What is content marketing?
Content marketing involves the creation and sharing of content in order to fulfil a marketing objective. Where content marketing is unique is that its purpose is to communicate with prospects and customers, not to sell to them.
Content marketing can take a variety of formats, including:
- Blogs
- Videos
- Whitepapers
- Infographics
- Guides
- Podcasts
- Ebooks
- Case studies
- Emails
- Social posts
- And more!
Proponents of content marketing (and in the interests of transparency, I’m one) believe if businesses provide valuable information to buyers, the favour will be returned through custom and loyalty.
The top three goals marketers achieve through successful content marketing are generating brand awareness, building credibility and trust, and educating audiences.
The Content Marketing Institute
However, content marketing is nothing new. Look closely, and you will find plenty of examples of marketing communications wrapped up as valuable insight and advice as far back as the 1800s.
The history of content marketing
In 1895, without the internet, blogs, or social media, John Deere created a magazine designed to help farmers become better at business. One of the first to communicate with large numbers of customers by providing valuable information, impressively, this magazine is still going strong today.
Adapting with the times, ‘The Furrow’ is now available online, has been optimised for mobile platforms, and uses social media to reach a new and growing audience. However, not forgetting its roots, it is still available in print format for those with more traditional tastes.
Fast forward a few years, and we come to one of my favourite content marketing examples, The Michelin Guide. In 1900, tire manufacturer Michelin concluded that the only way it could sell more tires was to increase the number of cars on the road. Identifying this barrier to its growth strategy, Michelin demonstrated both savvy business insight and extraordinary imagination by creating a guide for motorists.
With a wealth of tips, including where travellers could find the best hotels, restaurants, mechanics, and (who would have thought it) tire dealers, not only did Michelin encourage more drivers to get out and explore, it also increased the number of potential customers available to them, and positioned Michelin as the go-to tire dealer. Inspiring stuff!
Where are we now?
It may have taken over 100 years for the marketing world to catch up to the power of content, but today, everybody wants a slice. And with successive Google updates punishing marketers for using bad content to improve site rankings, any marketing professional not upping their game when it comes to content creation is in the wrong job.
It is no longer acceptable to spew out poor quality, unimaginative, keyword-stuffed content for the purpose of generating more web traffic. Today’s content has to be interesting and meet a need, whether that is to assist, educate, or entertain.
The challenge content marketing
Today’s challenge is that everybody is doing it when it comes to content creation. As such, standing out from the crowd requires a commitment to content marketing, and the time, resources and ability to get it done. The days of throwing together a quick blog once or twice a week are long gone. Today’s content marketers need to see the bigger picture.
Never a sector to shy away from a buzzword, today’s marketers are all about ‘big content’. But what does that actually mean?
Well, big content is not about volume. Nor does it have to be in long-form. In fact, in 2022, short-form video content will continue to be a key trend.
The truth is, there is no particular format when it comes to creating big content. It can be a blog post, a whitepaper, a video and infographic, or something unique.
Put simply, big content is content that takes effort.
Is big content worth it?
The feedback suggests yes. Big content is not something people look at once and promptly forget about. People come back to big content; they refer to it, and share it.
What’s more, if you create something unique, you give your potential customers something your competitors are not. You’re showing them you mean business.
Big content should help you to:
- Develop and strengthen relationships with prospects and customers
- Raise brand awareness, trust and credibility
- Raise your rankings with those pesky search engines
- Grow your audience beyond your immediate reach
- Convert your pipeline into customers and grow your business.
Can small brands create big content?
In a nutshell, yes. Any business that invests in content creation should “go big or go home”.
Creating content that doesn’t take at least a degree of effort is a waste of your precious time and resources. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and throwing a stick and hoping someone will catch it is not an acceptable marketing model. Everything you do needs to deliver results.
Top tips for creating great content
Know your audience
Content is not king; your audience is. Before you put one word on paper, find out who you are talking to and revisit this exercise for every piece of content you create.
Find out what they want
As proud as you are of what you do, most people are only really interested in what you can do for them. Too many businesses focus on the ‘we’ rather than the ‘you’, and in doing so, alienate potential customers from the off. You know who your audience is; now think about what they want. For example:
- What are their pain points?
- How can you help them look good?
- How can you entertain them?
- How you can help them to grow their business?
If you want people to buy into what you’re saying, you need to put yourself in their shoes.
Let go of the fear
While many businesses worry about giving away too much information for free, fortune favours the brave. The trick to great business content is that it positions you as an expert, and lets customers know why they need you.
Be original
Think about what you can give your audience that they can’t get elsewhere. What can you tell them that they don’t already know?
Okay, so almost everything has been said before. But while a huge percentage of information can be curated from the internet, this doesn’t mean you should give up. In an age of information overload, valuable, well-written content is still hard to find.
Add a dash of personality
In a competitive marketplace, nothing differentiates like your own voice. A dash of personality makes everything easier to read and keeps you front of mind. It changes the way you communicate, and it changes the way people think about you. Straight away, you’re approachable.
Have courage in your own voice and convictions. And don’t forget to choose the right topic – you can’t fake enthusiasm!
Make it sharable
The key to great content lies in expanding its reach beyond your direct followers. Aim to give your audience something they think is so good they want to share it with their connections.
Know what you want your content to do
Everything you create needs a purpose. Figure out what yours is.
Is it to drive more web visitors to your website, or do you want them to do something once they get there? Is it to create conversations? Do you want to raise your profile and position yourself as a though-leader? Or do you want them to pick up the phone then and there and buy your product/services?
Make your content work hard
Content marketing is about more than content creation. It’s also about what you do with this content once you have it. It’s no good creating a great piece of content if it’s just going to sit there waiting for people to stumble across it.
If you’ve followed the steps above, you know who you are talking to, so you should know where to find them. Use every suitable tool at your disposal and get yourself heard.
Consider asking for something in return
Make sure it’s worth the effort
If you’ve spent a lot of time/effort/money creating something, you need to make sure it’s worth it. There is usually not one single metric by which the success of your content marketing strategy can be measured, but that doesn’t mean you can’t set KPIs upfront and check to see how you are performing against them. For example:
- Look at how often your content has been viewed, downloaded and shared
- Interrogate whether your social metrics (likes, follows etc.) have improved
- Examine whether the creation of content is helping your SEO results
- Look at on-page metrics such as average visitor duration and bounce rates to see the level of engagement the content is generating. Are you delivering what they are expecting you to?
- Where appropriate, examine how much data capture your content has generated and how many leads have turned into customers.
Is content marketing expensive?
Big content doesn’t have to mean big budgets. The key is proportionality.
So what if you don’t have a Coca Cola budget? Look at what you do have; be that expertise, information or existing collateral, and then repurpose this to meet your needs.
For smaller businesses, investing weeks in creating an epic piece of content may not deliver bang for buck, no matter how good it is. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create something of value. Something that enables your voice to be heard above the noise.