As more and more businesses catch on to digital marketing, the battle for people’s business also starts becoming a battle for people’s attention. Business is no longer about getting people what they want or need, it is now also about convincing them why you have what they want or need. As consumers are inundated daily with competing ads and recommendations, the act of purchasing a product or service becomes less a question of “Where can I get this?”, but rather “Which of these businesses do I trust?”
To answer that question, your business will have to find a way to stand out from the rest. You will need to send out a message telling people about what you can do for them and why they should go to you. Part of this is finding the right digital marketing strategy.
Before we dive into SEO or Advertising or Video Marketing, let’s start with the backbone upon which all other digital marketing strategies are built: Content Marketing.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the message. It’s the sales pitch; the who, what, why, and how of your business. It’s information for the sake of engagement. It is how you attract and interact with your audience.
People are always hungry for information. By using content marketing, we provide useful information in order to get people’s attention and trust, essentially getting your foot in the door toward turning that person into a lead.
Why use Content Marketing?
With Content Marketing, you are able to entice visitors to your site and grow your audience with the use of relevant and valuable content. It can build trust in your brand and allow you to create goodwill with your potential client base while giving you an opportunity to inform them about your business and your services.
If you are able to create really high-quality content, you can even increase your standing among your competitors as people can see that you are actually knowledgeable about what you are offering, making you an authority among your competition.
When the content you make is relevant and valuable, it can even spread on its own merits. People who find your content useful will engage with it and share it with their friends and followers,
It is considered a relatively “free” marketing strategy in the sense that you are relying on your content to naturally attract customers, and not pay a premium to “push” your product to the general populace. And since it is relatively free, it can be an opportunity to reduce your customer acquisition cost as you can get a relatively large audience with what you’d need to invest in a content marketing campaign.
Having your content marketing down will open up other forms of digital marketing as it is your content that fuels everything else. Without content, it would be harder to start with the other digital marketing strategies since those need to be applied to the content you should already have.
The versatility of content marketing will allow you to spin it in multiple ways and use it in other platforms or strategies. One blog post about your company can be used in social media marketing, converted to a video for video marketing, used in advertisements, can be linked to email campaigns, and many more. Once you have your content, your imagination is the limit with how you can use it in other strategies and campaigns. As the saying goes, “Content is king.”
How do I get started with Content Marketing?
First of all, you will need to consider who you are directing your marketing. Identify their demographics such as their age, ethnicity, social class, problems, possible needs, and wants. This is called a “buyer persona.” This will help you envision who you are creating the content for and will give direction as to what the content will be about. If you are able to find what information or services you have to offer that will intersect with what they need or want, then you will be able to use that to make content that is valuable to them and relevant to your business.
Next, you will have to set concrete goals and metrics for the content marketing campaign. It can be increased site traffic, increase in leads, increase sales, increase brand awareness, customer retention, or even just educating the market. These are used to keep track of your progress. Keeping your eye on these KPIs is key in letting you know how close you are to succeeding.
Next, you will need to consider the marketing funnel and what type of content will be needed for each level of the funnel. Top funnel content can include blog posts and articles with a broader scope so that you can capture more people who have not yet determined that they have a problem that you can address. Middle funnel content for people who know they have a problem can be content that is more focused on what you can offer to resolve their problems. The bottom of the funnel is for people who know they have a problem and what they need, so here you can give them more detailed content such as studies, product demonstrations, and other customers’ feedback to really drive home the point that you have what they need.
Once you know what type of content you need to make, you can move on to actually creating and disseminating the content. Here you can apply and mix in other digital marketing strategies such as SEO, email marketing, etc. to further enhance the reach of your campaign.
Where can I get help to get my Content Marketing going?
Look no further than here at Synergy Advantage. We provide quality digital marketing services, including content marketing, which we will tailor to meet your business needs so that you can concentrate on running your business without having to worry about getting drowned out by the competition. What are you waiting for? Know your advantage at Synergy Advantage! Give us a call today at 1-855-534-6273 or fill out the form below!