With an abundance of marketing activities available, content marketing has grown to not only become the dominant activity in marketing but evolved into what is now - the new normal.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing involves creating engaging and relevant content using different formats, including blogs, videos, infographics, guides, emails, podcasts, social media posts, and many others.
Here are some examples of Content Marketing:
Social Media
Despite the main offering being home cleaning, Home Team Cleaning has been offering a variety of styles, topics and relevant content to its audience. A great example of a social media post is a guide with tips on ‘How To Style Homes Using Trendy Colours For 2021’.
Infographic
Marketing Temps has used an Infographic to show how to improve mental health in the workplace. Visuals are not only a great way to tell a story but also make the messaging easier to digest.
Source: Marketing Temps LinkedIn
Content marketing differs from other forms of marketing as the focus is placed on developing exposure rather than promotion.
Why is Content Marketing Important?
Over the past decade, content marketing has become one of the most important forms of marketing available. Numerous formats of content fall under the content marketing umbrella, and each presents its own opportunity for businesses to create exposure.
The combination of various content formats has proven that if content marketing is implemented correctly, the ability to produce results with ease. Businesses that use content marketing can deliver 3 times the conversions of those that don’t.
Content marketing can be a cost-effective form of marketing for a business. Not only does content marketing cost less than outbound marketing, but it can also generate at least 3 times the leads.
Who Should Use Content Marketing?
In today’s digital world, marketing campaigns should include elements of content marketing. Content marketing can:
Assist in building and strengthening the relationship between business and consumer.
Increase trust and expertise seen in the brand.
Increase engagement between the brand and consumers.
Strengthen the brand.
Create a competitive advantage.
What Type of Content Should Be Included?
There is no correct answer when it comes to the best format of content you should include in your content marketing strategy. However, the content used should be relevant to your target audience. For instance, if your target audience uses social media or email, watches videos online, or listens to podcasts, these formats should be included in your strategy.
For best results, a combination of formats should be incorporated into your strategy.
Not every member of your target audience will consume media in the same way. A great way to combine formats is to use content across social media platforms. For example, an article that has been posted on LinkedIn can be summarised for Instagram.
What Should You NOT Do?
As with any type of marketing, the success of your campaign will be determined by the elements you include. In content marketing, there are a few things that you should avoid doing:
Don’t create content for the sake of it. Have a clear purpose of your goals and the audience you wish to reach.
Avoid continually resharing content. Use original content as much as possible as search engines and social media platforms’ algorithms prioritise original content.
Creating content that will not be consumed. Just because you can create a video doesn’t mean you should. You should create content your audience is likely to engage and interact with
Avoid copying other businesses. What works for one business may not work for you. Competitor analysis and evaluation are important, but original content that resonates with your audience is key to a successful content marketing strategy.
Content marketing provides numerous opportunities for a business to communicate with your customers.
To continue building and strengthening the relationship your business has with its customers, incorporate the various formats of content marketing into your marketing strategy.