In today’s digital world, with the rising popularity of social media, content marketing has become crucial for a company beyond the old ways of traditional advertisements. So what is content marketing? Content marketing aims to establish credibility and build trust with a target market, all while moving prospects toward a desired action. Content marketing is typically viewed as a long-term marketing strategy with each step of the process involving calculated measures to ensure valuable and relevant content is created that genuinely interests and helps the target audience, by sharing helpful information. Stories and insights businesses can connect with their audience and stand out from the competition. Here are five key tips that are essential for content marketing.
1. Develop a Plan
A well-developed content marketing plan that includes detailed planning, budgeting and oversight is the important foundation necessary for a business to be set on a path for success. The content plan should include all of your content marketing goals, which channels will be used and why, establishing what resources are needed to create the content, and a detailed calendar to keep everybody involved organized and ensure the production process is guided. It is also important to understand where and how the target market consumes content. Once this has been established, it will be equally as important to capitalize on repurposing the content across all the relevant channels. It can also be useful to create and manage a content calendar.
2. Align Content Marketing to Your Funnel
To ensure that broader marketing goals are met, content can and should be used throughout an organization’s marketing funnel. A business’s marketing funnel will inform important decisions about content planning and reporting. Three distinct sections make up these funnels. They include awareness, consideration and decision. Each of these sections require intentional, sequential, and logical progression of content that will educate prospective customers and help move them toward the next desired action. It is important to note that a key element is matching specific content with buyer intent. Buyer intent is one of the most important components of creating content that actually converts.
3. Measure Results
Once a roadmap has been created for specific goals for the content efforts it will be important to track what content is working and what isn’t. Not every piece of content will result in desired conversions. A simple report that is regularly updated will help you understand what's working, what about the content is causing people to take notice and maintain their interest over time. Understanding this will help you eliminate investing in what’s not working and relocate investments in areas that are proving to be more successful. Understanding these metrics will help guide the creative process in content creation. A few metrics to look out for include direct traffic from content publishing platforms, conversions, organic traffic acquisition, social metrics such as likes, shares, and views and keyword rankings on specific topics.
4. Consistency
Not every piece of content will be a major hit, or meet the desired expectations. This is okay, as one of the most important elements of content marketing is consistency. The goal is to provide your audience with engaging content that will leave them wanting more, but ensuring that you deliver this content frequently is crucial. While creating that viral content is great and can provide valuable insight into what audiences are connected with, no one viral moment of content can be enough to be sustainable. Some of the best content marketers out there will suffer a decline in audience attrition if they stop publishing new material. This is where a detailed content marketing plan and calendar should outline consistent content to be created and produced according to a schedule.
5. Emphasis on Quality
Where a focus on quantity is important, to ensure that a steady stream of content is being created and distributed to the target audience, it is equally necessary to ensure that a standard of quality is met. As technology advances, it is becoming increasingly cheaper for small businesses to produce quality content equal to bigger competitors. With a wide variety of content that is pushed out every day, your content must stand out among the pack. One of the shining traits of good content is originality. Developing a reputation for high-quality content, thoughtful original content is an excellent way to reinforce other brand standards and can lead to significant brand preference over time. Some things to watch out for to ensure quality remains intact are not only the integrity and thoughtfulness of the content but also its placement. Placing content in the wrong space, even if it’s exceptional, can be just as damaging. This is why it is important to follow your content marketing plan, understand the target audience and where to find them.
Marketing Communications Online Programs
The marketing communications landscape is constantly changing. Our programs are focused on what is happening next in marketing. Learn more about our innovative programs.
Meet the Author
Erik Rudolph
Marketing Assistant Student Worker
Erik is a senior advertising student with a minor in communications, he also is a part of the MSJ 4+1 program at WVU. He is currently the marketing assistant student worker for the WVU Marketing Communications Graduate Programs. Erik loves the sport of boxing and works closely with a local boxing promotion in Morgantown, Real Fight Promotions, as a color commentator and a social media manager.
Marcom Today
Marketing Communications Today is a collection of resources for marketing communications professionals filled with industry research, marketing trends, and career information about integrated marketing and data-driven communications. Learn industry insights through the Marketing Communications Today blog, podcast, as well as Integrate Online.
Subscribe to get the Latest Trends in Your Inbox