"Are you embarrassed as you still don’t know anything about Content Marketing? Congrats, this post is made especially for you."

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is a type of marketing that involves a strategic approach regarding distribution and creation of relevant, valuable and consistent content in order to attract and also retain a target audience and ultimately turn in more profits from customer actions. These days the majority of the prominent organizations like Microsoft, P&G and many more prefer using content marketing. Even small businesses are dependent on content marketing too.

Before getting into more details it is important to know about the different types of Content that can be published. They are:

1. Blogs- It is often seen that Blog posts make up for the central part of any company or brand’s content marketing strategy. There are a number of reasons for its popularity- a) Blogs take less time to write, b) easily found by Google when it is searched for, c) Users are happy to read and also share it, d) It is value for very little money. These posts are ideal when it comes to relationship building, getting more leads and also helps in driving more traffic. However there are mistakes that are often made in blogging and they are i) Not posting on a regular basis ii) Not optimizing the blogs for driving more leads and sales iii) Not linking your content for conversion iv) Not applying proper keywords.

2. Videos- Videos are dynamic, engaging and are viewed more than the texts are read. This is the reason they are such an important type of content used for content marketing. Whether it is a tutorial video or any product content, people prefer watching videos rather than reading about it. Videos should be used for both content as well as social media marketing. The simplest way would be to upload them on Youtube and coordinate them with the blogs posted by a company and also by embedding them in relevant posts that are written.

3. Ebooks- They take a little more time to read but if of a good quality then can work as a lead magnet. It’s a little more time consuming and costly but if made to be written by a freelance writer who has prior experience then can work as a great content. Whether it’s a five page ebook or a thirty page one, it shouldn’t keep on offering the product or the service as the solution to the reader’s problem. This can make it monotonous.

4. Podcasts- A podcast provides your brand visibility in a completely different world. Podcasts are engaging in their character and useful when it comes to reaching the users. People who don’t like reading can learn about the product or brand being marketed. Podcasts don’t require full attention and can be heard while driving or at a gym. There are fortunately, plenty of platforms available like Itunes, Spotify and many more that accept podcasts and have a huge audience base.

5. Email Newsletter- If your company or brand has new updates, information or new products to be shared with the readers on a regular basis then Email Newsletters should be used as the digital format for content delivery. It is considered for having the best Return on Investment of both Business to business and business to consumer organisations. Emails are concise, simple and generally short and crisp. The only part to be taken care of is that the email should have an eye-catching and meaningful headline.

6. Infographics-  Infographics are very useful as they are easily shareable and consumable too. They provide the information and statistics in an interesting format and are easy to understand. Statistics show that consumers are thirty times more interested in consuming any content if it is in the form of an Infographics compared to only written texts. Turning facts and figures into visual content makes it more understandable. Tools like Visme.co, PiktoChart and Canva are useful when it concerns creation of infographics.

7. Case Studies- Case Studies are hardly available in business websites as they take a great deal of time and energy to be made. Case studies have a positive impact on readers as they are the success stories that show how powerful your company and its services are. Testimonial videos can also do the trick for you.

8. Social Media Posts- It is of utmost importance for all forms of businesses to utilize Social Media to its fullest capacity. The content should also be channel specific and not the same for all the social media platforms.  Stories and live chats can be used on Instagram and Snapchat. Other tools like polling and Q&A submissions can also be used so as to make things interactive.

There are many more types of content like White Papers, Webinars, Template & Checklists and the list goes on and on.

Now coming to the most essential part of understanding content marketing and that is, why do we use Content Marketing?

Before understanding this let us know the four steps of buying cycle-

a)     Awareness- Before awareness a customer might have a need but they are not aware of the solution.

b)    Research- Once the customer is aware of the solution they will do thorough research in order to choose the best solution for his problem

c)     Consideration- At this stage the customer is comparing the vendors in order to choose the one who provides the best quality at a reasonable price.

d)    Buy- Finally, the customer chooses the best and goes ahead with his transaction.

Content Marketing is more important when we consider the first two points of the buying cycle. It helps in raising awareness and educating people about a product that has probably never been considered before by the customer. By using Content Marketing the return of investment is much better than traditional marketing if we know the right method to go about with it. Content marketing also provides benefits and supports other digital marketing channels. It provides for SEO and also for Social media marketing.

 

 

 

 

 

Small description

If you own a digital marketing agency or work for one it is very important for you to understand what Content Marketing is. Content Marketing is a type of marketing that involves a strategic approach regarding distribution and creation of relevant, valuable and consistent content in order to attract and also retain a target audience and ultimately turn in more profits from customer actions.

Before getting into more details it is important to know about the different types of Content that can be published. They are:

1. Blogs

2. Videos

3. Ebooks

4. Podcasts

5. Email Newsletter

6. Infographics

7. Case Studies

8. Social Media Posts

There are many more types of content like White Papers, Webinars, Template & Checklists and the list goes on and on.

Now coming to the most essential part of understanding content marketing and that is, why do we use Content Marketing?

Before understanding this let us know the four steps of buying cycle-

a)     Awareness

b)    Research

c)     Consideration

d)    Buy

Content Marketing is more important when we consider the first two points of the buying cycle. It helps in raising awareness and educating people about a product that has probably never been considered before by the customer. By using Content Marketing high pressure sales techniques also do not need to be used. By using Content Marketing the return of investment is much better than traditional marketing if we know the right method to go about with it. Content marketing also provides benefits and supports other digital marketing channels. It provides for SEO and also for Social media marketing.