Content marketing is a powerful tool that allows you to inform potential customers, about what you are doing, and to encourage them to make a purchase or other valuable activity. In this article, you will learn what is content marketing, and what its types are.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Content marketing can be used at every stage of the consumer’s journey. However, it is mostly used in the initial stages of sales funnel.
As a reminder, the elements of the sales funnel are; attention, interest, desire, action and loyalty. At different levels, different marketing tools are used. Content Marketing is widely used because it allows you to achieve the best return on investment. It also provides many other benefits.
The benefits of using content marketing
Firstly, the ability to expand your audience. The content marketing strategy assumes reaching the target group, building a community around what you are trying to sell, and gathering a group of brand supporters.
Secondly, properly run content marketing improves the credibility of the brand and its products. It also allows you to engage people who will identify with your idea.
Thirdly, content marketing improves the position of your website in search engines such as Google and Bing. It is worth remembering about SEO, proper optimization of websites (search engine optimization).
In addition, the use of content marketing allows you to get leads, i.e. interested users who may generate sales in the future.
Providing high-quality content has a positive effect on the company’s brand, improves the position on the market and strengthens ties with customers.
What is content marketing and what are its features
When creating content for content marketing campaign, you should be remembered that the purpose of this content is to convince the audience to take a specific action we want. For your content to be really effective, it must be relevant, i.e. it should have certain characteristics. If the delivered content does not evoke the expected response or does not attract attention, and do not engage the user, you might consider a change of strategy.
So, we’ll analyze some features of effective content to help you achieve your business goals.
The content provided should be personalized. Contrary to traditional marketing channels, content transferred via digital media should be targeted at a specific audience. Here you should take into account the appropriate age, social group, material status and a specific outlook on life. Targeting content that serves the personal goals of the recipient has a huge impact on creating relationships and building trust with potential customers.
Content must be educational or entertaining. This may concern broader education related to your field of work or the industry in which you operate. Education can also refer to specific services that your company offers. The positive experiences of previous customers have a very positive impact on the perception of the brand.
It’s also important to create content that matches the buyer’s needs or interests. You should pay attention to the cultural context of your target audience and to look for problems that your content might help to solve.
It is very important that the content is of a good quality and that it contains a call to action. Your audience or potential customer need to know what you expect from them. Giving people a clear call to action allows them to understand what you are actually selling. The consumed content will then be the first step on the way to conversion, i.e. sales.
Topical content or evergreen
All content can be divided into two groups, topical and evergreen. When it comes to creating content for marketing, both groups have advantages and disadvantages.
Topical content is usually time-sensitive and related to the topic best suited to a specific moment. Please note that this type of content is related to a specific situation or event and has a limited lifespan.
Evergreen content can be used at various stages of the so-called customer journey. It should be the main part of your content. The evergreen content must be valuable and relevant for long time. It can also be used multiple times for different campaigns and ad formats. By creating evergreen content, we increase efficiency and get a greater return on workload. Evergreen content can be used by customer service as a FAQ (frequently asked questions).
What is content marketing, how to create evergreen content
The most important element is choosing the right, timeless theme. Instead of focusing on the current fashion or trend, it is better to think about the client’s needs. What do customers expect or are looking for? To find out, check your correspondence or frequently asked questions.
The next step will be to share your content on various social media platforms. Regularly publishing content on social media increases your reach and helps you to gain new followers.
Re-use your content later, to maximize the value of your creation efforts.
Read this article in Polish: Co to jest content marketing.
