Content marketing is one that requires consistent effort and research. But what builds the foundation to content marketing? Besides using relevant SEO keywords for your website, there are also many factors to consider when it comes to content marketing.
As the world has shifted to a more transparent society which focuses on credibility; one of the important factors is the “authority” behind the content. Many people instinctively look to the author of the piece as someone who knows what they’re talking about. This is also commonly referred to as thought leadership.
Next, it is always relevancy. When a title is misleading or just a “clickbait” with no proper insights or value to the article or content piece, readers will often simply skip over the piece or exit the site entirely.
Building a Good Content Marketing Strategy
A good content marketing strategy should have at least four elements to succeed: brand positioning, relevant owned media or content assets, firm understanding of market demographics, and make the best out of the different content types. All of these are important to the success of content marketing. Let’s discuss each of these in more detail below.
Brand Positioning
Brand positioning describes the relationship you have with your target audience. Besides being clear on your brand strategy and identity, you need to know how to connect with your audience in a way that they perceive your brand as intended. For example, if your brand is all about being on the ground and in touch with your community or as a thought leader – does your company conduct virtual events for sharing sessions? If your company does not hold any events, it can still benefit from content marketing strategies via videos, podcasts, or any other mediums that reach your target audience.
Understanding Market Demographics
Knowing your target audience is part of building your brand. You have to build personae of your target audience to have a clearer understanding of how to approach or attract them to your content. For example if you’re a property agent targeting millennials in Singapore, you know that millennials are around 20s to 30s (at this point of writing) and some of their main concerns are buying their first property. This includes calculation of CPF and loan. A question to ask yourself is what are some problems they face day-to-day; even if it’s not entirely related to property? This would help you to generate more relevant topics for your content and ultimately create a structure that helps your portray your brand effectively and attracting the right target audience for your business.
Content Types
Content creation – the heart of marketing. Regardless of the medium you choose, content is what drives the funneling and conversions. Once again related to thought leadership, content marketers should always strive to present their businesses in a professional or experienced manner. For example if you’re a videographer, always showcase your most effective techniques and creative uses for different assets created. Podcast marketers should make full use of editing skills to present long-form information in a way that allows their consumers to absorb the information at a high and casual level. Having a strong brand identity and content team can significantly increase your online marketing success, regardless of whether you utilize traditional marketing methods or the latest social media marketing strategy.
The next content marketing trend to keep an eye on is email marketing. Email marketers should strive to create email distribution that is highly targeted and tailored towards your specific audience. Social media users have become increasingly distrustful of internet marketers, so you will want to make sure that your content distribution is well executed and carefully scripted. If you have difficulty creating highly targeted email marketing campaigns, then consider hiring an experienced professional or seeking help in quality communities (Reddit/IndieHackers).
Finally, due to COVID-19 which has accelerated the use of digital platforms and technology; content marketers should pay close attention to virtual events. Additionally, using the right Content Management System (CMS) would help. Some sites such as WordPress, Squidoo, and HubPages are rapidly becoming recognized for their powerful capabilities as a venue for highly targeted internet marketing campaigns. As more marketers discover these sites’ value, they will begin to include blogging and article marketing within their overall marketing mix. The results from this trend will be truly impressive as content marketers realize they can easily generate much higher revenues from blogs, articles, and videos – if used the right way with good planning and strategy.
If you’re still unsure on where to start with your content strategy, drop us a quick email and we’d be happy to send you a content marketing template for free with no obligation.
