Content marketing is an effective marketing strategy focusing on creating and distributing valuable content to target audiences.
This strategy is used by brands to increase engagement, traffic, and conversions.
By providing valuable content to your customers and prospects, you can build relationships with them that will last for years, increasing their lifetime value.
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What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves creating, publishing, and distributing content online. This content can be in the form of text, images, videos, podcasts, infographics, or any other type of digital media.
The goal of content marketing is to create meaningful relationships with customers by offering them relevant information to help solve problems and add value to their lives.
Content marketing, first and foremost, should give without asking in return. You can drop a call-to-action at the end of a piece of content, but you should never try to sell. Add value and provide content that helps your audience in some way…for free.
Then, once you have your audience’s trust and attention, it’s ok to let them know about products or services they may be interested in purchasing and how those can further solve their problems.
Why Is Content Marketing So Effective?
Content has the power to drive engagement with potential customers as well as existing ones. It also helps build trust between brands and their audiences by providing them with helpful information that they can use to make informed decisions, solve problems, and improve their lives.
Further along the journey, content helps your audience make informed decisions about their purchases. And because search engines reward websites with relevant content, it can boost your website’s visibility in organic search results, ultimately leading to more traffic and conversions.
Five Ways Brands Can Use Content Marketing
1) Blogging
Publishing blog posts regularly can help keep your website up-to-date and relevant for search engine rankings.
Brands have picked up on the value of blogging for business, and they are doing some great things with blogs.
Here’s a list of a handful of the top brand blogs for inspiration.
- IKEA Ideas – Inspiration and ideas for better living
- HubSpot Inbound Blog – Lots of excellent inbound and digital marketing advice
- John Deere’s The Furrow – Stories about farming and outdoor life
You can use blogs to share helpful tips or advice related to your industry or product/service offerings.
Blogging also helps establish expertise in your field, which helps build trust with potential customers and existing ones.
2) Social Media
Leveraging social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn can help increase brand awareness and reach new audiences who may not have heard of you.
Posting engaging content on these platforms allows you to connect directly with potential customers while building relationships with them over time and driving traffic back to your website.
3) Email Marketing
Email marketing is an excellent way for brands to stay connected with their existing customers and reach out to potential new ones through newsletters or special offers campaigns sent directly into their inboxes.
Through email campaigns, you can create personalized messages tailored specifically toward different segments within your customer base, which increases the chance they’ll take action on it (e.g., click-throughs).
4) Videos
Videos are another excellent way for brands to engage with their audience through visuals rather than just text alone (e..g., tutorials).
Here’s an example from a video series I helped produce for The College of William & Mary’s business school. You can see how it takes a potentially dry academic subject and makes it engaging, thus connecting prospective students to the college.
They can also be used effectively for product launches or promotions since they allow viewers to get a better understanding of what’s being offered without having to read long pieces of copy firsthand.
Additionally, videos are more likely to be shared across social media channels, so they have the potential to reach even more people more quickly than traditional methods do!
5) Podcasts
Audio is perhaps the hottest type of content right now. Brands are realizing, more and more, the potential power of podcasting.
Listen to this episode of Why We Eat What We Eat from Blue Apron. The company does a great job of creating an interesting podcast concept focused on relevant topics that ultimately lead to an interest in their product offerings.
Increasing your podcast subscribers builds brand loyalty and improve recognition, helping you stand out from the crowd. And placing audio, such as podcasts, on your website keeps visitors on the site longer and helps boost SEO.
Why Not Bring Content Marketing Into Your Strategy?
Content marketing is a powerful tool for businesses looking to increase engagement and conversions from their target audience(s).
From blogging and social media posts to email campaigns and videos, there are many different types of content that brands can use when crafting their strategies – each one helping move closer toward achieving goals such as building brand loyalty among current customers or generating leads from new ones!
Ultimately the key lies in understanding what kind of information resonates best with your target market so you can tailor your approach accordingly – but once done correctly, it truly has the power to transform how people perceive you!
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Great breakdown as always here. Content marketing levels the playing field if done right. I recall ranking on page 1, position 1 of Google for “blogging income claims” before a billion dollar market cap company, twice. Ample work and patience went into it, but how in the heck else can a guy in a t-shirt and shorts outrank billion dollar companies with 10,000 employees for a keyword? Blogging and content marketing, executed properly, is the best way I know. I made so many fabulous blogging buddies like you Anthony and keep helping folks daily. Good things keep happening based on following these fundamentals.