“content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign”

When we hear the word “Content marketing”, we assume content marketing is something related to marketing a content.

Understanding content and content marketing:

Content is the soul for any business, without it, the business is valueless.

“content is the king” ~ Bill Gates.

As per me, “if content is the king, marketing is the crown sitting on top of Content”.

Together, they form a formidable team.

Source: www.thesharpbrain.com

Content is all required information that must be delivered to the audience. The strategy to deliver the information and distribute it to end users via internet is Content marketing.

When you logged in to Facebook, you can see in Facebook’s right column, companies’ promoting their brand and service.

That’s one way of creating awareness among the online audience.

Importance of Content Marketing:

But, how does content marketing help in brand awareness or promotion?

As per latest statistics, 61% of buying decision of shoppers today are influenced by content.

As per another statistic, CEOs from many companies agreed to the fact that content is the future of online marketing strategy.

49% of companies have at least one executive who is directly responsible for an overall content marketing strategy.

Gone are the days, when a visitor visited every single store and visited every sole product available there. Many are less responsive to the old traditional marketing and sales tactics.

70% of consumers prefer to learn about the company through articles instead of advertising. People do their own research now on the internet, they visit different sites instead of stores to get their information.

Here are some examples how some small businesses grew rapidly using content marketing strategy:

1. Mint.com was the first company to create infographics to attract customers on a mass scale, which resulted in 2 million customers within 3 years.

2. Dollarshaveclub spends $4500 for a video content, which resulted in 9.5 million views, 23,000 followers on Twitter and 76,000 Facebook fans. And 12,000 customers in 2 days.

3. Goodgreens grew their sale to $50,000/month by reaching out bloggers.

(source-http://www.getspokal.com/top-11-most-powerful-content-marketing-examples-by-small-businesses/)

Content marketing isn’t just a part of online marketing strategy, it is Online Marketing now.

As a friend of mine told me the other day “Today SEO is Content & Content Marketing”

I agree no less.

Image Source: The Sharp Brain

Here are 5 reasons why every business should adopt content marketing.

1. Content Marketing Improves Your SERP- Content without SEO is a waste of time and energy. Proper SEO can help to find and increase your rank in organic searches. It also increases your domain authority.

2. Content Marketing helps your brand’s Reputation- The more people see your content, the better they remember your brand. It helps in creating an awareness about your brand, thereby building a good reputation on Internet.

3. Content Marketing Influences conversions- When you deliver appropriate content and the content has a well-placed call to action embedded in it. Your content is indirectly encouraging direct conversion, resulting in more average revenue for every visitor on your site.

4. Lead Generation- If customers are impressed by the content provided, there is a high probability that they visit you again or a simple desire to know more.

5. Good Relation- Content that offers useful information connects the customer to the company for a long term. It always helps in building loyal customers.

Since 2013, content has become an indispensable part of marketing strategy & plan for many businesses.

Such is an impact that many social medial platforms have re-designed themselves for better content dissemination, thereby helping content marketers to promote their content in a better way.

Here’s s a list of 10 types that work in the field of content marketing, which will give a boost to your business.

Blog Posts on own website — Blogs are often the first thing that comes to mind, when people think about content marketing. That’s because blogs are the most natural way to promote information.

A blog helps in gathering all types of information from what to tips. Guest Blog Post- The simplest way of generating awareness among people about your product, service or web page. When a blogger writes his blog and uploads it to some other site, it helps in generating leads for their site. Which is indeed a good method for generating traffic for any website. How- to Guides- How to guides help reader to understand the importance of your product or service you are delivering, also it draw readers in and give you a chance to demonstrate your subject expertise. Images- With powerful images, illustrations, and graphics you have an opportunity to make a real impact to your followers. Infographics- This is a fun way of educating people with the details about the subject. Many use it for giving facts, work profiles & how it works. Videos- Youtube being the biggest broadcaster of videos, it really helps in brand awareness and promotion. Video can be also used as how to guides for people to understand the things in easier version. Ebooks- These are always helpful for hungry readers, who need information more than provided. Ebooks can share more depths info of product, service or brand. Email Newsletter- The opt-in email newsletter is a fantastic avenue for getting your message out to loyal followers. The key is providing highly relevant content that they want to read. Podcasts- Podcasts is an excellent way of delivering information to customers who are constantly busy with other things. Thanks to Phones, Mp3 players, laptops, users today can listen to podcast even when they are driving their car. Case study- It helps in showing the value of the product or service using real facts, it can be the perfect way to demonstrate what you offer.

Content marketing today is important is a fact well accepted by internet marketers across the globe.

But is it done correctly?

As per a survey conducted in 2014, 56% marketers were doing content marketing without a well-defined strategy.

So how do you develop a proper content marketing plan that makes sense to your business?

Here are five key steps that can serve as a framework to guide your efforts.

Planning- Always before delivering, plan the platform where you want to execute the plan and identify the users you want to target. How it can help you in generating leads or sales are also the major key area you should keep in mind before delivering the content to the audience.

Planning no doubt forms a big part of the content strategy. Target Audience- Try to get a little survey done on your audience. Try to find out their interest, concerns, and information needs and your expertise. This will help you in building an informed content strategy. Content development- Great content comes with ability to create a bond with target users. Establish a consistent tone that represents the expertise and values of your organization. Your content must be understandable to the audience, for search engines for your business objectives. Implement- First, try to make a list of things you are going to put in your content. This helps in keeping you on track. For ex, if you are writing a blog on “How to do business on Amazon”. Try gathering all data relevant to amazon first and then create a structure around the blog with reference to steps, tips and an ending where you clearly define “How business can be done on Amazon”. Content’s implementation is very important. Monitor result- Always pay attention to what impact your content has on the audience. Access the number of likes and share. Check for comments and reactions from users. An enjoyable content posted at the right platform if bound to generate reactions. Use the response to gauge the impact of your content.

Always remember “ A good content and the right platform to promote the content” is the fundamental point of a well driven Content Marketing Strategy.