No matter what business, market, or industry you’re in, there’s one strategy that time and time again produces serious results and a powerful return on investment…
It’s not social media, online advertising, or SEO: those are just tactics.
It’s also not Twitter, Google Analytics, or Video: those are just tools.
No, the strategy behind these tactics and tools that I’m talking about is a commitment to consistently publish quality content.
The businesses that make creating and publishing quality content a regular part of their routine are the ones that reap the rewards of:
- Improved brand perception
- Increased brand awareness
- Increased customer acquisition
- Thought leadership
- Improved search engine rankings
- Overall decreased marketing costs
- Higher website authority
- Higher company authority
- Decreased lead to customer time
- Happier and better-informed customers
- Fewer customer service issues
- Compounding value over time
- Greater reach and visibility
- More social media traffic and followers
- Improved conversion opportunities
And the list goes on…
So with all that said, let’s get started on what makes a content marketing strategy so valuable to your business, and how you can get started today.
What Is Content Marketing?
So what exactly is content marketing?
Well my definition of content marketing as adapted from the Content Marketing Institutes) is:
Content marketing is the strategy of creating and distributing valuable and relevant information to a specific target market with the end goal of driving profitable customer actions.
By this definition, anything you can think of to create for your customers can essentially be called content.
These could be things like:
- Blog posts
- Articles
- White-papers
- Videos
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Online trainings
- Webinars
- Live seminars
Once you have your content produced, it’s time to work on distributing it, which you can do through a number of different channels including:
- Social media
- Paid advertising
- Search engine optimization
- Direct mail
- Radio
- TV
- Blimps
You get the picture…
The point to remember is that content marketing is a 2 part strategy.
Creation is Step #1
Distribution is Step #2
Both are necessary for a content marketing strategy to work.
(Need a bit more clarity on what exactly content marketing is? Check out this article on What Is Content Marketing)
How Much Content Is Enough?
So just how much content do you need to produce in order to get results?
While the strategy “more is better” certainly applies here, “more” also takes a lot of time.
So the best thing to do is to focus on quality over quantity.
Next, choose 1, or maybe 2, channels to focus on and make producing high-quality content on those your first priority.
Next, (and this is a bit of a grey area) if given the choice I would choose:
Longer and less frequent content
Over…
Shorter and more frequent content
There are obviously massive exceptions to this rule, but the takeaway point is this:
People, social media, and search engines tend to prefer longer form content (which usually provides more value).
So make producing this longer form type of content your #1 goal.
Lastly, if you’re looking for a general guideline on how often to create new content…
Once a week is a great strategy to shoot for.
The most important point is to pick a publishing date, and then stick to it.
Your customers appreciate (and expect) consistency.
(Want a bit more info on how much content you need to create? Check out this article on How Much Content Is Enough)
How To Write Great Content
Writing and creating great content is part art, and part science.
The science comes from doing proper research, using the right tool for your audience, and understanding your customers well enough to know what type of content they’ll get the most value from.
The art is in combining all of these things to create powerful and effective pieces of content that educate, inform, or entertain.
The best way to write great content is simply to:
- Start where you are
- Create some content
- Send it out to the marketplace
- Get feedback, tweak, edit, and improve for future content
Over time your content and company will find its voice, and creating content will become second nature.
(For 5 tips on writing great content check out this article here: How To Write Great Content)
Compounding Value
Just like compound interest, the sooner you start creating content the sooner you’ll start benefiting from the power of compounding value.
As you create and build up content over time, you’re building a valuable and powerful asset of knowledge, information, resources, and material, which you can mine and extract from in the future.
Once you create content, it’s yours forever.
And it works around the clock to build your business.
Any Other Ideas?
So now I turn it over to you…
- Are you currently using a content marketing strategy in your business?
- If so, what have you found works well? If no, why not?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section below now.
