“Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world you are one.”– Robert Rose.
Content is king, and quality content helps you to stand out in an overcrowded digital world. How you package your content and deliver it to your target audience determines the outcome of your marketing campaign. There is simply no way you can ignore content marketing if you want your brand to improve visibility and convert into improvement in the bottom line.
Let us look at creating a content marketing guide that will help to generate positive business outcomes.
Create interesting information in various formats
Observe audience needs and preferences
Never lose an opportunity to ride the trend
Tailor offerings to engage the target group
Exercise balance and consistency across platforms
Network enhancement using influencers/ PPC ads
The aim is to enhance brand awareness digitally
Create interesting information in various formats
Content doesn’t need to be boring. Who would be interested in reading reams of plain text in technical jargon? Surely not the end user surfing the web looking for information on a product that can solve a pain point. Someone who wants an immediate solution would prefer to view content that is visually appealing, readable, and easy to understand in layman’s terms. While designing content, use the KISS technique. Yes, keep it simple, stupid! Nobody likes complicated stuff that gives viewers a headache simply by reading. You can choose from a variety of formats like blogs, infographics, podcasts, videos, etc., depending on the target group and their likes and preferences.
Observe audience needs and preferences
Before creating content, it is important to assess the buyer persona and understand the needs and preferences of the target group. Depending on the age group, location, and income category, consumer needs and preferences change drastically. It is important to spend time understanding what pain points your product offering resolves and highlighting that in your content. If your brand removes grease from kitchen walls, the target audience would be chefs and families where the kitchen is used a great deal throughout the day. The content should then be designed keeping in mind the age group and background of the people interested in reading this. Going into technical details will not help. It is better to explain how the product works and how it can resolve their issue. This would resonate with the target audience, and you may get valuable leads.
Never lose an opportunity to ride the trend
Posting good content is great but posting it when there is an ongoing trend is exponentially better. The internet is a happening place, and social listening helps to identify the ideal time to post your content. When something is trending, and you feel it is a good fit for your brand, don’t think twice about jumping on the bandwagon and doing a bit of moment marketing. It is highly likely that your content will get better traction than usual, and this could result in some useful leads and potential conversions.
Tailor offerings to engage the target group
One size doesn’t fit all, and it applies well to content too. It is imperative that the content is tailored to fit the likes and preferences of the target audience. If your post sounds Greek and Latin to your target group, it will not resonate with them. For instance, if your target groups are flat owners in Mumbai, it doesn’t make sense to talk about hillside villas because it is simply irrelevant. Another point to remember is that the language used should be easily comprehended by the target group else the purpose is lost. For example, if you use bombastic words to exhibit great knowledge of English, you may be marked well on an English test, but the target group may not be able to grasp your point. Nobody likes to refer to a thesaurus while reading a blog. So, it is best to keep the language simple and concise unless your target audience demands it. For instance, if you are posting thought leadership content for a management consultancy, you can use complex business language for sure. Keeping it too basic may not cut the ice in this situation.
Exercise balance and consistency across platforms
When you plan your digital marketing strategy, you should decide which platforms to use. This will depend on the platforms most frequented by your target audience. It is not necessary to be present everywhere unless your brand demands it. For instance, B2B brands prefer LinkedIn and Twitter, while B2C would prefer Instagram and Facebook. It is critical that you maintain a consistent tone across all platforms. Balance your content and ensure that the message you deliver is uniform.
Network enhancement using influencers/ PPC ads
Even if you have great content, you may need additional props like influencer marketing and pay-per-click ads to increase your reach. This is especially true when working on a time-bound campaign where information dissemination needs to be quick. Under such circumstances, it helps to rope in a network of influencers who can promote your content through their social media handles. Similarly, a pay-per-click ad will also help to bring your content to the top of the Google Page Rankings resulting in better leads and conversions. You can include a shoppable click-through link in the ad for better outcomes.
The aim is to enhance brand awareness digitally
Putting content on the net raises awareness about the brand and its offerings. Whether you are an established brand or a newbie, you must constantly educate your audience about your latest developments, new offerings, plans, and more. Staying in touch with the target audience is mandatory for all businesses. Being out of sight is a natural precursor to being out of mind, and in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where loyalties change at the drop of a hat, nobody wants to test the waters. Content marketing is a constant process that needs to be done consistently to make the brand presence felt on all relevant platforms, using all the digital tools available. Data analytics provides businesses with sufficient metrics to gauge the pulse of the target audience and tailor the offerings accordingly.
Regular visibility across platforms, consistent, impactful communication, and the use of data analytics for mid-course correction can all lead to positive business outcomes in the long run.
Content marketing is not a spray-and-pray campaign. It involves planning and strategizing to decide exactly what you want to communicate, to whom and how. The idea of content marketing is not just about getting a few leads that turn into sales. It is about nurturing the customers and retaining their loyalty. It is like a flywheel. Once you get the equation right and it starts running, it picks up its momentum. This quote by Jeremy Moser aptly sums up the end purpose of content marketing. This is the secret spice that adds magic to the content marketing recipe. If you are looking for content marketing services in India, you can check out Team Pumpkin. It is an integrated digital marketing company that can provide excellent content marketing services that can skyrocket your content marketing game.
“Good marketing doesn’t end when you get new customers. Nurture new relationships. Turn your customers into passionate brand advocates.”– Jeremy Moser (CEO @ uSERP)