Content marketing is a highly underutilised marketing strategy, with Neil Patel finding companies only spend approximately 5-12% of their marketing budget on Content Marketing/SEO. However, when looking at the return on marketing spend, content marketing delivers some of the best results.
Be warned, running an effective content marketing strategy isn’t a walk in the park. While today’s businesses are able to create mass amounts of content, this increased availability has led to content saturation. Therefore, it is crucial for all businesses to understand how to develop a unique and engaging content marketing strategy that stands out from competitors.
What is Content Marketing?
Content Marketing involves consistently sharing engaging content with the aim of growing a customer base and pushing them to undertake a desired action, whether that be signing up for a newsletter or purchasing a product for example.
It sounds simple enough, so why are so many businesses shirking content marketing? One reason is that content marketing often requires long-term planning and hard work before you returns are seen, which many businesses are not willing to undertake. Another reason is the growth of alternative, more immediate ways to attract customers, such as paid advertising. While these alternatives seem more inviting to businesses, they are only short-term and usually costly solutions.
Content marketing is the long-term play that so many businesses crave as well as being far more cost effective (as it requires little to no funding). Content marketing is also vital for improving the SEO performance of your website, which is vital if you want to be seen in the search results by more potential customers. Finally, polishing your content marketing abilities can also be beneficial for many other facets of your marketing such as social media marketing, email marketing and paid ad campaigns. While the roles of content marketing will vary amongst different strategies, there are a few overarching best practice tips which can help businesses to deliver killer content.
Tips for Effective Content Marketing
1.A/B Test Your Content
Content formats are ever increasing, allowing for the ability to mix and match various formats to create new and exciting content for consumers. For instance, a blog post about ‘the importance of facebook marketing’ might also include an infographic and a short embedded video to keep readers engaged in the topic. It is recommended to share content in different ways and see what’s received best by your audience.
2. Choose Relevant, Unique Topics
Unfortunately there isn’t a definitive guide for high quality content topics. But there are a few suggestions that can steer you in the right direction. Look at current trends in your industry or view your customer’s FAQs and see if there are any common queries (potential blog topics) you could answer. Make sure to use your own or other authoritative data to back up the points you make. This shows the reader you’re an expert and trusted source on the topic.
3. Aesthetics are Important. Make It Stand Out
Aesthetics play an important factor in content marketing; if your content is bland and boring your visitors will leave. Start with a punchy title and introduction (entice your reader to learn more) and make sure to include subheadings, highlight key points and use visual content (where applicable) to allow readers to easily navigate your content in bite size chunks.
4. Consistency and Planning is Key
Content marketing is a long-term solution and requires consistency and planning to be successful. Create a content schedule to manage your time efficiently and plan topics ahead of time to make sure they are of interest to your target audience. Consistency of posting will vary between industries, for example, newspapers will post more consistently than a car blog. We generally suggested starting with content sharing 2-3 times per month and then increase based on reader interaction levels.
5. Keep Evolving Your Content Strategy
As new technology and trends grow, businesses should look to embrace them and incorporate them into their content marketing strategy. Not only this but as you begin to build a more loyal following, your content should also look to evolve, geared towards selling (push your potential customers along that customer purchase model).
Whether you are looking for an effective content marketing agency or simply wanting to find out more about how content marketing can benefit your business. Contact Redline Digital Today.