You may be wondering that having a blog on your website will lead to tons of traffic, lots of engagement, shares, and referral traffic; that the bloggers will backlink to your content and boost your website authority ranking higher.
In reality, it’s seldom the case. Content marketing requires a lot of planning, good strategy, and persistent work.
As a content marketer myself, I get this question “what are the best ways of doing content marketing today?” very often. Sometimes I ponder myself, as every industry and every business have different ways of doing it right.
You may be asking the same question. Lucky, I have an answer for you.
What is content marketing?
Many brands incorrectly assume that content marketing is blogging.
Yes, blogging is a part of content marketing; but content marketing is so much more than that. Content can be anything.
- Your Instagram posts are content.
- Your videos on YouTube are content.
- Your weekly newsletter is also content.
- Your downloadable e-book on the website is also content.
You get where I’m going with this.
So how do you create a content marketing strategy that incorporates all types of content?
What are the best ways to do content marketing?
Many people struggle to come up with a content strategy that pays off and is advantageous to their business. It is easy to get lost in the ocean of various success stories and suggestions that have worked out for others.
But in order to create a meaningful strategy, you should position your audience in the center and create for them.
Know your brand and audience very well
Content marketing strategy requires you to know your brand and audience extremely well. Like any other marketing activity, it is based on promoting your brand and you cannot do it without having a clear picture in mind.
Answer these simple questions:
What is your brand about?
What do people think you do for them when they see your brand?
When you have the answers, take a deeper look at your target audience:
What are your customers’ needs/pain points/pains/wants/struggles/ desires?
How does your brand help to address them?
You have to be very clear and straight to the point here. What you can do is take a sheet of paper and write down all the needs, pain points, wants, struggles, desires, etc. that your ideal customers have. Then, take another sheet and write down how you can solve and/or help them.
For example, my brand is about content and digital marketing strategy. My customers face issues in building a content strategy that helps them achieve their business goals. I help them through my consulting services.
By the way, did you notice that you have just created a list of ideas for your content? The sheet where you wrote down how you can address the issues your customers face is a gold mine of content ideas.
Understand what type of content works best for you
Not all types of content will work for every business.
You shouldn’t t assume that if everyone has a corporate blog on their website, it’s something that you also have to have. Maybe instead of reading, your audience would rather listen to a podcast?
You should also take into account your business. Is your business easy to produce content for? If yes, what kind of content would make the most sense?
Likely, if you’re a B2B business, case studies, infographics, podcasts, how-to guides will work much better than pictures on Instagram.
Similarly, if you’re in the B2C business, you will want to catch the eye of potential buyers, so social media content, blogs, and visual content will work best.
Assess your capabilities as well. If you lack talent in-house who can produce blog posts, instead concentrate on other types of content first. Having a graphic designer is a great way to start Instagram marketing activities.
Always look at the quality
The Internet is full of various types of content; some is pure rubbish, some is mediocre, and some is unique, insightful, and of top quality. Naturally, you, as a person looking for information, will lean towards the last one.
For this reason, don’t think that posting often is better and will lead you to a better result.
If you’re producing blog posts, it’s well known that Google prioritizes long and more insightful unique posts. These posts rank higher in search and the more insightful visitors find them, the more prioritized they are by search engines.
Therefore, having a plan of posting well-researched, high-quality posts will bring you much better results.
Other tips for content marketing
Content marketing is a strategic approach to marketing that involves creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Here are some best ways to do content marketing:
Understand your target audience: Before creating any content, you need to understand your target audience. Identify their needs, interests, and pain points, and create content that addresses these.
Develop a content strategy: A content strategy outlines the goals, target audience, types of content, and channels to distribute the content. It helps to ensure your content aligns with your business goals and speaks to your audience.
Create high-quality content: The content you create should be high-quality, informative, and engaging. It should be written with your target audience in mind and provide value to them.
Use different content formats: Mix up the type of content you create, including blog posts, videos, infographics, social media posts, podcasts, webinars, and more. This will help keep your audience engaged and interested.
Optimize for search engines: Use SEO techniques to optimize your content for search engines. This will help your content rank higher in search engine results and increase visibility.
Promote your content: Promote your content through social media, email marketing, guest posting, influencer outreach, and other channels to increase its reach.
Measure your results: Track and analyze your content marketing efforts to see what’s working and what’s not. Use this information to improve your strategy and create better content.
By following these best practices, you can create a successful content marketing campaign that drives traffic, generates leads, and ultimately boosts your business growth.
