In this guide, you will learn how to use content marketing to build a strategy that engages and informs readers.
Whether you need to find the best way to increase your reach, or you are looking to rejig your relationship with your audience, content marketing provides different approaches to engage with new and potential customers.
And this is what it all boils down to—if you want to engage your audience, you need a solid content marketing strategy in place.
In this guide, we’ll look at content marketing strategies, why you need one, and the various elements included in a robust strategy.
Why do you need a content marketing strategy?
Marketing your business is more than leads, growth, and traffic.
A content marketing strategy won’t sell your product or service, but it can generate leads through authoritative articles about your industry. Content marketing strategies don’t just allow you the luxury of acquiring new followers but it allows you to experiment and build upon your reliable source of traffic to generate other streams of revenue.
From here, you can attract leads and generate awareness for your brand so you can branch out into other areas, such as social media advertising, distributed content, and sponsored content.
What should a content marketing strategy include?
To engage with a prospect it’s important to have the right type of content for your website or promotional materials. Choose the wrong type of content and you fail to engage with your audience. However, if you pick the right type of content that doesn’t just generate interest but also caters to their demographic, you are engaging with an audience on their specific level. There are are different types of content marketing approaches and these are the most popular that you can create:
1. Blog posts
Blog posts are, for many businesses, the “bread-and-butter” of content. To attract new visitors, blog posts need to be published on a regular basis but also provides content that shows expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (known as E-A-T).
If you’re looking to outsource this type of work consider the following agencies on Adzooma Marketplace:
2. Infographics
I questioned the relevancy of infographics in my article “Are Infographics Truly Dead?”. While I believe infographics haven’t lost their initial spark, they can still convey ingenuity through data visualisation and, more importantly, in a clear and coherent way:
For starters, save it for special occasions. An infographic is not an article. It’s not a video. It’s their slightly-overweight older brother – not as versatile. So make sure the idea you have really works for an infographic and wouldn’t be better suited to another format. This way, we’ll stem the flow of bad ones that are being churned out.
Secondly, when you do make one, do it so well that no one even puts it in the same bracket as infographics. You want people to dive straight into the journey your infographic takes them on before “not another one of these” even crosses their mind.
If you’re going down the infographic route, make sure you take the time to think about how best to make an infographic and do your research.
3. Social media
In order to diversify your content marketing plan, you need to start distributing content on other websites.
Social media is integral to expanding your brand and there are so many platforms to use.
- If you are looking to promote videos you would likely go on YouTube or Facebook.
- If you are a professional business looking to acquire like-minded professionals, Linkedin may be your ideal choice.
- If you have lots of photos to share, Instagram is your platform.
Social media marketing helps businesses reach a variety of people and provides unique insights into how they engage with your content.
You should consider a social agency for this kind of work. Adzooma Marketplace can help you find one. For more info on what they do, read our article on social media agencies.
4. Videos
Video marketing is a powerful tool, with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Vimeo, garnering millions of monthly active users and access to billions of videos. But it’s not all memes. Companies are starting to see the benefits of video content as an additional distribution and revenue channel.
Check out Marketplace for video agencies near you.
Case studies
One of the most versatile types of content. Case studies are an opportunity to tell the story of someone who has worked with you, whether it’s a client or a customer. The great thing about case studies is that they are malleable and can take the form of a podcast, a blog, or even an infographic.
This is a logical extension to customers who leave a positive review. It’s important to remember before you choose a customer that you determine the right form for the testimonial, but also understand where you want to drive volume.
Templates
Giving customers an easier life is the underlying idea behind templates. It’s a useful format to try because it generates direct value to the audience.
Giving your customers template tools that can help them save time in their lives means you are giving them tremendous value for something that costs you very little.
If you’ve helped them overcome a major hurdle in their daily lives, they are more likely to keep engaging with your content.
For example, we created a PPC roadmap template for advertisers to plan their PPC strategy.
Podcasts
An ideal option if you are looking to engage people with long form content but don’t have the time to read. Podcasts are the format in between video and blogs that can provide depth and significant value. If you have people to interview that can help promote your product or theirs, engaging with this format is invaluable in many ways as it is so cheap to set up.
Examples of effective content marketing strategies
Content marketing is such a diverse component that it can prove difficult to make a significant impact. But there are some fantastic examples of effective content marketing strategies:
- Blendtec, a company that provides blenders, increased their sales by 700% in three years thanks to their Will It Blend video series, where they try their hand at blending felt tip pens and even devices like smartphones!
- GE’s Instagram content marketing campaign generated 3,000 new followers without any paid advertising. They did this by posting on Instagram about GE’s other business, which comprised wind turbines and locomotives, and boosted their sales of vacuums and washer-dryers in the process.
- Rip Curl, a surfing company, gained more than 2 million Facebook followers by their online publication The Search, which chronicles surfers on the lookout for the best waves in the world. A platform that is for surfers gained more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers and grew their content to become a profitable business from an eye-catching blog.
Conclusion
Any business can use content marketing to their advantage. With a wide variety of companies using content to promote their business, it’s important that we get more and more inventive but also use content marketing strategies to our advantage.
