Globalisation has shaped the fresh face of marketing, and the tactics of marketing have changed significantly. Today, the definition of marketing has developed creative connotations. Gone are the days when marketing was all about TV or newspaper advertisements. Content marketing rules over the internet these days. The needs and habits of consumers are changing. They wish to establish a closer relationship with the brand they are using or investing in. According to the recent study, almost 78% of the consumers show a keen interest in getting to know a company through their website or social media presence rather than old-school advertisements.
Content Marketing
The sole purpose of content marketing is to generate interests of probable buyers in the product being offered by the company. We achieve this with the help of videos, images, articles, or blogs shared religiously over all the social media platforms used by the company. Audio-visual effects leave an indelible imprint on the viewers, inducing a successful purchase. It is an art of communicating the desired information to its users to build a prospering brand image.
What do the statistics say?
- Expect 46% investment increase by 2021 in digital and content marketing.
- According to 72% of the marketers, content marketing generates effective leads and enhances engagement.
- As per research by Statista, there are 4 billion counts of the global digital population, with almost 3 billion social media users. This increases the chances of covering a wide variety of target audiences.
- Around 70% of these social media users wish to gather more information about the products through videos, images, or blogs rather than traditional advertisements which have now become a source of disinterest.
Why choose content marketing?
- Stimulates reader attention
- Stimulates viewer’s interest, which induces an urge to purchase by generating demand on the spot
- Builds brand awareness and loyalty
- Helps in shooting up the direct sales
- More traffic on websites
- Around 62% cheaper than traditional marketing
- Three times more effective leads than conventional marketing
Content Strategy
Content strategy is a detailed and well-listed plan for content creation and posting on various online platforms. Primarily, a content strategist lists down the goals of the company which it wishes to achieve through content marketing. A well-designed strategy is proposed for the creation and distribution of the desired content through images, videos, blogs, articles or various social media contests to drive traffic.
What is a strategically planned content strategy?
Millions of blog posts are posted almost every day. Just writing the articles or posting a photo or a video is not enough. To achieve results through content, you need to be imaginative, creative, and stand out of the box. A strategically planned content strategy includes.
- Prioritizing lower difficulty topics
- Internal linking of the content along with its layering
- Thorough knowledge of content likability
- Regular maintenance and up-gradation of the existing content
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most desired strategy to drive the attention that you need. Efficient SEO is one such content strategy that meets all your advertisement objectives, covering all the aspects of a well-planned content strategy.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is the process of driving traffic to the company’s website by promoting it on most-commonly used search engines. It helps in generating effective sales by making the brand visible to internet users around the globe.
How does SEO work?
- Publish the article.
- Search engine reviews the Website and your article.
- The article gets indexed and placed under the relevant categories and search terms.
- SEO for your content finishes at step 3. You enjoy the results in step 4. Whenever a user searches for a content that falls under your category and is related to your search terms, your website appears on search results pages based on your ranking on SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
Best SEO Practices
- Write engaging content and use keywords.
- The first paragraph should give users a summary of the article and make sure you include the desired keywords in the paragraph.
- Use descriptive titles to make it appealing
- Start titles with front-load keywords
- Use one keyword per title
- Optimize the loading speed of your site
- Use images and light themes
- Don’t forget to use internal linking
Developing a content strategy for your brand
A well-documented content strategy is the essence of content marketing. To build awareness about your brand without spending a fortune on developing your content strategy, keep the following steps in mind.
Step 1: Setting goals
Focus on what is essential. Set your goals in advance. Know your target audience and decide the content you wish to show them.
Some of your goals can be-
- More traffic
- Brand awareness
- Increased sales
- Low-cost marketing
- Consumer engagement
- Effective SEO
Step 2: Make your goals quantifiable
Making your goals measurable makes them easily achievable. When they have a value attached to them, it is like achieving small targets. This will keep you highly motivated. To quantify your goals, divide them into small objectives. Some of them can be-
- A monthly revenue target
- More sign-ups
- Try getting new email subscribers
- Improve search engine ranking of specific pages than all of them in one go
- Tracking results of your marketing campaigns
Step 3: Well-known target audience
Collect relevant demographic data of your audience. This would include information related to their age, gender, income, or interests. Understand their needs, collect their feedback, and improve. When you deliver content, keeping in mind your audiences’ interests and views, the success rate goes high.
Step 4: Self-Assessment
This step includes self-assessment of your existing content. Check if it is working for you. If yes, find out ways to improve. If not, try finding out ways to enhance engagement and get better results. See how your content is working and how frequently is it read or shared. Understand the analysis and identify the content gaps. Some of the most common content gaps can be irrelevant keywords, inappropriate answers to clients’ queries, or lack of improvement and innovation in content. Use Ahrefs to carry out a detailed analysis of your content and know your content gaps.
Step 5: Social overview
Go to Google analytics and carry out a detailed check of commonly used platforms. Showcase content on those channels to improve visibility. You can use Buzzsumo for the same. It would not only help you choose a desired and commonly used platform but will also assist you in selecting a content type which is more preferred to your target audience. Some content types used recently are- canvas, video marketing, podcasts, Facebook campaigns, webinars, or ebooks.
Step 6: Allocate resources optimally
Divide the work into teams. Hire an expert for the tasks. This will help you in achieving specialization. Get your content thoroughly checked and reviewed by those in charge before publishing it.
Step 7: Create a content calendar
This would mean deciding on the frequency of your content. Decide how often would you like to post on the respective platforms. Schedule it.
Step 8: The mastermind- Content
Write engaging and well-researched content. Re-read and re-review before finalizing it. Distribute it and market it to ensure it reaches the audience you desire.
Step 9: Performance check
Monitor your results. Google Alerts and mention.com can help you track your content marketing success. This will help you check how often your content is viewed and shared. Change the strategy if your key performance indicators set in step 2 are not met. Monitor your progress and evolve.
These tactics will help you stay ahead of the curve.
