Why is Content Marketing key for 2015
Conventional, single-thread, one-way, disruptive mass communication – like the television commercials that brands have long subsidized – is on the way out. Today, content rules. Nine of ten companies of all sizes and all industries in North America use content as part of their marketing programs to attract and hold customers, and to build sales and profits.
Content marketing is “the marketing and business process for creating and distributing valuable and compelling content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience.” Consumers no longer care about corporate messages; they care about themselves. Most people genuinely like and enjoy the content in content marketing.
Tell your brand stories and leverage the passion of your customers and stakeholders by showcasing your employees’ expertise. Your staff and executives are a rich trove of story material. Present the daily life of your firm as you would the life of a village.
Content marketing can take numerous forms, including: blogs, e-newsletters, white papers, articles, e-books, case studies, testimonials, webinars, webcasts, videos, online news releases, custom print magazines, newsletters, digital magazines, e-learning series, mobile applications, teleseminars, podcasts, executive roundtables, industry-ranking lists, printed books, audio books, virtual trade shows, comic books, road shows, branded-content applications, online games, infographics, online surveys, discussion forums, and more.
What does content marketing do?
Create content that consumers love. Build a base of subscribers; the more you have, the more successful your content-marketing program is. Every subscriber is a lead and a potential customer. The energy-drink company Red Bull licenses more than 5,000 videos and 50,000 photos to media firms, which pay Red Bull to showcase its branded content. Red Bull also publishes the Red Bulletin, a monthly print and digital magazine that reaches 4.8 million people.
The main channels for corporate content marketing are websites and blogs, not social media outlets. Firms should use social networks to anchor distribution links to their content
What Content Market Strategy do you need?
Your company’s story must be epic to stand out. Epic content makes people “stop, read, think and behave differently.” It fills consumers’ information needs. Distribute your content on an large scale; create 10 different content forms for each story: white papers, e-books, blog posts, and so on.
You should follow six rules to generate successful content marketing:
1. “Fill a need” – “Answer an unmet question” and be “useful.”
2. “Be consistent” – Deliver quality content on a schedule.
3. “Be human” – Sometimes you can set aside the staid corporate tone, and use humor and irony as appropriate. Find your company’s own voice and express it.
4. “Have a point of view” – Stake out a position on anything that helps position your firm as an expert, reliable source.
5. “Avoid ‘sales speak’” – The more you talk about your firm – as opposed to supplying useful content – the less interested your readers will be.
6. “Be best of breed” – Don’t vest time and energy in mediocrity. Make yours the finest in content, visuals, ideas and presentation.
What about Content Marketing and SEO?
Optimize your content for Google and the other search engines. Develop a “hit list” of key words and key-word phrases to include in your content text. Strategize your deployment of them in your current and future content. Seek out opportunities for “content syndication” – placing your content on other firms’ websites.
Add images to your text content. Business websites with images outperform websites without images by 91%. Put the right content in front of your customers and prospects at the right time. Distribute your content to coincide with your company’s “engagement cycle – a combination of your internal sales process and how you have defined the customer’s buying cycle.”
Some popular bloggers and people who share content online gain special status as social media influencers. Use Google Alerts, Twitter and industry trade publications to identify them. Get them on your side to promote your content – and your website and blogs!
