Content Marketing: Your Comprehensive Guide

Last Updated: 2 weeks ago by BrodNeil

TL;DR: Content marketing is still the most sustainable mid- to long-term strategy to increase your site’s traffic.

Don’t you like sustainable traffic?

Whether you are operating a small- or medium-scale business online, content marketing is the fuel to drive it month after month.

When you feel your site is not fulfilling its purpose, ask yourself: are you feeding it with enough quality content?

Beef it up with content day by day.

So what is content marketing, and how do you effectively carry it out?

I hope this page will be helpful as you learn and implement these content marketing basics and tips.

We will continue to update this page as we learn new things and re-learn our workflow in content marketing.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is another type of marketing that involves curating, creating, and promoting your online material or content. Content marketing heavily depends on content strategy. These materials can be videos, blog posts, images, infographics, and social media posts. Content marketing is not direct selling. Content marketing is not intended to explicitly promote a brand. Its objective is to stimulate interest in prospects and customers on matters related to a company’s products or services. Its purpose is to offer free useful and informative content.

Content marketing involves the creation and sharing of online materials that are intended to increase your website’s traffic and ultimately grow your business. The types of content marketing materials include infographics, videos, newsletters, blog posts, and social media posts, among others.

Types of Content Marketing

Content marketing is a very important marketing strategy that will boost your business.  There are many types of content marketing you can use no matter what the type and size of business you have.  If you ask what is best to use for your business, well, it actually depends on many factors, including your audience, the type of information you want to share, your goals, and more.

To help you decide what type of content to use, let us learn the common types of content marketing to help you convey various content for your audience.

Blogs

Blogging is probably the most popular and most important type of content marketing.  It is an informational page in your website that relays relevant content on certain topics related to your business.  Blogging is how you get the attention of your target market and connect with them using your relevant content.  It is one of the best ways to improve traffic on your website and generate leads through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Video

Video is another important form of content marketing that continues to be utilized by many marketers.  In fact, video marketing has evolved in different forms that make it even more popular.  It has evolved from the typical long-form videos to short-form, 360-degree videos, and live videos.   These videos can be promoted in your YouTube channel and can be shared in your blog, your email campaigns, and your social media accounts, among others.

• Long-form videos usually tell stories, how-to content, and other demonstrative content.  These are usually shown in YouTube and shared in other platforms like social media channels and blogs.  
• Short-form videos are great for social media sharing.  They are short, attention-grabbing, and engaging.  They can be used for product teasers, to reveal a new product, to answer FAQs, to show a short instruction, to show skills, and to make a challenge as in the case of TikTok challenge.
• 360-degree videos are rather interactive and they give consumers a more controlled perspective.  They are great for use in real estate, gaming industry, and for presenting products. 
• Live videos are also an effective way to build relationships with your audience.  Live videos can be used as a platform to create conversations and allow interaction with your viewers as you present something or share some information.

Podcast

Podcast is an audio program that listeners can subscribe to and can listen to anytime they want. It is another growing form of content marketing, which grew from 18.5 episodes in 2018 to 30 million episodes this 2020.  Video podcasts are also being used by many marketers so that listeners will have an option to watch or listen to the content. 

The contents in podcasts can be just about anything relating to your industry and can involve just about anyone -from a solo personality to talks or interviews with one or more guests.  These podcasts may also be shared in your website and your social media accounts for promotion. 

Infographics

Infographics are visual contents that can help your audience visualize data, instead of using plain words or numbers.  They convert complicated information to simpler and more understandable materials.  Infographics are great for presenting statistics, step-by-step instructions, and diagrams of your product or service.  If you want to present complex data in a straightforward, easy to understand, and attention-grabbing manner, using infographics is a great way to go.   

Below is an example of an infographic by cdc.gov used for a health campaign:

Webinars

The term webinar is a combination of the words, “web” and “seminar”.  A webinar is a great way to share your knowledge and expertise to others.  It can also be used for product demonstrations and for training in different fields and industries.  Webinars, when done well, can help build good relationships and trust from your audience.       

Email newsletter

Email newsletter is a very important part of content marketing that is usually done on a monthly basis.  You only send newsletters to those who willingly subscribed to your email campaigns.   This gives you a great opportunity to build better relationships with your subscribers. 

Email newsletters are not focused on promoting or advertising, but on sharing information that may interest your subscribers, such as current events related to your business.  Newsletters usually have a conversational tone that gives a more personalized way of relating to customers, making it a great strategy to build loyalty. 

eBooks

In digital marketing, eBooks provide a great wealth of information and knowledge to readers.  It may take more time, effort, and skills than other types of content marketing and it can be intimidating to make, but it would all be worthwhile.  eBooks can help establish your status to “expert” in your industry. eBooks are also easier for you to distribute and convenient for your readers, too.

Another marketing advantage of using eBooks is that it is typically gated.  This means that your readers must agree to provide certain information in exchange for the eBook. This will allow you to collect lead information that may be used for future promotions.

White papers

White papers are a long-form type of content that are at least 2,500 words in length and written in a more academic-style than other types of content marketing.  It is mostly used in B2B (business to business) marketing to promote a certain product, service, or technology/methodology through persuasive and factual evidence.  You can use a white paper to encourage prospective customers that your product or service is superior than others.     

White papers are also usually gated, which means it can be used to generate leads for future campaigns. 

Social media posts

Social media posting is probably one of the most popular and most convenient type of content marketing for small businesses.  It is very easy to manage and results can be easily monitored.  It is basically free, unless you go for sponsored posts. 

While there are many social media platforms out there, it is important to know where your audience is, so you know what platforms can be best utilized for your business.  Another tip is to know what day of the week and what time of the day is best to post your content.  Finally, be sure to post something that is short, simple, interesting, and engaging to get more likes and more clicks.    

Case studies

Case studies are stories of your customers that show how your product or business has helped them.  These are not just simply testimonials, but are more detailed stories that include facts, pictures, or maybe videos of their story.  For B2B marketing, showing numbers are very essential.

Case studies are very effective in convincing other customers to try out your product or service.  A lot of customers depend on others’ experiences and success stories before they try the products or services themselves.  Case studies also help consumers understand your product or your service better and how your business operates.  

Slideshows

Slideshows may sound like an unconventional type of content marketing, but it is very useful.  SlideShare, owned by LinkedIn, allows you to upload your slideshows and share them through social media or through a link on your website.  The successful contents you have in blog, in your infographics, or even in your white paper and case studies may be repurposed as SlideShare presentations.  Just remember to always include a link to your website and a call-to-action in your slideshow to get more traffic to your website.       

GIFS and memes

GIFs and memes are probably some of the most popular, shareable, and attention-grabbing types of content you can share on different platforms.  GIFs or Graphics Interchange Format are animated images or soundless video that loops continuously.  Memes, on the other hand, are viral images or screenshots from films with entertaining or relatable captions.

You can add these short content to your blogs, incorporate in your email, or share them on social media to add excitement to your main topic, as well as grab and retain the attention of your audience.  You can make your own GIFs or memes or make use of interesting and potentially viral ones circulating on the Internet.

Other types of content marketing

Other content marketing forms that you can use for your business include the following:

• Checklist
• Quizzes
• Polls
• E-Courses
• Free Apps
• Testimonials

You do not have to use all these types of content marketing formats to succeed.  Just be sure to assess your audience, the content you want to share, your goals, your needs, and your resources and then see which type of content marketing is best for your business. 

Click to go to the main Content Marketing page.

Just to be clear, content marketing does not involve direct selling. That job is for traditional advertising. While both have a common goal, which is to turn your audience into paying customers, content marketing attracts your target audience using relevant, timely, and useful information related to your product or service offering instead of throwing a direct sales pitch.

The core of content marketing is to offer value to its prospects and customers through useful content.

Content marketing vs traditional advertising

Content marketing and traditional advertising have a common goal – to turn their audience into paying customers.  However, they are different in such a way that instead of directly making a good sales pitch of the product or service, content marketing simply tries to get the attention of their target audience by providing relevant quality content consistently.  

Content marketing also has a targeted audience compared with traditional advertising that has a general audience.

Other important differences between content marketing and traditional advertising include the audience and speed of reach.  

Audience

Traditional advertising involves a general audience.  Your advertisement is shared by the media to whoever is watching the television, listening to the radio, reading news, and more.  You do not really know who it reaches. With content marketing, your content reaches your target audience. They get to see your content as they search something related to your content and your industry. 

Speed of reach

Traditional advertising reaches the general audience as soon as your ads are aired by any form of media.  With content marketing, results can be quite slow. You have to work on your page ranking so that your content will appear on the first few pages of the search engine results page (SERP).  Appearing on the first few pages of the SERP will give you a much bigger chance of being visited by interested visitors, who can be your prospective customers.    

Content Marketing vs. Content Strategy

In order to be successful in content marketing, you need to have an effective content strategy.  This lies in the creation of the content itself before you share them to your target audience.  

Content strategy acts as your blueprint in content creation.  It contains your guidelines and strategies in content creation, reasons why you create your content, topics to include in your content, calendar, writers, content update (who will update and when),  as well as the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that will help you evaluate your content.   

Click to go back to the main content marketing page.

More on this later. See content marketing process below.

Do you need content? Check out our content writing services.

The Purpose of Content Marketing

The purpose of content marketing is obviously to turn the target audience into customers or clients. (But perhaps not just one-time customers.)

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that consistently delivers content to a target audience to turn them into loyal customers. The content can come from any online material like a blog post, image, video, infographic, podcast, social media posts, etc.

The Purpose of Content Strategy

The core purpose of content strategy is to offer value to its target audience by providing what the audience is looking for (content that is useful, informative, entertaining, etc.)

Read Types of Content Marketing.

See the difference between content marketing and traditional advertising.

Read further on what content marketing is.

Back to Content Marketing Guide

5 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Important

Content marketing is important to help meet your company’s ultimate goal – to earn more sales and generate revenue.  When effectively implemented, content marketing gives you an opportunity to:

• build good relations with your audience;  
• build your brand identity; 
• create trust and positive brand image; 
• gain competitive advantage; and 
• promote your brand and your products with a wide reach.

All these would result in increased website traffic that will favorably increase website conversions.   

Content marketing in a gist 

Content marketing involves consistently making and sharing relevant online content that will attract your target audience, keep them engaged, and turn them into paying customers.  These contents come in the form of blog posts, videos, images, podcasts, infographics, and social media posts. These contents may be shared in your blog, social media, and through email.  

So why is content marketing important?

Content marketing is no doubt one of the best online marketing strategies that you can utilize in this time of digitization. It does not matter if your business is big or small.  Here are the reasons why content marketing is important for the growth of your business:  

1. Build good relations with your customers

If you find yourself irritated by ads and sales messages that you are not even interested in, then you will understand the importance of content marketing.  Content marketing does not force uninterested people to read your content, share them, or comment on them. Your content is targeted to a specific audience who are interested in what you share.   Because of this, it would be easier for you to engage with your audience and build good relations with them – simply because they are interested.

The challenge in keeping good relations with them is to keep them interested.  That is why you have to consistently create and share with them relevant, interesting, and timely content. 

2. Build your brand identity

When you consistently provide useful content to your audience, there is a good chance that they would return to your website and maybe even subscribe to your blog, like your facebook page, or follow you on Instagram or Twitter. 

As you get them to frequently visit any of your online channels, you are gradually building your brand identity.  They will remember your logo, your design, and even the color and the distinct style that you have, which distinguishes you with other brands. 

The effect –  whenever they need some useful information or they want to avail of something related to your product or service, your audience will most likely remember you.

3. Create trust and positive brand image 

Brand image is the perception customers have of your brand, including your products or services.  This impression is formed over time through their experience and interactions with you. Content marketing can help you create trust and thus, positive brand image.

 Prospective and existing customers can have a wonderful experience with your website (and your brand) as you provide them with the timely and relevant information they need through the contents you make.  They may not necessarily be exactly about the product you sell or service you offer, but something very related.    

If you sell gardening tools, for instance, you may want to share some indoor gardening tips, tools people use in different gardening activities, and gardening how-tos.  The topics may be endless, but they have to be relevant and useful for your audience. When your audience learns to trust you as their source of useful information, this creates a positive brand image.  Your audience may show this trust by doing more than just visiting your website or liking your posts, but also by sharing them with their family and friends and ultimately availing products from you.    

4. Gain competitive advantage

Content marketing gives you a clear advantage over your competitors who are not into content marketing. If you are running a small or medium local business, there may be a great chance that your competitors are not utilizing content marketing.  If this is the case, then this is your chance to get some positive exposure and positive brand image through content marketing that your competitors cannot get. 

What about those competitors who are also into content marketing?  

Well, it may not be that simple.  As long as you stick to the key elements of content marketing – that is consistently creating and sharing relevant, interesting, and timely content to your target audience – then you will be doing great.

The challenge is gaining competitive advantage.  To do this, you have to be unique. You have to go where others are not going.  You have to innovate and find ways that will help you reach more of your target audience and that will keep them engaged.   

5. Promote your brand and your products with a wide reach 

Apart from sharing content that interests your audience, content marketing also allows you to directly promote your products and services.  Newsletters, for instance, allows you to share to your subscribers new product offerings, sales, promotions, company events, and more. A blog post can also be created for the same purpose and then shared to different social media channels.   

As long as content marketing is done correctly with the creation of relevant online content and consistently sharing them in the right channels, you will effectively increase your website traffic and improve your sales. 

The key is to put your target audience in priority – that you make content for them, something of value to them.  When they know they are valued, they learn to trust you. When they trust you, that is when revenue comes in.  

Click to go back to the main Content Marketing page.

6 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Valuable Long Term

Content marketing is a mid to long-term marketing strategy that you can utilize to increase your website traffic and turn visitors into paying customers.  With an effective content marketing strategy, you will reap positive results in the long run.   

Content marketing overview 

Content marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves the curation, creation, and promotion of online content material that aims to attract more visitors to your website with the ultimate goal of increasing your sales and income in the future.  These online materials include blog posts, infographics, videos, newsletters, whitepapers, social media posts, case studies, and more.   

Content marketing follows a cyclical pattern that should be consistent.  You plan, create content, distribute, promote, and go back to planning after some evaluation.  You need to evaluate its performance to see what works and what doesn’t.  

Reasons Why Content Marketing is Valuable Long Term 

Content marketing does not show results easily and quickly.  It takes time to build and establish, but you can enjoy its long-term benefits once you do.  Here are some of the reasons why content marketing is valuable long term: 

1. It generates leads continuously.  Providing content relevant to your target audience can attract leads to your website who can be your potential customers.  It is a very convenient way to generate leads continuously in the long term as the content you probably created a few years ago maybe something of interest to other people today and in the future.  Furthermore, the more topics you cover, the more leads your content can generate over time. 

2. Old content may be updated to adjust to the times.  Some of your topics might become obsolete over the years, but some outdated content may be updated to adjust to the times without needing to spend more time, effort, and money. Continuously updating your material is an excellent way to provide relevant and timely content consistently.  

3. It can build trust and loyalty.  Consistently giving your audience timely, relevant, and quality content can help build trust and loyalty.  

4. It can help your business build a reputation.  In the same way as it can build trust and loyalty, the right content marketing strategies can help build your credibility and reputation over time.    

5. It can work with other marketing strategies.  Content marketing can be used in combination with other marketing efforts.  You may create content to promote and tell your audience more about an upcoming sale, a product to be launched, and other campaigns.   

6. It is very cost-efficient.  Content marketing can work with any budget that your business can afford.  Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing can help improve your business without spending a lot.  The best thing – it can stay on the Internet available to your audience as long as you want to, unlike advertising.     

Content marketing can be a valuable digital marketing strategy that can positively impact your business in the long term.  As long as you implement a sustainable content marketing strategy, you can effectively increase your website visitors, generate more leads, and improve your sales over time.    

Click to go back to the main content marketing page.

How Content Marketing is Usually Done

Summary

The content marketing strategy is a cycle. It does not just follow a straight-line process but a cycle that allows you to improve your tactics and become more effective over time.

It usually involves the following process:

1. Identify your content marketing goals.
2. Know your target audience and their interests.
3. Plan how to make your content relevant, unique, and consistent.
4. Create valuable and optimized content.
5. Promote content in different channels (blogs, social media, email, etc.).
6. Generate and analyze reports.
7. Go back to planning.
   • See what can be done to improve results.
   • Identify contents generating the most responses or sales so they may be amplified.
   • Incorporate new ideas.

Read further on how content marketing is usually done.

If you want to increase traffic in your website, you need a strategy that will attract your target audience and keep them engaged.  

You need content marketing.  

By consistently creating and sharing relevant content, you can drive your target audience to your website and hopefully turn this traffic into sales.  

But there is a challenge.  You just don’t create any content and promote them anywhere and anytime.  There has to be a way to get things done.    

The content marketing process

Content marketing usually involves the following process, but you can always modify it:

1. Identify your content marketing goals.
2. Know your target audience and their interests.
3. Plan how to make your content relevant and unique.
4. Create valuable and optimized content.
5. Promote content in different channels (blogs, social media, email, etc.).
6. Generate and analyze reports. 
7. Go back to planning.
   • See what can be done to improve results.
   • Identify contents that are generating the most responses or sales so they may be amplified.
   • Incorporate new ideas.

Here is a simple diagram to show you how content marketing strategy is usually done.

Let’s dive into the details.

Identify your content marketing goals

Your marketing goals determine what outcomes you want for your content marketing strategy.  

They serve as the foundation of your strategy and your guide all throughout the process.  With clear goals, you will have a way to assess your content marketing process and your results.

Your goals must be clear, specific, and aligned with the main marketing goals of your company.    To guide you, here are some examples of content marketing goals shared by Content Marketing:

• Brand awareness – being discovered by your target audience;
• Audience engagement – earning the interest of readers and turning them into subscribers;
• Lead generation –  knowing readers who can become prospective customers;
• Customer trust and loyalty – retaining customers through customer satisfaction and positive brand image; and
• Sales and profitability – getting more sales conversions; minimizing costs; and finding new ways to earn.

Know your target audience and their interests

Do you know your target audience?  The target for your content should be the people who could potentially become your customers.  

So who are they? 

They are the ones who may be directly interested in your products or services or related to what you are offering. For example, if you are selling gardening tools, your target audience will not just include gardeners or landscapers, but also homeowners, plant lovers, green living advocates, and even environmentalists.      

Once you have identified your target audience, you need to know their interests.  Learning about their interests will help you develop the specific topics for content creation.  It will also help you develop keywords you can use so that your content will show up in searches.  

Audience Targeting through Content Marketing

Your customers are your lifeblood. How well you target and communicate with them can make or break your business. The right audience targeting solution will save you time and money while helping you find and keep the customers that are most likely to buy from you.

Audience targeting is an essential part of marketing. Understanding your target audience can create a marketing strategy that resonates with them and drives results. There are a number of factors to consider when targeting an audience, including demographics, psychographics, and behaviors.

Demographics include factors such as age, sex, income, and education level. Psychographics include things like interests, values, and lifestyle. Behaviors refer to how someone uses products or services. All of these factors can help you better understand your target audience and create messaging that speaks to them.

Once you understand your target audience better, you can begin to tailor your content and marketing efforts specifically for them. This will help you connect with your audience in a more meaningful way and boost conversions.

What is audience targeting?

Audience targeting is a marketing technique that allows businesses to target specific groups of consumers with their advertising and marketing efforts. By understanding the characteristics of each group, businesses can create ads and content that is most likely to appeal to them. This can be a valuable tool for targeting customers who are more likely to purchase a product or service, as well as creating more effective campaigns overall.

Types of Audience Targeting: Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic

Different businesses use different methods to target their audiences. The three most common types of audience targeting are demographic, geographic, and psychographic.

Demographic targeting involves using information about the age, gender, income, and education of the audience to identify who the ad is meant to reach. This type of targeting is often used by businesses that sell products or services to a specific group of people.

Geographic targeting involves using information about where the audience lives or where they are likely to travel. This type of targeting is often used by businesses that want to advertise their products or services in a specific area.

Psychographic targeting involves using information about the interests and attitudes of the audience. This type of targeting is often used by businesses that want to target people with specific lifestyles or values.

How to Choose the Right Type of Audience Targeting: Consider your business goals

When starting a business, it is important to consider your business goals and the target audience you want to reach. There are many different types of audience targeting, and the right one for your business will depend on your goals. Some common types of audience targeting include geographic targeting, demographic targeting, and behavioral targeting.

Geographic targeting involves focusing on a specific area or region. This can be done by choosing a certain country, state, or even city to target.

Demographic targeting focuses on characteristics such as age, gender, income level, or education level.

Behavioral targeting targets people based on their past behavior online. This can include things like what websites they have visited, what products they have looked at online, or what type of content they have shared on social media.

Implementing Audience Targeting: Online and Offline Strategies

Audience targeting is the process of understanding and predicting the behavior of a target audience in order to create a communication strategy that resonates with them. The goal of audience targeting is to identify the most relevant audience for a campaign and then deliver marketing messages that are most likely to persuade them to act. There are two main ways to target an audience: online and offline.

Online audience targeting involves using digital technologies to reach potential customers. This can be done by creating targeted ads on websites, social media platforms, or through email marketing. Digital technologies make it easy to track how people are interacting with your content, so you can make sure your messages are reaching the right people.

Offline audience targeting involves reaching potential customers through traditional methods such as TV, radio, or print advertising. It can also include personal interactions such as face-to-face meetings or telephone calls.

Why you need great content to attract and engage customers online

In an age where customers are increasingly disconnected from physical stores and shopping experiences, businesses must create compelling content to attract and engage customers online. Great content is not only informative and entertaining, but it also provides a sense of connection with the company or product. This is why great writing is so important in online marketing; by providing quality content, businesses can connect with their target audience and create loyal followers.

Plan how to make your content relevant and unique.

Since content creation is made for your target audience, you should aim to provide them with relevant content.  Relevant content simply means the content they are interested in.  It contains the information they need and want.  Relevant content is something that your audience will really read about.  

What if everyone else in your industry is doing the same? How do you make your content stand out?

Assuming you are going to make a really informative and relevant content that will be free from grammatical errors, your content may still get less attention if it is not unique enough.  If you will provide the same great information as your competitors, your content can stand out with the following tips:

• Create a relevant and striking headline.  Make sure your headline is interesting and it reflects what the post is really all about.   
• Make use of original stories.  No one wants to read content that one can find in other sources.     
• Use images, infographics, videos, and other visuals.  These visuals will make it easier for your audience to understand the information you are communicating.
• Utilize proper headings, subheadings, and lists.  These will make your post easier to read and follow.
• Get rid of long paragraphs. They are obviously boring to read.
• Include overviews or key takeaways for longer posts.  Some readers skim over the post to see if they will be getting the information they really need before reading the entire article, so make sure you make it easier for them to see what you have.      

Create valuable and optimized content

This is now the step that you create content that is relevant, unique, and of excellent quality.  Part of content creation is also making sure you have a Search Engine Optimized content.  An optimized content is one that has the capacity to reach its target audience as widely as possible.  You can optimize your content by using keywords, inserting relevant links, as well as adding tags and meta tags.

Promote content in different channels 

Once you have already created and posted valuable and optimized content in your blog, you should now be ready to promote these content in different channels.  These channels include the following:

• Social media  
• Email campaign 
• Online communities like QandA sites
• Paid media (including social media)
• Own blog or website (through feature posts or internal linking from a related blog post)
• Other websites and blogs (through link outreach, guest blogging, etc.)

Generate and analyze reports

Promoting your content is not the end of your content marketing strategy.  It is important to know how your content is performing against other content and other websites on the Internet.  

Here are some metrics you need to look into:

• Website Traffic
• On-site time
• Audience engagement
• Conversions
• SEO Performance
• Returning visitors

Go back to planning

Once you have generated and analyzed applicable reports, it’s time to go back to planning.  In this stage you do not need to start from scratch or go back to square one.  Here’s what you can do:   

• See what can be done to improve results (especially with content creation and promotion);
• Identify contents that are generating the most responses or sales so they may be amplified; and
• Incorporate new ideas.

The content marketing strategy is a cycle.  It does not just follow a straight-line process, but a cycle that allows you to improve your tactics and become more effective over time.

Deliverables 

When it comes to content marketing, you just don’t create any content and publish them when you have the time.  We have to remember that content marketing involves “making and sharing relevant content consistently”.

“Relevant content” means posts that interest your target audience.  These are valuable posts that are informative, that answers their questions, and that pays attention to the needs and wants of the target audience. Being able to provide relevant content will help you connect and build productive relationships with your audience by giving value to what they are reading and learning from you.         

“Consistently making and sharing” means implementing a schedule for your posts.  Part of your planning should include the following: 

• the number of deliverables or posts (pillar posts and blog posts) per month or per week
• when to create these posts;
• when to share the posts; 
• Where will they be shared (channels); and 
• who will be in charge. 

All these have to be consistent in order to be effective.  

Click to go back to the main Content Marketing page.

The Goal of Content Marketing

Content marketing aims to engage, educate, and inspire audiences with valuable and relevant content that meets their interests and needs. Understanding the results-driven potential of content marketing is crucial for success, whether you’re a business owner, marketer, or content creator. Stay updated with the latest trends in the dynamic world of content marketing to elevate your brand and unlock your business potential. Click this link to stay informed and discover the goals of content marketing.

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How Do We Implement an Effective Content Marketing Campaign? How Are We Different?

We are not so different from many others doing content marketing.

Earlier today, a client is asking me almost the same question, and I agree with her concern.

Regardless of the channel used (FB, email, blog, etc.), content can often go to waste with no one reading it. The resources spent to curate, create, and promote the content do not come cheap.

I often try to dodge information overload whenever I open my email.

The concern is very valid; therefore, I would like to address it here, so our readers may know how we do content marketing and why we do it this way.

At least that way, our readers may know if our content marketing strategy is worth implementing.

Back to Content Marketing Guide

How are we doing content marketing?

We always start with the basics. I usually do this with the client; no one in my team can better understand my client’s business except the client himself/herself.

First, we try to identify the two items below:

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Identify the Target Audience

Identify the Unique Value Proposition

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Identifying the above vital points should not be done in haste. These are crucial points to think about. The amount of time you spend identifying these two key points can dictate how much money you may earn or lose in the next 3-7 months.

For a small business like mine, it is essential to know whether the content marketing strategy is working or not as soon as possible.

Decisiveness is also essential for every penny counts—more on this in Analytics.

Content marketing process

Step #1: Curate

Content Curation is the first step of the content marketing process. It is the act of finding, collecting, and organizing your digital content for a specific topic.

The word seems to be derived from the Latin word curatus (past participle of curare, which means “to take care of.”)

Whether you write something original or make something better from an existing idea or content, to a certain degree, curation is involved. (This is my take.)

Step #2: Create

Content creation is the 2nd process. It is the act of doing the following:

• Preparing or outlining your ideas based on the curated content in step #1.
• Creating the content as an article, a graphic illustration or an infographic, a video, a podcast, or any other possible format where your target audience can access your content.

Step #3: Promote

Content promotion is the 3rd step in the process. It is distributing your content to most, if not all, of the other channels your target audience is possibly consuming. This is why identifying your target audience is very important, including knowing your audience’s media consumption.

Promotion can be both paid (advertising) and organic.

In today’s digital marketing arena, I feel it is no longer enough to rely on quality content and SEO (unless perhaps your site has a very high domain authority). Nevertheless, you always want to outmatch your competition, don’t you?

Step #4: Evaluate

The last step in the content marketing process is to evaluate your campaign. That measures whether or not your content marketing strategy or effort is effective and efficient.

The purpose of reviewing your campaign is the following:

• to know whether or not the campaign’s conversion rate is acceptable (conversion is the purpose of why you are doing the campaign, be it for a lead, a subscription, a sale, a download, etc.);
• to know whether or not we truly identified and understand our target audience (Is the topic really relevant to them? Is it what they are looking for?); and finally,
• to decide whether to stop or continue the campaign (that is to continue as it is or to refine the campaign).

Be consistent

This is not part of the steps in the process, but this is surely a key factor in content marketing.

Be consistent.

Content marketing is both a marathon and a sprint. Yes, I agree that you have to be quick in deciding and refining your strategy and workflow; yet ultimately, your perseverance matters most.

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AIDA model

AIDA is an acronym for Attention or Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. It is a classic model that is widely used in marketing and advertising. It describes the stages that occur from the time when a consumer (target audience) becomes aware of a product, service, or brand to when the consumer (target audience) makes a purchase decision (or becomes a customer).

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Sales funnel

Another concept to understand in digital marketing is the sales funnel. There are many different illustrations of a sales funnel. Yet, ultimately, like the AIDA model, it boils down to the process of understanding the target audience, prospect, or customer from awareness to purchase (and possibly to a loyal customer).

The image below is how we’d like to illustrate it based on the content marketing process that we are doing.

We can also compare the AIDA model with the sales funnel illustration to understand how our target audience reacts or responds to our content marketing efforts.

Below, you can see that every time we complete a content marketing process, it goes to a different stage of the funnel.

Awareness = Top Funnel = Cold Audience

Granting everything is perfect (for the sake of illustration), let us take, for example, Facebook advertising. The first round of promotion goes to our target audience who has not known us yet. Those who have not visited our Facebook page, those who have not engaged or liked our posts, and those who have not visited our site (website, blog, etc.). Let us say because of this promotion, Juan, who opened his Facebook account, became aware of our service, product, and brand. Juan, at this point, is at the top funnel. He is still a cold audience, though he is already aware of our product, service, or brand.

Juan then decides to engage and click the like button on our post. This time, he is somewhere transitioning from the top funnel to the middle funnel. By clicking, we know Juan perhaps has an interest in our topic. He is now an engaged audience. In this example, he is now one of our FB page audience.

The next type of content is geared toward those who have engaged with our FB posts or those who have liked our page. In short, those who have shown interest in our topic, like Juan. We aim for Juan to visit our site (or blog, for example). If he becomes a site visitor, we can say that Juan now wants to consume more of our topic, info, product, service, or brand. This is still the middle funnel.

The last promotion is created for the bottom funnel. That is to turn our target audience and prospects into customers. At this stage of the promotion, we are hoping that Juan will take action and become a customer.

It does not stop here; the process continues to keep Juan as a delighted loyal customer.

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Why Are We Doing Content Marketing This Way?

This is our mission-vision in content marketing

Mission:

To implement an applicable, practical, and effective content marketing campaign, use a tried-and-tested system that can give us the environment we need to implement creativity and customization.

Vision:

To free up our clients’ time doing content marketing so they can focus on the nature of their business while we take care of most of the planning, implementation, and monitoring.

To use as an updated guide for our team when we implement content marketing to our sites.

To offer our readers a comprehensive applicable, practical, and effective content marketing plan or strategy for them to follow and execute.

I like to coin it as PEACE content marketing:

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The PEACE criteria in content marketing.

Practical = doable or feasible to do, rather than a theory or an idea.

Effective = Adequate to accomplish a purpose or a goal.

Applicable = relevant or appropriate in the context it’s being used.

Consistent = act or do in the same way over a period of time.

Efficient = spend the least time doing something for maximum productivity.

Effective means that it can be measured.

PEACE Content Marketing

The PEACE criteria in content marketing.

Practical = doable or feasible to do, rather than a theory or an idea.

Effective = Adequate to accomplish a purpose or a goal.

Applicable = relevant or appropriate in the context it’s being used.

Consistent = act or do in the same way over a period of time.

Efficient = spend the least time doing something for maximum productivity.

Effective means that it can be measured. See Analytics.

Get our PEACE Content Marketing Infographic

Copy-paste the code below:

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How to Measure Content Marketing Success 101

Knowing how to measure content marketing success is an important aspect that every marketer and/or business must take note of. Failure to do so would mean a great loss for the marketer or business despite all its marketing efforts. Why? This is because this step is actually what ensures the worth and efficiency of all the marketing investments made by the company. It is what keeps track of your ROIs and ensures that your content is consistently and continuously aligned to all your core objectives.

What is the first thing to consider?

Providing value to your core objectives plays a vital role in how you choose to shape and design your content. So before anything else, before you even begin to measure and collect all the necessary data, it would be wise for you to write down all your key objectives first. If you have many, arrange them in order of priority for greater ease. Remember that these goals are what will serve as the foundation of all the metrics and data that you will later be checking from time to time, onward.

Examples of the common content marketing goals are the following:

• Brand awareness
• Cross-sell
• Customer retention
• Engagement
• Lead generation
• Sales

Ponder on objectives inline with:

• Audience’s objective
• SEO objectives
• Digital PR objectives
• Business objectives

Which metrics can help you determine if your content marketing strategy is working?

There are a lot of KPIs or Key Performance Indicators used to measure marketing.

Check out the graph below for better understanding.

However, you won’t be needing all of them, but rather, you will only be tapping on a few that best suit your goals. Generally, below are 4 metrics that can help you determine your content marketing’s success:

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What tools should you use?

Among the many tools available, Google Analytics remains to be one of the most popular and sought-after tools for many marketing experts. It offers free tools to help you better analyze important data in one setting.

Few of its features include:

• collects data on every site visitor
• provides comprehensive demographic data
• tracks website conversions and activities
• improves organic traffic through linking to AdWords
• measures ROIs of different marketing campaigns
• measures engagements
• offers SEO reports

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Tips on how to measure content marketing success

• create schedules on how frequent you’d like to measure your metrics
• take initiative, effort, and time to deeply analyze your performance
• collect actionable metrics
• use the numbers as a guide to determine not just your strengths but as well as your weaknesses—this will help you determine where you must give more focus on to improve

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More on What We Do in Content Marketing

Tried-and-tested system

Making use of a tried-and-tested system is a smart move. Why create one when there are others who have already done them efficiently and effectively?

A tried-and-tested system can make you consistent in your implementation. Content marketing is not a sprint. It is a marathon.

Being consistent is the key factor. A tried-and-tested system is what you need to be consistent.

We use ResultFlow for the following reasons:

• It is effective and battle-tested by many small-to-medium scale businesses located in different parts of the globe.;
• It is efficient to spend the least time for maximum productivity;
• I can customize its use in line with the content strategy we have in mind for a particular client or business (the default setting is already very optimal anyway);
• It is way above the charts when it comes to our PEACE criteria.
• It is offered to a small group (I believe that they are now trying to open up to the public now); and
• I don’t have the resources to build this system. (I feel very fortunate to take part in their community.)

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Creativity and customization

Recap

Apart from those mentioned:

• PEACE criteria
• Tried-and-tested system
• Creativity and Customization

What makes us different may not be much.

Yet if given a chance, we do content marketing for your business as if it is our business.

We value integrity more than money: our work ethics, our expertise, our honesty and transparency, and most of all, our relationship with our clients.

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Integrity: client-provider relationship

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We are a very small team, and perhaps I want to keep it this way for the following reasons:

• I don’t have many resources to go BIG;
• Small business is easier to manage; this can mean fewer headaches;
• Small business can also be more profitable in terms of percentage as it has fewer overhead expenses, and lastly,
• I can spend more time with my wife and six children.

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The Importance of Analytics

Weigh, consider, and decide quickly and effectively.

Analytics is not for viewing purposes only. It begs you to take action based on the results. It begs you to be decisive.

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Preparations Are Needed

As you begin with content marketing, there are preparations you need to make and the tools you need to set up that will make your implementation more efficient and effective. These include, but are not limited to, the following tools:

• List of topics and their keyword research
• Content management system (CMS)
• Online collaboration platforms and cloud storage like Trello, Google Drive, Teamwork, Slack, etc.
• Setting up the different social media accounts.
• Setting up the email marketing tool or software
• Writing tools like Grammarly
• Content Calendar
• Setting up your social media sharing tools like dlvr.it, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc.
• Setting up your advertising networks like Facebook advertising and Google Ads.

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Deliverables: What to Expect

• Publish and promote at least 12 abstracts a month (short substantial posts);
• Publish and promote three featured posts a month; and
• Update and promote 1 MEGA page every month.

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Keypoints when making great content

Content is the essence of your content marketing strategy. It is the voice of your business.

How can your voice be heard in a digital world flooded with content?  

Whether you are making a blog post, a video, a podcast, or other types of content, here are some tips for you to begin making great content:

• Research and do it well.
• Focus on one message.
• Use keywords appropriately.
• Create an interesting and fitting headline.
• Keep your readers/listeners hooked.
• Think of your audience always!
• Keep your content aligned with your goals and your brand identity.
• Make a call to action (CTA).
• Utilize the best SEO practices in making effective content.
• Review and edit your work.
• Have someone review your work.

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Posting frequency

If you do not post content regularly, your audience may not notice you. Posting too often may also cause them to lose interest in you. How frequently should you post to maintain visibility and keep your audience interested?

Blog

As you are just beginning, you can start with one blog post per week and can move forward with 2-3 blog posts per week or even more. Studies have shown that more posts result in more website traffic. However, it is also important to consider that quality should come first before quantity.

We aim to publish one post per day.

Social media

While there are no fixed standards regarding the frequency of social media posts, my advice is to understand your target audience first. Make your best logical guess. Then test the waters and evaluate. Refind as you move along.

Share or promote at least one post per day during the best time your target audience can be most active in any or all of the following:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• YouTube

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Schedule and timing

Good news! You do not really have to log in and post on your blog several times a day, week, or month to post your content. Blog and social media posts may be scheduled, and several tools and apps can do this for you.

A helpful tip in scheduling and timing your posts would be to learn about the behavior of your target audience. You need to know when they are most active on social media platforms.

Tips for a one-man content marketing team

Tip 1: Develop a Clear Strategy

Begin by aligning with executive stakeholders and developing a clear content marketing strategy. This includes defining your goals, target audience, key messages, and desired outcomes. A well-defined strategy will guide your content creation efforts and help you stay focused.

Tip 2: Build an Engaging Website

Establishing a professional online presence is crucial for any content marketing team. Create a user-friendly website that reflects your brand identity and showcases your expertise. Optimize it for search engines to increase organic traffic and ensure it provides visitors value.

Tip 3: Identify Ideal Social Media Platforms

Instead of spreading yourself thin across all social media platforms, focus on identifying the ones where your target audience is most active and engaged. Direct your resources toward creating high-quality content tailored to those platforms, whether informative blog posts, eye-catching visuals, or engaging videos.

Tip 4: Plan Ahead with a Content Calendar

Organize your content creation process by creating a multichannel content calendar. This will help you plan ahead, maintain consistency, and avoid last-minute scrambles. Use tools like editorial calendars or project management software to schedule topics, assign deadlines, and track progress.

Tip 5: Master Time Management

As a one-person team, time management is crucial for productivity and efficiency. Prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency to ensure you’re working on the most critical projects first. Utilize productivity techniques such as time-blocking or the Pomodoro Technique to stay focused on tasks without getting overwhelmed.

By implementing these improved tips, you’ll be better equipped to manage every aspect of your one-man content marketing team effectively while maximizing results and driving engagement with your target audience.

You can also read about a subtopic here: Content: Best Practices and Trends.

Easy B2B Content Marketing Guide for Beginners

If you are new to the business world or in digital marketing, it can be overwhelming to learn about B2B content marketing. That is why in this guide, we try to make it as simple yet as helpful as possible for beginners like you.

What the B2B model means

B2B simply means “business to business”. If you are a B2B company, it means you are offering a product or service that is geared toward other businesses and not end consumers. Your offer is meant to help other businesses operate, grow, and earn.

Examples of products offered in this business model are raw materials, parts, and equipment needed by other companies to create their products or fulfill their services. They can also be payroll processors, software, and consultations that help companies operate and grow.

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Why you need content marketing

Content marketing offers a lot of benefits that will help your business grow. Here are some of the reasons why you need content marketing for your B2B company:

1. Lead generation. Sharing content online through blogs can help generate more leads for your business. It offers an opportunity for your target audience to learn more about your business. These leads can turn into prospects, and ultimately, customers.
2. Competitive advantage. Compared to other B2B companies who are not into content marketing, you have a competitive advantage of being discovered and preferred by prospective customers. This is because of your visibility as well as the quality content you consistently provide your audience.
3. Positive brand image and trust. Consistently providing reliable content to your audience can help build trust. You could become your audience’s go-to resource for their information needs. Your audience might also just share your content or your website to others in your industry, helping enhance your brand image.
4. Wider reach. One great thing about content marketing is that you can publish your content in a variety of channels like blogs or social media where you can easily reach your audience and your audience can easily reach you. Online content marketing also allows for the shareability of content that can further widen your reach. Finally, content marketing does not limit your reach to the local audience. You can easily reach out to inter-regional or international prospective customers.
5. Efficiency. Since you will be catering to businesses, expect a lot of inquiries and information-sharing about your product or service offering, about your past and present customers, and more. With content marketing, you can prepare materials like infographics, product demos, white papers, webinars, and case studies that you can easily share with your prospective customers anytime you need to. This will make your business operations a lot more efficient and time-saving.
6. Community-building. Consistently creating reliable and up-to-date content makes your blog a place for your audience to find relevant information. Your social media channels will also have more audience when you have great content. With a lot of followers, your channels can become hubs for target businesses in your industry to gather and interact, creating a community where they can learn and share.

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B2B content marketing strategies

So how can you successfully implement B2B content marketing?

B2B content marketing is just like any other content marketing, but your content must appeal to other businesses and not the end consumers. The following are some B2B content marketing strategies and tips that will help you grow your business.

#1 Always keep in mind your target audience

You know that your target audience comprises of businesses. Never let that drift during the entire content marketing process or you’ll miss the whole point of content marketing. When you generate your content topics, decide on the channels you use, schedule the time you share your content, and more, you should always remember that you are addressing to businesses in your industry.

#2 Identify the informational needs of your audience

Your content must focus on topics and information related to your product or service offering. You also need to provide your audience “timely and relevant” information.

What does timely and relevant information mean? How can you identify the informational needs of your audience?

There is no need to do surveys if that is what you are thinking. You can use any content marketing tool available on the internet that will provide you with important information, like trendy topics in social media and the most searched keywords in search engines.

#3 Know your audience more

Learning more about your audience can help you strategize your content marketing. Know where they are present so you can decide on the right online channels to focus on distributing your content. You also need to know when (day and time) they are usually active so you can schedule your posts better. Also, knowing about the demographics of your audience, such as their location, can help you generate more specific and more relevant topics for your content marketing.

#4 Deliver only fact-checked and relevant content

There is no question that any content anybody shares must be relevant and factual regardless of who they are targeted to. But when it comes to B2B content marketing, relevant and factual content is very important to earn the trust of your audience. Eventually, that trust can improve your brand image and increase your chance of being preferred over your competitors.

When citing statistics in your content for instance, you would want to make sure your sources are reliable and that the data are up-to-date. You would also want to make sure that those statistics are relevant to your audience in the first place; otherwise, you will lose your audience. Readers do not want to waste their time on matters that are not useful to them.

#5 Promote your content

You can promote your content in different ways. You can utilize SEM or search engine marketing for your blog. You can promote your content using social media, which can also be organically done or paid. You may also share it using your newsletter marketing, affiliate marketing, or influencer marketing.

#6 Evaluate your content

Keeping track of your content can help you determine what topics are doing well and what types of B2B content marketing materials are more effective to use. This will help ensure that you are utilizing the right content and content types for your B2B company so that you don’t waste your time, energy, and money.

In your social media channels and in your blog, for instance, see which contents have more views, likes, reactions, shares, and comments. When it comes to content types, see which ones are popular with your audience, prospective customers, and loyal customers. Are they infographics, videos, webinars, or white papers?

Other important things you need to keep in mind when doing B2B content marketing are setting clear objectives for your content marketing, creating a calendar for your posts in different channels, and continuously improving your strategies after evaluation.

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Content Marketing Is a Strategic Marketing Approach

Content marketing is 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.

~ contentmarketinginstitute.com

Yes, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a target audience. The goal of content marketing is to build trust with the audience by providing them with useful information and insights, and ultimately to drive profitable customer action.

Content marketing can be used to achieve a range of marketing objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, building brand loyalty, and driving sales. By creating content that is tailored to the needs and interests of the target audience, businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry and build strong relationships with their customers.

Content marketing requires a strategic approach because it involves understanding the needs and interests of the target audience, identifying the types of content that will resonate with them, and developing a plan to create and distribute that content effectively. It also requires ongoing measurement and optimization to ensure that the content is resonating with the audience and driving the desired results.

Overall, content marketing can be a highly effective way to build a strong brand and drive customer action, but it requires a strategic and consistent approach to be successful.

5 Content Marketer’s Must-Have Qualities

Content marketing involves an endless cycle of curation, creation, promotion, and evaluation. The main purpose of content marketing is in its name itself—to market content in a way that attracts, develops, and encourages engagements to a specific audience. Every content marketer aims to reach more and more people—turn them from possible buyers, to subscribers, to customers, and to lifetime partners.

With over 90% of marketers using it for acquisition and engagement, it’s no question how the competition for this has definitely become tougher over time. Every day, thousands of content is being set out before the eyes of the public in various channels.

That’s a lot to take in for any ordinary marketer.

But it takes a good marketer to know that it’s not always about the numbers. Quality must always prevail over quantity.

Value-Driven

First and foremost, a good content marketer should be value-driven. To be value-driven means to have your every content anchored towards your brand’s goals and core values. Also, it calls for you to think deeply instead of dreaming high. It requires you to strive harder and pushes you to produce quality content that can actually compete against all the rest.

Being a value-driven marketer allows you to connect and empathize with your audience. In this manner, you get to understand and deliver their needs better.

To do this, ask yourself these questions from time to time:

• Is this content in line with my brand’s values?
• Does this content help and/or benefit my target audience?
• Is this content inspiring or insignificant?
• Does this content encourage positive change?
• Is this content interesting enough to be shared?

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Creative

As mentioned, there are thousands of content marketers out there with the same goal and purpose as you. With this, strategizing on ways to make yourself stand out is only but necessary. While you’re at it, remember to widen your imagination.

Don’t just aim to produce a lot of content, aim to be of value.

Explore the different mediums and channels around you. Note that producing content is endless in the sense that you’re free.

Tap on your creativity and let all the possibilities run wild. Don’t limit yourself to the idea of having to do everything alone and/or traditionally.

For example, instead of focusing on traditional marketing through words alone, experiment on visuals. Research suggests that people are most likely to click on posts with visual representations—photos, videos, typographies, infographics, and etc.—not to mention how easy they are to process and understand. Moreover, you can also try tapping on influencers and producing fun quality content that works for both ends.

Again, it all boils down to you and how you make use of your innate creativity.

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Genuine/Storyteller

Another must-have quality for a good content marketer is to be a good storyteller. It is our human nature to naturally love hearing stories and learning from other people’s experiences. Thus, storytelling plays a great factor to connecting to your audience and walking them through your brand smoothly.

Remember to keep it natural.

A good content is not an advertisment.

A good content marketer knows how to position and promote themselves in a way that isn’t too forceful but rather, in a manner that’s trustworthy, filled with empathy, and is genuine.

Again, don’t forget to tap on others too, especially on topics that require more knowledge and specifications. Your audience would definitely appreciate getting more resources.

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Organized/Specific

With great competition comes more content. More content means bigger room for mistakes. And all these lead to the great need for proper organization.

Another must-have quality for content marketers is to be highly organized. This means that you have to maintain an editorial calendar, create schedules, set deadlines, monitor trends and competitions, and follow the right steps for content creation.

You must learn to strategize before jumping on anything and be decisive at all times. Avoid beating around bushes.

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Analytical

The most successful content marketers know that content production is not a one-way trip. It doesn’t just stop the moment you publish a content. Rather, it is a continuous cycle of measuring and analyzing the numbers—determining what content is popular, engaging, and effective.

You have to take advantage of the different metrics and tools available and make use of them to know what sells and what doesn’t. You have to know which data to track and to use to help drive more traffic to your business.

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Persistent

Ultimately, every successful content marketer needs persistence. Obviously, content marketing in itself is nothing close to easy, especially with all the pressure it comes with. But, finding success in it is not impossible at all.

The common problem for most marketers is that they expect success too soon without realizing that all good things take time. Often, they result in producing half-baked content all for the sake of having to post something. Don’t be like them. Sure, in business, time is gold. But remember that time can not and should not replace the value of quality.

You must stay positive and maintain a tight grip on your ultimate target no matter what. Don’t hang on it loose just because of the distractions around like poor performance rates, lack of engagements, slow traffic, and etc. Instead of dwelling on them too much, use those feedback to your advantage. Know that every response is necessary for your growth—good or bad. Determine where you went wrong and how you can improve.

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Instead of asking, “Which content marketer am I?” ask yourself, “Which content marketer am I not?”

Sources:

• https://neilpatel.com/blog/content-marketer-attributes/
• https://copyblogger.com/what-is-a-content-marketer/
• https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016_B2B_Report_Final.pdf

7 Tips in Using Content Marketing for a Successful Product Launch

Content Marketing is the way to go these days. Most marketers have shifted from traditional marketing techniques to Content Marketing, which is more effective and cost-friendly. Statistics show that Content Marketing methods convert six times more than other marketing methods and are 62% less cost. Neil Patel, a famous entrepreneur and bestselling author shared that a site with compelling and valuable content experiences 7.8 times more site traffic than competitors. Aside from these benefits, quality content produces brand recall and customer engagement.

While content marketing primarily attracts, engages, and retains an audience for your business, you can also use this marketing strategy for other purposes. For example, you can create content ideas for virtual events.

While creating content for your content marketing strategy, take assistance from an online article rewriter. This will help you to rewrite your previous content and make it more engaging to attract the audience of your business.

Content creation is also part of different forms of marketing, such as SEO, Social Media Marketing, Public Relations, and PPC. You may also explore using Content Marketing for a successful product launch. Many brands from different industries have tried this, and it has proven effective.

Here are some tips for applying Content Marketing to have a successful product launch.

1. Use visual content as teasers on social media.

Pictures, as they say, paint a thousand words. You may harness the power of images as a teaser ad in Instagram Shop and on other social media sites. Maximize the broad reach of social media- that’s 3.78 billion people worldwide this 2021.  

Visual content can help you entertain your audience and be curious about your new product. Be creative on how to tease your followers- you can upload a close-up picture of your product or the chosen product endorser. You may also design a teaser with a simple but strong image. Add a one-liner to summarize your Unique Selling Proposition or USP along with the launch date.

2. Create exciting infographics.

Plain text content can be tedious, especially for those not fond of reading. Instead, describe your product by designing infographics that can intrigue them while educating them about your product. Before the product launch, your infographics can be on how this new product can address your customers’ needs. You can also describe its unique features or upgrades compared to existing products in the market. Then, share it on your social media accounts and other online platforms. What’s good about infographics is that it is easy to design and can be easily shared by your target group. Truly a low-lying fruit because of the minimum effort you put in but with outstanding results it can give.

3. Let your audience create content.

You can always create content, but to take it to a higher level, you can also let your target customers and audience generate the content for you!

Another way to create buzz on your product launch is to have a game. Your followers can create a video or any medium they want. Let them follow your social media accounts and put your brand and product hashtag. You may also add most post shares or most likes as a mechanic to win. You may even create a poll or voting scheme for the best content to engage your followers further. Then, reward the winner of the best content with the new product or some of your brand merchandise.

4. Captivate by using explainer videos.

Once you have launched your product, make sure to have explainer videos available to explain and talk about the features and benefits of your product. This content option is suited if your product is complex to explain, which will not do you justice if you just use infographics or plain text.

Captivate your audience with an explainer video. Share high-quality information on it and why this product is worth their hard-earned money. You can also highlight the value and upgrade of the product to differentiate it from previous versions of the product or its competitors. If you want, you may create a storyline and appeal to emotions to push your product, especially if the new product is not that hard to explain.

Upload your video on your website, social media accounts, and YouTube.

5. Distribute your content through guest posts.

Content Marketing works closely with SEO marketing. Maximize these omnichannel ways by distributing your content through guest posts. Create blogs and links to different sites which are related to your brand or product. Make sure that the sites you choose to guest post or link to are high-authority and reputable websites. You can insert your other content too in your guest post blog, like infographics and videos, to maximize the reach.

6. Get help from influencers.

Do not just be the one to create content and aim for engagement. Add a refreshing take and make use of other people too! Get the help of influencers like celebrities, famous bloggers, or authorities in a chosen field to create content to help you have a successful product launch. Give your influencers your new product before it becomes available in the market so that they can post on it and give a review. Then, feature their review and content on your website, product page, or social media accounts. You may even feature your influencer in the explainer video for it to become more attractive to your target group.

7. Plot an editorial content calendar.

Lastly, with all the content you can create, plotting an editorial calendar can help you schedule the release of all content. Coming up with a calendar will ensure that your audience does not get bombarded with all that you are sharing. Timing is everything, and you would want it to be in your favor.

Summary

Having a successful product launch is a great way to attract customers and gain sales. As a marketing professional, utilize compelling content to guarantee that your product launch will be a hit.

Content Marketing News, Trends, and Updates

Content Marketing Trends for Inbound Marketing

Interactive content

Interactive content is a content marketing trend that has become increasingly popular in recent years, and it is also an effective tactic for inbound marketing. Interactive content refers to any type of content that requires the user to actively engage with it, such as quizzes, assessments, polls, and calculators. 

Here are some reasons why interactive content is a great strategy for inbound marketing:

Increases engagement

Interactive content is more engaging than traditional static content. Users are more likely to spend time with interactive content because they are actively participating in the experience. This increased engagement can help keep users on your website longer and reduce bounce rates.

Enhances user experience

To create a more immersive and memorable user experience, interactive content is a good choice.  It can help users learn more about your brand or product, and make them feel more invested in the process.

Generates leads

To gather information about potential customers, such as email addresses or other contact details to build your email list and generate leads for future marketing efforts, interactive content can subtly do the job since users are immersed in the content and will surely want to invest more time with your content.

Provides valuable data

Interactive content provides valuable data about user behavior and preferences. This information can be used to improve your marketing strategies, such as creating more targeted content or improving your website’s user experience.

Boosts social media sharing

Users are more likely to share content that they find interesting and engaging, and interactive content provides a unique and fun experience that people want to share with their friends and followers. Interactive content is highly shareable on social media. 

Video content

Video content is one of the most effective content marketing trends for inbound marketing. Video content refers to any type of content that is delivered through video, including product demos, explainer videos, vlogs, live streams, and social media stories. Here are some reasons why video content is an effective strategy for inbound marketing:

Increases engagement

Video content is more engaging than static content. It can capture and hold the viewer’s attention for longer periods, making it more likely that they will engage with your content and stay on your website longer.

Builds trust and credibility

Video content can help build trust and credibility with your audience. By showing your product or service in action or providing valuable information through video, you can demonstrate your expertise and establish a relationship of trust with your viewers.

Improves SEO

Video content can help improve your website’s search engine rankings. Search engines like Google favor websites that feature high-quality video content, and video can also help improve on-page SEO factors like bounce rate and time on site.

Increases social media sharing

Video content is highly shareable on social media. Users are more likely to share video content that they find interesting or entertaining, which can help boost your social media presence and increase brand awareness.

Offers versatility

Video content can be used in various ways to support your inbound marketing efforts. It can be used for product demos, explainer videos, customer testimonials, and much more.

Overall, video content is an effective strategy for inbound marketing because it increases engagement, builds trust and credibility, improves SEO, increases social media sharing, and offers versatility. As the popularity of video content continues to grow, it is likely to become an even more important strategy for inbound marketing.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is another content marketing trend that has become increasingly popular in recent years, and it can be an effective strategy for inbound marketing. Influencer marketing refers to the practice of partnering with influential people in your industry or niche to promote your brand or product. 

Here are some reasons why influencer marketing is an effective strategy for inbound marketing:

Increases reach and brand awareness

Influencer marketing allows you to tap into the audiences of popular and respected influencers in your industry. This can help increase your brand’s reach and awareness, and introduce your brand to new potential customers.

Builds trust and credibility

Influencers have built a loyal following based on their expertise, personality, and authenticity. When they promote your brand, their followers are more likely to trust and respect their recommendations, which can help build trust and credibility for your brand.

Drives conversions

Influencer marketing can help drive conversions by promoting your product or service to a targeted audience of potential customers. Influencers can create content that showcases your product or service in action and highlight its unique benefits, making it more attractive to their followers.

Improves SEO

Influencer marketing can help improve your website’s search engine rankings by driving traffic to your website and increasing the number of backlinks to your site.

Offers a more personal touch

Influencer marketing allows you to create a more personal connection with your target audience. When influencers promote your brand or product, it can feel like a personal recommendation from a friend or trusted source, which can be more effective than traditional advertising.

Overall, influencer marketing is an effective strategy for inbound marketing because it increases reach and brand awareness, builds trust and credibility, drives conversions, improves SEO, and offers a more personal touch. As the trend towards authenticity and personalization in marketing continues, influencer marketing is likely to become an even more important strategy for inbound marketing.

User-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is another content marketing trend that has become increasingly popular in recent years and can be an effective strategy for inbound marketing. UGC refers to any content created by users, such as product reviews, social media posts, photos, videos, and blog posts. Here are some reasons why UGC is an effective strategy for inbound marketing:

Increases engagement

UGC can increase engagement with your brand by allowing users to participate in creating content. When users feel like they are part of the content creation process, they are more likely to engage with your brand and share your content.

Builds trust and credibility

UGC can help build trust and credibility with your audience by showcasing real people using and enjoying your products or services. User-generated content is often seen as more authentic and trustworthy than content created by brands.

Offers social proof

UGC can offer social proof of the value of your product or service. When potential customers see others using and enjoying your product, it can make them more likely to make a purchase.

Increases brand awareness

UGC can help increase brand awareness by reaching a wider audience through social media and other online channels. When users share their content with their networks, it can help promote your brand and attract new customers.

Offers cost-effective content

UGC is a cost-effective way to create content for your brand. Rather than creating all of your own content, you can leverage content created by your users to supplement your own content.

Overall, UGC is an effective strategy for inbound marketing because it increases engagement, builds trust and credibility, offers social proof, increases brand awareness, and offers cost-effective content. As social media and other online channels continue to grow, UGC is likely to become an even more important strategy for inbound marketing.

Content Marketing Goals

The main goal of content marketing is to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience, with the objective of driving profitable actions. To fully see the opportunities around you, you first have to understand their essence and think like a content marketer. For starters, you might want to consider using infographics, web pages, podcasts, videos, or even books. You should remember that the ultimate secret to content marketing is to add value.

Key Takeaways:

1. Content is good if you’re willing to spend time or money on it. If you want to see examples of great content, look back on what you’ve paid to read, watch, or listen.
2. If you’re unsure of how to add value to your content, ask your customers for suggestions of what content they think would be helpful for them now or in the future.
3. Most companies are not doing content marketing… yet. And so you have to get on it as soon as possible and be at advantage.

“The return on investment for content marketing can be phenomenal if executed correctly”

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/09/19/what-is-content-marketing/#5a9c0dca10b9

4 Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid (And What to Do Instead)

One can’t deny how content marketing is actually one of the most effective, if not the best, strategies available today. But, with this in mind, many brands are also looking into engaging in one, turning it into a highly congested space. What’s more critical is that there are a number of mistakes done by content marketers, slimming down the odds of generating leads.

Firstly, one of the biggest mistakes done by marketers is focusing too much on growing the business instead of penetrating traffic. Secondly, it is failing to experiment on other channels like videos, infographics, etc. Thirdly, it is not creating evergreen content, or those that would still be relevant 5 years later. Lastly, not having enough (or any) CTAs.

Key Takeaways:

1. Focus on understanding what content your customer wants
2. Turn your current content into multiple formats to appeal to a wider audience
3. Research on evergreen topics rather than focusing too much on viral content

“What common content-marketing mistakes have you made?”

Read the full article here” https://neilpatel.com/blog/4-content-marketing-mistakes-avoid-instead/

Tips on how B2B companies can build a successful content strategy and write good content in 2023

• Connect with your customers emotionally, and not just about your company or what you offer.
• Choose a channel where your customers can connect with you, and not just you sharing your content with them.
• Create SEO-focused content that conveys your expertise.
• Present case studies that show potential customers how they will benefit from a relationship with your company.
• Incorporate video into your marketing, considering both emotions and benefits.  

Source: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/10/28/how-create-stunningly-successful-b2b-content-strategy-2023

How would you like to use Google Sheets functions to create an SEO content plan?

This is a guide on how to use Google Sheets functions to create an SEO content plan. It explains how to use various functions to prioritize content creation, turn keywords into URLs, find the oldest content, and clean up spreadsheets. The goal is to help optimize content for better organic rankings and increased website traffic. The article is written by Roslyn Ayers for Search Engine Land and provides related stories and information about the author.

Source: https://searchengineland.com/create-seo-content-plan-google-sheets-functions-432158

The three core pillars of content marketing strategy

Communication

The communication pillar focuses on coordinating content to acquire, keep, and grow customers.

Experiences

The experiences pillar emphasizes treating content as valuable assets for audiences.

Operations

The operations pillar is necessary to manage content creation, distribution, and measurement effectively.

Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-three-pillars-content-marketing-strategy/495909/

Best practices for content marketing in 2023

Follow these strategies to ensure you continue driving traffic to your website:

1. Ensure your content matches what people are actually searching for.
2. Use the hub and spoke content marketing model to build authority and increase organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversions.
3. Consider result types and what content people consume based on what appears on the first page of the results page.  
4. Assess your content for ROI.
5. Don’t rely on AI to write your entire content.
6. Do a content audit and re-optimize content that is outdated or underperforming.
7. Break down silos and emphasize communications, education, and organization to ensure you publish your content effectively.  

Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/7-content-marketing-best-practices-in-2023/477344/

7 Signs You Need to Fire Your Content Marketing Agency

2022 December 2

It takes time to see the results of content marketing efforts. However, these signs tell you it’s time to say goodbye to your content marketing agency:

1. You don’t begin to see results in a few months, and the agency does not set clear goals in the first place.
2. The agency keeps on making mistakes in your content, even after corrections. 
3. You are not satisfied with the quality of the content they have been making.  
4. The agency does not communicate well with you, leaving you feeling unsure and unsatisfied. 
5. They continually miss deadlines and don’t adhere to the content schedule.
6. The content marketing agency does not treat you like a partner, and you’re not feeling the teamwork.
7. You think they are using spammy techniques to get fast, unreliable results.

Source: https://searchengineland.com/fire-content-marketing-agency-389406

Inbound Marketing Isn’t Enough: 7 Content Marketing Goals

there is so much on the internet about how traditional marketing is something that is dead, but this isn’t true. Marketing in the traditional sense isn’t done the same way that it used to be but it is still used and can still be effective. Content marketing is where you create the right kind of content that is both unique and interesting to the people that are going to be reading it, you will want them to associate your content with your brand.

Key Takeaways:

• There are too many articles published that don’t know anything about content marketing.
• It is the practice of putting out content that is going to be engaging for your audience.
• There are a lot of stories out there that say traditional marketing doesn’t work anymore, but it still does.

“Content marketing must include strategic planning, content creation, distribution, and metrics for multiple stages of the buying cycle to multiple customer personas.”

Read more: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/11/content-marketing-inbound-marketing/

Using content marketing to engage audiences: six examples

Content marketing is about drawing people close to your sphere of influence and then turning them into engaged audiences. Additionally, good marketing generates interested visitors to become shoppers, and then over time, transforms them into advocates of the brand.

Key Takeaways:

1. Arrow Electronics has a team designed to create audiences through webinars, email newsletters, and smart use of data.
2. Symantec evolved its content approach from a campaign-focused demand gen team to a team focused on audience building and creating content for marketing.
3. Monster.com created a career and advice center and spent 18 months optimizing SEO, resulting in an impressive four million job searches, a 65 percent conversion rate, and 48,000 new members.

“An engaged, addressable database is one of the most valuable assets any company can have”

Read more: https://www.chiefmarketer.com/using-content-marketing-to-engage-audiences-six-examples/

Content Marketing Best Practices

Content marketing serves a purpose greater than promotion which is to achieve an engaged audience. It is important to note that a small but well-targeted audience is more effective than a large but unengaged audience. Three common goals shared by content marketers are: to increase website traffic, produce higher quality content, and to become better storytellers.

Key Takeaways:

1. Identify niches within content verticals that your target consumers would follow
2. Work with influencers as a springboard to score mentions across multiple digital channels
3. Be consistent

“Focus on a contextual fit over a numerical fit”

Read more: https://www.grouphigh.com/content-marketing/

The One Big Thing Some of the Best Content Marketers Forget

Content is the focal point of content marketing, but it is not the only thing marketers should concentrate on. The main goal is to reach as many as potential customers possible, regardless of the industry or the size of your business. However, many marketers forget one critical part of their initiative and that is actively promote the content once it’s created. Don’t neglect optimization for search engines and promote your content on as many platforms as you can. Only out of this quantity can you achieve noticeable and measurable results.

Key Takeaways:

• Many of us have a preference for a certain social network. It may be Facebook, so your blog post is published and also posted to Facebook. They think they are done. It’s publish and it’s tweeted-once.
• If you have a blog post in the production line there is an important element to complete before hitting “publish”. It’s called “optimizing for search engines”
• There is one thing to keep in mind with Twitter. It isn’t an inbox but a stream. So tweet your post several times on the first day. If it is evergreen content then it can be tweeted repeatedly.

“What do I mean by hustle? It means pushing, prodding and publishing to as many digital channels as time and resources allow. it means optimizing for search engines, emailing your grandma and making all your social media networks sing.”

Read more: https://www.jeffbullas.com/the-one-big-thing-some-of-the-best-content-marketers-forget/

The Goal of Content Marketing

Understanding and creating the right content marketing goals

Marketing goals are usually mistaken as outcomes. Goals such as brand awareness, conversion, and customer retention are actually outcomes that we want from our marketing strategies. Instead of the traditional approach, marketing goals should be more user-centric. These include education, inspiration, and entertainment.

Read more: https://ahrefs.com/blog/content-marketing-goals/

Why is content strategy a must for every business?

A content strategy is a process of generating ideas as well as creating, publishing, promoting, and managing your content. Search Engine Journal shares five reasons why content strategy matters most:

1. Businesses with successful content have a documented content strategy.
2. No content strategy means getting no results.
3. A content strategy will align your people, processes, and technology to help achieve your goals.
4. A well-laid-out content strategy can help you win buy-in from your bosses and department heads or investors.
5. A content strategy will give you a competitive edge.

Source: https://searchengineland.com/why-content-strategy-matters-most-393591

Why Strategic Content Marketing Matters + 5 Steps

It’s one thing to publish content, it’s another to do content marketing right.

You can only go so far with unplanned content marketing. If you want more social shares, more backlinks, and not just more but sustainable traffic for your site, you need to up your content marketing game by investing time and effort in strategic content marketing.

What is strategic content marketing?

Content Marketing Institute describes a content marketing strategy as, “a unified, strategic road map focused exclusively on how your business will use content to attract, acquire, and engage its prospects and customers.”

In other words, strategic content marketing is all about the careful planning of your whole content marketing process. It involves defining your audience, your brand, and your goal. In this manner, you’re able to decide better where you should exert your efforts and resources — helping you better prepare for the future direction of your business.

How is strategic content marketing done?

STEP 1: Choose your preferred business model

Before anything else, it is very important for you to design your company’s business model. A business model is what will help define the roles and responsibilities of every team member. In this way, it will be a lot easier for you to delegate tasks and properly make use of the resources you have around.

Important note: Every business model varies in different companies. Be sure to craft one that will best fit yours.

STEP 2: Identify your goal

One of the most crucial factors to consider in strategic content marketing is defining your purpose and your goals. Your goals are what will significantly help you plan your activities better. On times when you find yourself out of content to write, your goals are your guiding light to help you get back on track, know what you must prioritize and what you must not.

When identifying your goals, you can contemplate on these guide questions:

• What do I want to achieve?
• What do I want to solve?
• What do I have to offer?
• Do I want more sales?
• Do I want more engagements?
• Do I want sustainable traffic?
• How do I promote my brand?
• How fast do I want to grow?
• How often do I want to work?
• Are these goals measurable? Are they practical?

STEP 3: Define your market

Your market plays a vital role in your success. If you fail to reach the right people, you will not get anywhere despite your efforts. See, your audience is the receiver of your content. Without your audience, you are bound for nowhere. By determining the people whom you want to reach, it will be a lot easier for you to interact with them in a manner that will surely pique their interests.

Consider the following questions:

• Who needs to hear from my company?
• Who do I want to reach?
• What do these people want?
• What don’t they want?
• How do I reach them?

STEP 4: Plan your content

In this step, you are free to brainstorm content ideas that you feel will best capture your goals. When done, be sure to organize these ideas by creating an outline. Also, don’t forget to think about what type of content you want to put out. Do you want to stick to blogging or do you also want to do podcasts? Should you create videos? How about infographics? The possibilities are endless. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, always go back to steps 2 and 3.

STEP 5: Assess what works and what doesn’t

Strategic content marketing does not stop the moment you hit post. Rather, it continues on even after you’ve published the content. It is important for you to check on your published posts from time to time. From there, you will have an idea as to what your audience does and does not want to see.

Learn more about How to Measure Content Marketing Success 101

Sources:

• https://izea.com/2018/02/28/strategic-content-marketing/

Best Content Marketing Tools of 2020

Content marketing nowadays is getting more and more competitive with a sea of relevant information on the Internet. In order to stay ahead of your competition, you need to have a sound marketing strategy that is practicable. This can be made easier and more efficient with content marketing tools, software, and applications.

To help you with your content marketing, here is a helpful read on the best tools you can use to get your message to your audience.

Read: Best content marketing tools of 2020

Content Marketing Analytics: 6 Common How-To Questions

You should remember that content marketing doesn’t stop the moment you post your content and make it available to the public. It is a continuous process that entails a number of follow-ups and assessments. You have to look back on your content and check its engagements. Failing to assess your analytics would only leave you behind.

With insufficient knowledge on the ins and outs of content creation, all your marketing efforts could be pointless.

Below are the common questions that content marketers like you should consider:

1. How do we know if content is driving conversions?
2. How can we discover content gaps in our strategy?
3. How much of our content do people read?
4. How do we know the best time and day for us to publish content?
5. How can we tell how people are interacting with our content?
6. How can we see who is reading our content?

Find out the answers here: https://www.webfx.com/blog/marketing/content-marketing-analytics/

13 Content Marketing Hacks That Will Help You Attract More Clients

Still not getting enough traffic to your site despite all your marketing efforts?

Don’t worry because majority of content marketers feel the same way too. But, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything.

Try these tips and see results in as quick as a month.

1. Brainstorm viral ideas
2. Write in-depth articles
3. Craft clickable and shareable headlines
4. Test call-to-action buttons
5. Leverage your above-the-fold area
6. Use advanced guest blogging
7. Use A.I.D.A. to get more comments
8. Hack audience through multimedia sources
9. Give away valuable materials on your resources page
10. Upgrade a top 10 list post
11. Follow the 7-rule email marketing tactic
12. Curate viral content, don’t create it
13. Capitalize on current trends

Read the full article here: https://neilpatel.com/blog/13-content-marketing-hacks-that-will-help-you-attract-more-clients/

Build Audience Connections with Content Marketing

Beyond anything else, content marketing is a tool that, when executed properly, positions your brand as an influencer. It begins with working around and presenting concepts that your customers value most. You should also know that it is more than just writing. There are a variety of channels that your brand can use like videos, ebooks, content portals, infographics, online classes, etc.

Key Takeaways:

1. Make content digestible by using visuals
2. Focus on engagement, not self-promotion.
3. Give high regard to quality

“Whatever you do, don’t try to sell”

Read more: https://www.quicksprout.com/build-audience-connections-with-content-marketing/

Conclusion

This is not the end. 🙂
We will continue to update this post.

Sources:

• https://www.smartinsights.com/content-management/measure-content-marketing-roi/
• https://www.koozai.com/tv/quick-vids/how-to-measure-the-success-of-your-content-marketing-campaign/
• https://neilpatel.com/blog/8-google-analytics-features/
• https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/09/content-marketing-effectiveness/