating real value for your target audience…
In order to create great content, you need to start with a few basic questions about your target audience:
Hi, my name is Mike. I’m 35 years old, I’m married, and I have two kids. I like…
I personally believe that our topic is important.
What do they hate? (“I hate it when…”)
What do they need? (“I really need to get…”)
What does the person really want?
If you can answer those 5 questions confidently and you’re dedicated to making useful content, then you can continue to the next step.
Step 3: Find a HOT topic…
The next key part of the plan is to pick an idea to write about that your target audience would find interesting and would be willing to pay for.
Pick a HOT topic. Then write something original.
Put a new twist on an popular idea.
Don’t just copy what everyone else is doing.
There are already hundreds of website pages that say the exact same thing, which begs the question- why should your customers read one more?
Brainstorm a new idea, something that you are passionate about. Write a piece of content that is around that idea, make sure it is something that will capture the attention of your readers.
One way to come up with ideas for new content is to look at the most popular questions being asked online. You can use a tool like QuestionSpy to help you with this.
Then search for the same thing yourself and see what your audience is seeing.
What questions is my target market asking? What matters to them?
How can I offer better information?
How can I be more helpful?
How can I add more value?
Your audience wants to hear about new ways to solve their most pressing issues.
Step 4: Offer something valuable the reader can invest in…
Now you need to provide your audience with an opportunity to invest in something that has value.
Ask yourself this question:
What are some ways my reader can invest to reach their goal more quickly?
It could be something that you create, like a product or service.
This could be a series of videos that show them how to do something step-by-step.
This means that there are many ways to consult with someone or to learn from someone. Email consulting could be one way where you communicate with someone through email to ask questions or get advice. Live streaming could be another way where you watch a live video of someone teaching or speaking. A webinar could be another option where you join a live online seminar or class. Finally, a book could be a resource where someone provides information on a topic.
Another brainstorming question:
On a piece of paper, list the potential obstacles that would keep someone from achieving their goal. Consider what might prevent you from achieving the same goal.
The biggest obstacles that will prevent the reader from taking action and reaching their goal are procrastination, fear, and self-doubt.
If there are obstacles in the way of the reader reaching their goal, remove them or go around them.
If you make a strong promise that will have a significant impact, and the reader believes you can keep that promise, they will be willing to give you money for it.
This is where you will receive the money you reinvest.
Choose something you sincerely think will assist your listeners in achieving their aims.
Step 5: Promote your content…
Jack found that if he applied himself to his writing for just 5 minutes a day, eventually he would have a large body of work. Applying the Rule of 5 helped Jack Canfield become a bestselling author. The principle states that if you dedicated just five minutes a day to something, eventually you will have a large body of work.
Now is the time to share the great content you have just written.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it, but it must be done.
You have just written a great piece of content and have provided a lot of value for your readers.
It’s time to let them know…
Here are 10 ways to promote great content:
By email: Hey there! I just published something valuable and wanted to let you know! If you’re interested, you can check it out here: [insert link to valuable content]. Thanks for being a subscriber, and I hope you enjoy!
Share your content on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Create a video of your content and share it on YouTube.
Make a slideshow of your content and post it to SlideShare.com for others to see.
Creating a .pdf of your content and sharing it on Scribd.com is a great way to get your work out there.
Add value to questions related to your topic on Quora and include links back to your own content. This will help to increase traffic to your site.
Share items 3-6 on your social media platforms.
A good way to increase traffic to your blog is to leave helpful comments on related blogs. Make sure not to spam, and only leave comments on topics that are closely related to your own blog. This will help create a backlink to your blog, and increase your chances of being seen by potential readers.
You can increase traffic to your site by linking to your content from related industry sites, such as forums, user groups, and social media pages.
You can improve the discoverability of your new content by linking to it from within your own related content.
Warning: Don’t promote crappy content.
It won’t work.
Only promoting your work if you have created value for your audience will be successful.
You should be proud of what you promote and know that it will benefit your audience.
The goal is to build trust with potential customers by providing real value, which will result in future income.