What is content marketing, anyway?
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Have you ever googled a question, and then clicked on a blog post or article from a brand you recognize to find the answer?
If you answered “no,” we have questions…
Maybe you were looking up how to choose the best running shoes, or resume writing tips, or what is content marketing, anyway?
If you clicked on any of the search results, then congratulations! You’ve been on the receiving end of effective content marketing.
Content marketing has been around for ages, but it still eludes people trying to understand its place in a larger marketing strategy.
Let’s take a closer look at what it is, and how you can use it to build your brand.
So, what is content marketing, really?
Content marketing is a marketing approach dedicated to creating relevant, value-adding content to attract and engage an audience.
It can be a how-to blog post or an industry e-book. A whole podcast series, or a single TikTok video.
The keys here are relevant and value-adding.
Content marketing is a pull strategy, pulling an audience in by providing them with something they want to consume. So, it needs to be relevant (to your audience and your business), and it needs to add value (by way of education, new opportunities, inspiration, entertainment, etc.).
Done right, it can help attract new people to your brand, nurture relationships with existing customers, improve your SEO rankings so you’re found by more people, and build your brand’s authority around a particular topic.
And since consumers are 131% more likely to buy from brands who educate them, it can have a real impact on your bottom line, too.
“By becoming a credible, authoritative resource on topics that matter to potential customers, your business is more likely to get discovered by the right audience and earn their loyalty and trust—which, in turn, enables your brand to strengthen its customer relationships, grow an active and engaged subscriber base, and even increase its profits.” – Content Marketing Institute
Types of content marketing
There are as many types of content marketing as there are types of content. That’s part of what makes it so hard to define.
Here are a few of the most common types brands use today:
Blogs (like this one! 👋🏻)
e-Books
Interactive quizzes and checklists
Infographics
Videos
How-to guides
Podcasts
Events
Newsletters
With seemingly endless types of content to choose from, how do you pick?
Strategically.
Why you need a content strategy
Before you start publishing loads of content all willy-nilly, remember: more isn’t always more.
Literally anyone can publish content these days, especially online. To actually reach your audience, you need to approach content strategically.
Start by asking yourself:
Who is my target audience? (What are they looking for? How are they talking about it?)
Where are they? (What channels are they using? How do they like to engage?)
What can I offer them? (What’s the unique value we bring to the table?)
What do we want them to do? (Sign up for an event? How can we encourage them to stay engaged?)
How will we measure success? (Downloads? Newsletter subscriptions? What are our KPIs?)
Once you have the answers to these questions, you can make key decisions about what kind of content you produce and where it lives.
For example:
If you’ve got a younger target market, you may lean more on video content hosted on platforms like TikTok.
If you’re a B2B brand, industry guides and e-books may be more impactful.
When you know what language your audience is using to search for content like yours, you can optimize for SEO based on those terms.
Creating great content
Not all content is created equal.
Effective and engaging content marketing should be:
Relevant
Imagine you’re researching how to find the perfect fit for running shoes. You start with a quick online search, and find a mix of blog posts and guides from brands like Brooks, Nike, REI, and online publication Runner’s World. The content is relevant to you (as it answers a question you were asking), and it’s relevant to the brands, since they are all running-related.
If, on the other hand, you came across a How to find the perfect running shoes guide from a non-running brand like LEGO or Home Depot, you probably wouldn’t trust them to give you the best advice.
Valuable
The goal is to provide something that’s useful to your audience. So what unique offerings can you provide?
Duolingo started producing podcasts to provide more natural audio content for language learners
The Container Store’s blog provides how-to guides for DIY home organization projects (and each post just so happens to link to the relevant products so you can buy while you’re feeling inspired)
Skillshare’s emails newsletters do a great job of targeting to provide recommendations based on what courses you’ve already taken
Authentic
No matter what channel, or what type of content you produce, it should be true to your brand’s voice (as laid out in your brand style guide).
Customer-centric
Now is not the time to get wrapped up in “but this is how we’ve always done it”-isms.
It’s not about you.
It’s about your audience – meeting them where they are, speaking their language, and answering their questions (ideally, before they even ask them).
Measurable
How will you know it’s working if you can’t measure it?
Content marketing isn’t an overnight endeavor. It takes time and discipline (and a good dose of trial and error) to grow your audience and authority.
You can increase traffic by up to 850%, but it may take over a year to see the impact on your bottom line.
And you can create beautiful content that people love, but if you can’t show how it’s impacting your business (be it via social engagement, conversions, etc.), you’ll have a hard time making the business case to keep going.
For each campaign, set clear short-term and long-term KPI’s to keep you on track.
Start building your content marketing practice today
Effective content marketing can have a huge impact on your brand.
Ready to get started, but not sure where to begin?
Reach out and let us help set you on the right course.
