What do you understand about content marketing?
Content marketing is creating and conveying content through various mediums and channels to attract and retain customers.
Content marketing fetches three times as many leads for your business as outbound marketing and costs 62% less.
With so much information accessible at the tip of our fingers, content will influence us as consumers. Of course, now the content we watch is from multiple sites and creators. But through the power of content marketing, you can intentionally integrate your company and products within the purchasing journeys.
Let us take the instance of a company that sells a suite of SEO tools. In that suite is a keyword research tool for exploring keywords.
Let’s say you decided to use SEO in your digital marketing strategy and you wanted to find a keyword research tool to use.
You might go to Google and search for a “list of keyword research tools.” You click on the first result, scroll through the list, click on a few results, but you are still not ready to purchase because you realized “I don’t even know how to do keyword research.” So now you go back to Google and search for” how to do keyword research?” Sure enough, you recognize one of the names from the previous article you read, plus they are ranking high in Google. So you click through to their guide. You skim through the guide, and you are impressed. You are also introduced to a tool called Keyword Explorer.
A few days later, you decide to look for more keyword research tutorials. So, you go to Youtube and search for “keyword research” You see that same brand that just won’t quit. You click on the video, you are impressed by the likes to dislikes ratio. You look at the comments and see a lot of positive ones. So you keep watching. Mesmerized by the presenter’s wisdom, you start taking notes and figure out how to do keyword research. Throughout the time you spent learning how to do keyword research, you learned how to do it using the keyword research tool called “Keyword explorer.”
Naturally, you will be more inclined to purchase the tool because you have been educated on them.
Content marketing helps to create awareness and attracts potential customers to your content. Your content engages them and builds credibility for your brand. It converts visitors into customers and builds a loyal following.
Best of all, your revenue compounds because, unlike advertising, where your ads stop appearing, the minute you stop paying, content becomes inconsistent. However, it is essential to note that no matter how good your content is, if your products are not up to scratch, content won’t save you, at least for the long haul.
How can you generate more sales for your business?
Now, the two main parts of content marketing are:
- Creating content
- Distributing or promoting it.
Whatever you create, you should have the goal of attracting and retaining customers. Your content can be in various formats:
- Blog posts
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Online courses
- Infographics
- Free tools
- templates
- Ebooks
- Checklists
Anything is fair game till the time there is demand for that piece of content from your audience. Now the type of content you will choose depends on the topic of your content piece. For example, a recipe would work well as a blog post and video, but it probably would not be great as a podcast.
As a general rule of thumb, start with one format that works for you and then rinse and repeat. Then consider exploring another channel.
Now creating content is not enough because content is not the same as content marketing. It is also not necessary that if you have created content, customers will come to you. It is essential to have an idea of where you will be distributing this content. Some distribution channels can be:
- Search engines.
- Paid ads
- Social media networks
- ForumsCommunities
- Emails
- Newsletters
For example, you have a recipe site. You would probably want to optimize your content for Google search and/or Pinterest because these are the channels where many people are looking for recipes every month.
Now, suppose you have a site on golf. Here, you might want to consider Youtube, Google Search, forums, and communities. These are all the places where your target audience would actively be looking for information on the topic.
Content marketing should be considered one of the most cost-efficient and effective marketing strategies to drive leads and sales. However, the key with content marketing is that your results are directly tied to the quality of your content. So, your content must have all the necessary ingredients for a tasty serving to its audience. But how? Let us see here:
Keep your content clear, concise, and focussed
If you wish to make your content compelling, you must keep it to the point. Your potential customer found this content for some reason. His goal is to learn more about the subject. It would help if you were as focussed on the subject as much as possible so that you don’t glaze over other concepts that are not essential to the main point. Remember to keep your paragraphs concise for easy scanning.
Lastly, forget what you have learned in school. A lot of rules, although grammatically correct, make modern speech sound pretentious and cumbersome. Speak out with your natural voice if you want to grab focus.
Make your content actionable.
Material talking about your content is fine, but your customers want to know how they can do it too. With actionable content, you give your audience things that they can try immediately. This will keep them coming back and interacting more with your content. An excellent way to do this is to create lists and highlight tasks to help the readers. Specifically, identify what needs to be done by them. This will give them a reason to return to your content when they face similar issues later. By doing this, you can quickly get subscriptions for your newsletter or purchase any informational products. In addition, it builds trust because you have given them tasks that they can try for themselves.
Images
To get immediate results, images can make a decent post look splendid. The key to alluring and engaging content is to find relatable graphics using photos and illustrations. Images may look better than an entirely text-based piece of content. However, it is pointless if it does not benefit the user. For example, don’t use the picture of a blank computer screen when talking about technological issues.
According to Forbes, articles carrying images get 94% more views than articles without them[1].
Provide answers
Remember, people are consuming your content for a reason. You’ve made a promise in your headline to answer the question. So, you need to be sure that you are providing the answers they are looking for. Try reading your content from your customer’s perspective to know whether you’ve sufficiently answered their query.
Connect with your clientele
Connect with your clientele more proactively and consistently in a more automated fashion. Start to implement strategies around technology and applications that allow you to preset some contact. Track the following:
- What are the emails you are getting beforehand?
- What are the emails you are getting after?
- What are the contacts and connections that are happening in the middle of projects?
All these things are super important and can be automated with technology. This will render a more professional and a more personalized approach to your client base.
Make sure that all of your social media platforms[2] are being used consistently. Most of the time, people focus on one or the other or not at all. The bottom line is that homeowners, decision-makers, and people want to do business with you. They are looking at social media to see what type of business you are, what type of person you are, who and why you are engaging with. It is just a part of their decision-making process. Suppose you are not creating a consistent utilization of social media. In that case, you are hurting your ability to deliver a high-end experience to your potential customers.
Start a podcast
It would help if you considered starting a Youtube channel or a podcast[3]. You can do this as a contractor, teaching people how to or letting them know the following things about you:
- you as a person
- your stories
- your background
- The players involved in your business,
- your processes and
- your product.
People are looking out for all the above things to figure out whom to trust to do their project. Your ability to get that content into the marketplace by starting a podcast or a Youtube channel can help you level up your brand. It makes you look like you have a better brand and a modern approach to using technology to grow your brand awareness.
There is a lot you can do to differentiate yourself and build your brand. These are some of the things you can take action on immediately that do not cost you much money, effort, and technical knowhow. Make your sales grow with these simple tips.
