A popular buzzword, « content marketing » has been a go-to strategy for some time now. But what does it really mean?
If you’re up to date on our latest blogs, you are likely already familiar with the concept of inbound marketing. This strategy strives to attract your prospects and transform them into true ambassadors for your brand. As it turns out, content marketing bears a direct relationship to inbound marketing. It represents a key tool you can use to give your prospects a genuine desire to buy.
To give you a better idea of how it works, we’ve created a handy list of content marketing’s main characteristics.
How to Attract Your Customers with Your Content
As its name suggests, content marketing is about growing your business through the design and delivery of diverse and compelling content via a variety of platforms. Examples include…
Newsletters, polls, surveys, blog articles, social media posts, case studies, videos, computer graphics and more!
The strategy’s main objective? To create commitment. The goal is to turn strangers from the Internet into true brand ambassadors. To do so, you will need to stay relevant, informative and compelling. You need to somehow pique the curiosity of your Internet visitors.
Why do I need to implement a content marketing strategy
When done well, this strategy will act like a magnet and attract your prospects naturally. The goal is to have them come to you, eliminating the need to chase after them.
A content strategy can also create a virtuous circle for your natural SEO. When you multiply your content and the platforms you use, you will multiply your presence on the Internet, thereby automatically improving your SEO. (All I want is for you to be free.)
Creating your own content lets you to show off your expertise to your customers. You know what you’re talking about, and this will appeal to prospects. Once your prospects get the impression that they are dealing with experts in the field, they will almost certainly be inspired to buy.
How do I implement a content marketing strategy?
First you will need to devise and develop your strategy. To do so, you will need to ask yourself several questions:
What is your company’s strategy and how can you translate this into clear communication goals?
You need to be clear about your objectives and what you wish to achieve. Do you want to generate sales? Are you looking to generate visits to your site? Develop your notoriety? The choice is yours. This step is important so that you can later measure your return on investment.
Who is your target audience?
If you want to produce personalized and effective content, you need to know who you are talking to. To do so, it is important to study your target audience. Creating your “imaginary” marketing” persona offers an excellent tactic when you are trying to get to know your prospects and clients. A persona is a detailed, fictitious representation of your ideal customers. The goal of this approach is to think about your potential customers’ habits, needs, motivations, deterrents, budgets and any other criteria that might be of interest or influential to your selling and content creation process.
What content should I create on which media?
Each medium offers different characteristics, which will affect their purpose and target audience. Before you begin, you need to determine which platform you will use for your content and why. The persona you’ve created will help you with this process. Since you will have painted a thorough picture of your imaginary client’s needs, you will be better able to choose your ideal platform. A website, for example, provides you with a showcase where you can present your work and activities. With a blog, you can create more elaborate, value-added content that shows off your expertise. LinkedIn is an excellent place for reaching professionals while Facebook is better for the typical, everyday consumer. And people tend to use Twitter when they want to stream information live, in real time.
How should I organize my content?
As your final step before you publish your content on your various platforms, you must get organized. There’s no better way to do this than to create a post-scheduling calendar. This will make it easy for you to list all the content you plan to publish, along with the desired media platform and publication date. Another perk of the calendar is it will help you to determine the best time for you to post.
