Download A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing

CONTENT
MARKETING
A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and
distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract
and retain a clearly-defined audience - and, ultimately, to drive
profitable customer action.
Whether you’re a marketer at one of the
world’s biggest businesses or a small-business
owner, chances are you’ve heard the term
‘content marketing’ thrown around quite a bit.
That’s because it has increasingly become one of the most
popular marketing methods for organizations of all sizes.
So, what exactly constitutes content marketing? It can take
a lot of different forms but the common denominator is
content. Whether it is an infographic, a blog post or a video
- content marketing is all about creating meaningful content
as a way of attracting customers.
76% of marketers
use content marketing
as a part of their
respective strategies.
Source: B2C Content Marketing 2016:
Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends - North
America.
Truth is: This very ebook is a form of content
marketing. It is us sharing our marketing
knowledge to help inform our audience (you)
about a new marketing trend. We are proving
our knowledge and in turn we hope to see a few
more leads.
It represents an interesting new relationship
between customers and businesses. Consumers
want more than just a transaction. They want to
engage, they want to learn, they want content.
Okay, so now that we have your attention with
that poetic opener, it’s time to get into what we
do best: Laying down the best tips and tricks for
SMB marketers looking to jump on the content
marketing train.
First, lets talk a little bit about what getting
involved with content marketing looks like.
LET’S GET STARTED
It can be admittedly intimidating to begin the journey into content
marketing. But the practice of it is not much more complex than your
typical marketing efforts. The majority of the work actually happens
before you even start posting content.
FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT
The first step to any marketing effort is defining
what you want to get out of the content.
Why is content marketing something
you want to do?
Do you want to be a thought leader in
your industry?
Do you want your customers to engage
with your brand more?
For starters, this should be viewed through a
broader lens. But when you start rolling out
content it is something you’ll need to consider for
every piece, explained Litmus’ content marketing
manager, Lauren Smith to the Content Marketing
Institute. Having an understanding of the
individual goals you are trying to achieve will help
inform a lot of the creation process.
SERVE, DON’T SELL
This is a mindset that many SMB owners need to
adjust to. When it comes to content marketing,
the material doesn’t take the form of a traditional
ad. You aren’t directly selling a product, you are
aiming to address your customers’ needs. What
issues do they face? What industry questions can
you answer for them?
Before you begin your content marketing plan,
do some research in your space and figure out
what content would best serve your audience.
Smith suggested looking at competitors’ content
or tracking well-known industry thought-leaders
with Google alerts. This kind of preparation can
arm you with the necessary ideas to map out a
well-informed content calendar.
CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR
Speaking of content calendars, it’s important to
have a set plan going into content marketing.
Consistency is key here. Creating a content
calendar involves more than just mapping out
dates. It involves a conversation about which
platforms have the most traffic when. What
content performs best on which channel? Does
your audience frequent Facebook or Twitter more
often? Do customers prefer blogs or newsletters?
Once again, this involves some heavy research.
Luckily, the majority of the necessary information
is readily available via past marketing data, online
resources and competitor examples.
IDENTIFY THE METRICS
The last prep step involves figuring out how you are going to measure
the successes and failures of your content marketing goals. These metrics
will obviously vary based on your desired outcomes. Smith explained that
businesses trying to boost brand awareness would want to track new visits
and inbound links.
For companies trying to improve engagement levels bounce rates and pages
per visit may be good places to start. Marketing without measuring is like
playing in the Olympics and ignoring the awards ceremony. You need to
clearly define your metrics to understand whether your content marketing
efforts are taking home the gold or bottoming out in the loser’s circle.
Alright, now you have all the tools
you need to start creating content.
But you don’t want to create
just any old content.
You want your materials to live
among the content marketing greats.
But the question remains:
How do you knock your content marketing out of the park?
We’re talking optimizing your content to get the most possible attention. Turns out, this is
something plenty of marketers struggle with. While 76 percent of B2C marketers use content
marketing currently, only 37 percent claim they have an effective strategy in place, according to
Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs’ B2C Content Marketing 2016: Benchmarks,
Budgets, and Trends.
4
TOP
to optimize your
tips &
tricks
CONTENT MARKETING
WORK IN THOSE CTA’S
When it comes to content marketing, calls to
action have the potential to be a marketer’s best
friend. This involves a couple of layers. In a broad
sense, every single piece of content you create
should have some kind of action item, explained
Forbes contributor Neil Patel.
This means actively determining what you want
your readers to do after reading a post, watching
a video, scouring an infographic etc. Without a
concrete CTA, readers can be pulled in the wrong
direction after interacting with your content.
Crafting clever CTAs allows you to better guide
your audience through the sales funnel and
ultimately makes your content marketing more
effective.
Once you have decided on the action, you must
decide how to implement CTAs. Some businesses
choose a simple approach by simply stating what
they want their readers to do next. This often
takes the form of a closer sentence such as “To
learn more, sign up for our weekly newsletter!”
with a hyperlink to a sign-up form.
Other businesses take a slightly more advanced
approach by creating CTA buttons and
embedding them at the end of the post. Hubspot
contributor Gal Rimon claimed he was skeptical
about the power of these kinds of CTA additions.
However, when he started using them on his
blog his company brought in twice as many
marketing qualified leads. Use your content
marketing materials to draw in readers for your
other content marketing materials.
BLOG IT OUT
Blogging is a very powerful tool in terms of
content marketing. Lots of businesses use their
company blogs as an opportunity to share tips
and tricks and establish themselves as thought
leaders in their spaces. This can be as simple as
sharing ideas for fun pizza recipes or as complex
as creating a how-to post on properly repairing
a car engine. Whatever the content, blogs are a
great channel to create come valuable materials
for your audience. And the marketing return is
impressive.
According to Hubspot’s 2015 State of Inbound
report, marketers who leverage blogging
report an 82 percent higher ROI from inbound
marketing than those who don’t. Blogs have
some serious potential to improve your
marketing efforts as a whole. Not only can this
materialize as concrete conversions but higher
levels of engagement and lower bounce rates.
Rimon noted that blog content can also serve as
material for other key content marketing assets.
He suggested taking particularly popular blog
posts and creating infographics, eBooks and
other engaging material. This not only saves time
in terms of content creation but hits on a hot
topic in a more visually appealing manner.
UNDERSTAND THE POINT
When it comes to content creation, planning should be a crucial part of every post. Marketers
need to have a strong understanding of what content is going where and why. According to Patel,
many marketers inadvertently sabotage their content marketing efforts by not mapping out a
piece’s purpose and aligning it with the sales funnel. Without such alignment, your content will
just float out in the world and never really help bring in conversions.
Each of the three main stages of the sales funnel
requires different kinds of content. Here is a brief
summary of each:
nurturing and starting a conversation with your
audience. Think eBooks, case studies and white​
papers.
Top of Funnel: This content tends to simple
and engaging. It is created to answer a
common question or open up the door to more
conversation. Patel noted that this usually takes
the form of a blog article or how-to video.
Bottom of Funnel: Unlike the other two forms
of content, bottom of the funnel material is
less about value and more about sales. While it
doesn’t have a specific form per se, its ultimate
goal is to nail the conversion. This intended
outcome will inform the tone and format of the
post.
Middle of Funnel: Instead of simply answering
a question this kind of content addresses a
problem and positions your product as a solution.
However, subtlety is key as the most effective
MoFu content is rarely about the hard sales
pitch. This stage of the relationship is about lead
The major takeaway here is that you need to
understand what the content you are creating is
aiming to do. If you don’t, you risk simply creating
content for content’s sake.
FIND WHAT WORKS
One of the biggest mistakes content marketers
make is focusing on the wrong platforms or
materials. While in the beginning stages of content
marketing it makes sense to try out various
channels and content types, you need to pay close
attention to what is working and what isn’t.
Just because a particular platform is popular for
other marketers doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right
for your audience. Don’t waste your time and
money investing in platforms or material that don’t
work for you. If blog posts on LinkedIn create the
most conversions for your business put your money
there. If videos sent out as a part of an email
campaign generate the most leads focus on those.
Content marketing is all about investing in what
works for your audience so make sure you’re not
wasting your marketing spend on anything else.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Content marketing is a powerful force for businesses of all sizes. It proves your value
to your customers and ultimately sets you up on a path to better marketing ROI, higher
levels of engagement and increased customer loyalty. While setting out on your content
marketing journey can be initially intimidating, the rewards are well worth the risk. By
keeping these tips in mind you can ensure your content marketing efforts soar.
Something else we can help you with?
Just ask, [email protected]
We love marketing, we do this every day.
Veteran Experience.
Modern Perspective.
movingtargets.com
800.926.2451