Whether you like it or not, the digital era has completely changed the way businesses interact with their customers. The internet is now awash in dime-a-dozen promotions, and it takes much more than an eye-catching graphic or a great deal to convert ordinary web users into loyal customers.
As a result, an increasing number of businesses are focusing their promotional efforts on new content marketing strategies.
What exactly is content marketing?
Simply put, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach in which businesses create and distribute valuable content to attract a specific audience. Content marketing allows you to deliver information that improves consumer knowledge rather than shamelessly pitching goods and services with ordinary sales copy.
Content marketing strategies are designed to help you create an intelligent consumer base that will ultimately reward your hard work with their loyalty and business by establishing your business as a consistent source of relevant and valuable industry information.
Who Uses Content Marketing?
Although increased reliance on the internet has significantly increased the adoption of content marketing strategies by businesses, the concept itself has been around for quite some time.
Notable examples include John Deere, which launched its own magazine in 1895 to provide farmers with useful information on how to improve the profitability of their businesses. That magazine is still going strong after more than a century, with a circulation of more than 1.5 million readers in 40 countries. Michelin’s coveted restaurant guide and Jell-iconic O’s cookbooks were both released around the same time, with the same goals in mind.
Red Bull, the energy drink behemoth, has recently emerged as one of content marketing’s guiding forces. Its consistent YouTube presence, feature film productions, and magazine all provide extreme sports consumers with a consistent and one-of-a-kind flow of information and content, which has helped the company establish phenomenal brand recognition.
Read Why Influencer Marketing Increases Brand Awareness and Leads to Conversions.
How Can I Use Content Marketing for My Business?
Content marketing can be an extremely effective and versatile promotional strategy regardless of the type of business you run or the industry in which you operate.
If you want to create a content marketing strategy to help your business, you must first identify your target audience and their needs. Consider who your company is trying to reach, what kind of information they are looking for, and how you can provide useful content to meet those needs.
Then you’ll need to figure out how and where you’re going to produce and distribute that content. You should be able to develop a firm idea of where your potential customers spend the majority of their online time by conducting some market research. You may be able to increase your digital exposure by creating YouTube videos, writing blog posts on LinkedIn, or contributing guest articles to relevant industry magazines.
After you’ve determined what types of content to create and where to distribute it, create a content calendar to help you stay consistent in your outreach efforts. If you’re attempting to establish your own company website as a source of information, you might benefit from implementing a simple content management system that makes it quick and easy to create and distribute content.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, almost all businesses can benefit significantly from implementing a content marketing strategy. That being said, it takes a lot of thought and a lot of hard work before those efforts begin to pay off.
Remember that no two businesses are alike, so your content marketing strategy should be unique as well. It’s simply a matter of doing your research and remaining committed.
Learn more from Marketing and read Mistakes You’re Making in Social Media Marketing.
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