Content marketing is a huge concept and defining it in one simple line definition is like saying the sea is huge and has all kinds of water creatures. Nevertheless, content marketing in its simplest form can be defined as an online marketing strategy that focuses on creating quality contents, publishing and distributing those contents across various platforms like social media and blogs for the target audiences with the aim of generating more customers.
Content marketing is also somewhat unpredictable with so many online marketing tools coming up every few weeks. For a content marketing strategy to succeed, it is vital that you use the latest and the hottest trends to stay on top of the competition.
Who Needs Content Marketing?
Today, social media platforms have become one of the most powerful content marketing tools. With millions and millions of people present online across the world, you have the best opportunity to reach out to your target audience.
Basically, a business needs content marketing strategy to take it to the next level. It’s not just the established business that need content strategy. Anyone who wants to create a fan base or customer base and want to make their product or services known ( not entirely for sales purposes) will need a solid content marketing strategy to reach out to a vast target audience.
Compared to the other medium, social media platforms are one of the best ways to start with online promotion.
How Content Marketing Helps Your Business
Businesses whether small or big, know that they need content marketing as much as they need traditional marketing strategies. But, how does it actually help?
For instance, you have a home cleaning business specializing in all round house cleaning from floors to carpets to kitchen. You don’t have a very successful business so you want to improve it. You start blogging about various house cleaning issues, such as how to remove stain from the floor or how to clean tiles. With regular posts your blogs gets ranking in the Google and other search engines.
There are many people who find it difficult to clean house on their own. So, when they search for house cleaning tips and methods online they find your blog. With information rich posts and easy DIY solutions, people start following your blogs and soon you start getting cleaning assignments when they find it too difficult to handle it own their own.
Likewise, you can also share those blog posts in social media platforms like Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and many more. This way you increase your customer base with a content strategy that offers them solutions and advice they are seeking. And, once you establish yourself as an expert or reliable resource, you will start getting more work.
Why Content Marketing makes more sense than Other Strategies
Surely, content marketing makes more sense when you compare other marketing strategies like PPC. PPC or the Pay Per Click is a costly affair with a very limited lead generation results. This can be easily deduced by simple analysis. After a month long campaign, you have managed to generate a lead and spend some money. Well and good since you don’t mind paying if you are getting what you need. But, the problem is you have to repeat the same thing the next month as well, which means spending more money. But, once you stop spending money, the leads will too stop coming.
Now, take content marketing.
Once you write a blog and add a link to the website where your target audiences or general followers can sign up for your weekly or monthly newsletter or say 1 free cleaning service, you will have a lead. You will notice that you have same number of leads with your content marketing campaign as you had with your PPC campaign. The only difference is that you didn’t have to spend money on it and it is long lasting. As you keep writing blogs, you will get more followers and eventually generate more leads.
Content marketing offers a cost effective and scalable solution to lead generation that every business wants.
What your Content Marketing Team Should Look Like
This purely depends on your goals and budget among few other things like the size of the company and your marketing team. A single person marketing team will have to:
- Create Content
- Optimize it for the SEO
- Manage social media profiles
As the team grows, the content marketing strategies can be approached in more different ways, such as each person becomes responsible for a particular part. One person or team could take the responsibility of content creation, other for purely search engine optimization purpose and other for managing social media profiles. When these responsibilities are handled by different team or people the focus becomes more sharp and specified.
Hiring the right person for your content marketing team will require understanding the specific goal you want to achieve. You need to decide whether you need an expert content creator or designer or SEO manager or just anyone with good knowledge will do.
Getting the right Tools for content marketing strategy is important so that you get the best chance to market your content.
Measuring the Effect of Your Content Marketing Strategy
Creating and distributing content using the right tools is not enough. You need to constantly measure the effect to see what your growth level is. Regular reporting keeps you on the line and lets you eliminate anything that is having a negative effect or having no effect on your content strategy at all.
Content marketing can take your business to the next level when you realize its true potential. It’s out there. It is a cost effective solutions that you have been looking for and with a marketing strategy as big as this, you have a plethora of opportunities.
