According to this CMI article, “content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less”. Not only. Some other interesting stats:
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- Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than small businesses without.
- Content marketing rakes in conversion rates six times higher than other methods.
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So it goes without saying that content marketing is a critical component of an overall marketing strategy. But what does one need to do to get content marketing right?
Be consistent
The competition to produce the best quality content consistently is high which is why you need to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to successfully compete. Focus on creating something great twice or three times a week – something that makes you stand out and makes your voice heard – rather than producing something less than exceptional everyday which has little to no impact at all.
Have a strategy
Creating great content needs proper research and planning. Don’t go into the process blindly – know who you’re producing content for and why. Identify your different audiences and then make sure your content addresses the challenges or questions those audiences are asking, increasing the likelihood of the content being consumed. Always look to provide as much value as you can so that you grab the attention of the right people, boosting lead generation and interaction.
Start a conversation
Create content that does more than just showcase a product or service. Use content to start conversations with your readers – get them engaged with good information as this ultimately builds trust and consequently, loyalty. This also creates a good image, portraying your brand as more than just about sales but one that looks to solve problems or find answers for their customers.
Reuse content
Identify content that has performed well, that resonated with your readers and repurpose it. Repackage popular blog posts into a series of email campaigns, downloadable PDF guides, podcasts or newsletters; create an infographic out of a PowerPoint presentation or slideshow, etc. Do what you can to get the most out of the content if it continues to offer valuable or sought-after information.
Be mindful of SEO
Content needs to retain authenticity and be thought-provoking so as to engage the reader. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be thinking about SEO, you absolutely have to so that your content can be found online. Pay attention to keywords but use them as naturally as possible. You don’t want to be producing a blog post that just screams keyword overkill. But certainly do your research to know what specific keywords to rank for before writing that blog to stand a better chance of ranking highly.
Use data
To really know and understand how well (or not well) your content is doing relies on analyzing data. Producing any kind of content without knowing if it’s meeting your business objectives is a wasted exercise. You need to be able to measure the performance to know what type of return on investment you’re achieving. This could be ascertained by way of traffic using Google Analytics or it could be the number of social shares or engagement on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. Find the metric by which you can measure the success of every piece of content and then modify your content marketing strategy accordingly.
Retain your brand’s voice
Ensure you produce content that accurately reflects your brand’s voice. This is often a struggle for many businesses but with practice, you’ll hone into a tone that customer’s will identify with your brand – something that says it’s you, which is an objective most companies strive to achieve.
