Content Marketing Is Vital To Your Business’ Success
- What Is Internet Marketing?
- How is Content Marketing Done?
- How to Get Started?
- How to Create an Effective Content Marketing Strategy?
- What Are Examples of Content Marketing?
- How to Measure Content Marketing Performance?
- Best Content Marketing Tools
- Best Content Marketing Platforms
The challenge for the SME business, is how to do content marketing, how to get started, how to create a content marketing strategy and devise a plan that will work. Then, how to write content marketing itself. This takes time and the pressure points will verify depending on whether you’re a small business owner wearing many hats or a business with one or more responsible for your marketing activities. New and engaging content needs to be created. regularly. Be honest with yourself, if this is going to be tiresome and quickly falls to the lower part of the “to-do” list, engage an external digital marketing agency to help you.
We have a range of techniques, based on data analysis, to help generate and curate content, giving you a better ROI.
The internet is very much a core part of the 21st-century landscape, in both one’s personal as well as business life and that has seen some major changes in how business operates. Though a time existed when fledgeling companies could depend on other forms of media to gain traction, that is virtually impossible today. The web has become an integral part of life, including business marketing. Even if you are opening a physical store without anything actually for sale on the internet, you still need to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to you by the digital landscape. Every business requires an effective internet integrated marketing strategy.
What then is internet marketing?
Often, you’ll hear or read reference to content marketing, search marketing or like here, internet marketing. These terms are frequently used interchangeably, and broadly speaking, all refer to marketing online.
Although the details are complex, online marketing consists of using the available tools and techniques to garner more attention and increase brand recognition. This includes free and paid methods; learning how to leverage both to your advantage is going to help catapult your company to new heights. Consider bringing in outside expertise for the project rather than expecting someone on your staff to attempt to understand the nuances of online marketing. Not doing so and you can be assured that they will tie themselves up in knots just trying to get up to speed with the latest position as to what each platform does and doesn’t allow! Expecting them to keep pace with the latest best search agency practices is unrealistic, digital services best practices are continually evolving.
Set yourself up for success from the outset and define your search marketing goals. You need to begin with a well-designed website and accompanying blog. The company site should be user friendly and provide background information about yourself and the business. When people visit your site, they should have an enjoyable experience navigating and viewing your content. Though you can use free software available online, folks today can readily spot these shortcuts. Often, consumers will interpret a poorly designed website as a poorly operated company.
How is Content Marketing Done?
In simple terms, you or your marketing team must identify what content you’ll be sharing, how you’ll be publishing it, what issues it addresses, how frequently you’ll share your content (tip: little and often, is better than every now and then) and critically, that it provides value to your target market.
Your website allows people to get to know your company, while the blog proves your expertise in niche-related matters. When someone comes to your site, finds it well-designed and engaging, the chances are good that they will return. Even better, have something worthy of sharing on social media.
Speaking of social media, these sites are an excellent way to connect with consumers. The best sites to use will depend on your business. Rather than signing up with every site you can think of, find the 3 to 5 that best suit your company. In addition to consumer communications, you can also find sites dedicated to networking with folks in the business world. One of these might be a good addition to your mix. As for the others, begin with at least one social media site that has an incredibly large global reach, such as Facebook or Twitter. Additionally, you will need a couple more that are more focused. This smaller audience can be related to geography or your business offering.
Another avenue of search marketing that can be used with both your website and your social media accounts, is e-mail marketing which is a proven form of digital marketing. Many businesses offer consumers something in exchange for signing up. E-books are a popular choice because the same one can be given away repeatedly. For those who don’t want to write an e-book, hire someone to write it for you.
When people sign up for your newsletter, you have a way to reach out to them regularly. Keep them on the shorter size and focus on providing the reader with personalised content and insider information. For instance, you might use a slightly different letter for those in a different age range. As for insider info, think about the little tips and tricks related to your market that you can teach them, even if you think it is obvious.
Although you ultimately want people to purchase your products and services, you shouldn’t bombared them with bullying methods like multiple e-mails each week with strong call-to-action messages throughout. If you use that approach, people will unsubscribe in droves and you will be left with little for your efforts.
Instead, your marketing efforts should cultivate a relationship between you and your potential community. Establishing yourself as a niche authority can bring possibilities that you don’t even know exist right now. You should use multiple angles to create a strong brand identity that brings about the appropriate mental and emotional responses from consumers. By using the marketing avenues listed above, you can help to solidify your reputation as they see your posts and letters regularly.
At the same time, you want to provide further opportunities that will push your sales funnel along. The deeper you are, the stronger the language and Call To Action (CTA) can be. Always remember to show respect to the consumer in every way.
How To Get Started
You may have heard the expression, “Material is King,” and “Content is Whatever”. Publishers put a lot of effort into encouraging you to check out their marketing material. At times it can be difficult to differentiate between material designed as clickbait and that which is providing genuine guidance.
The starting point is to generate ideas that’ll resonate with your audience, enable the successful promotion of your material and, over time, can be scaled. Aim for a holistic approach to your content marketing. Irrespective of whether you’re just starting or have employed the same method for a while, it’s critical to continually review your material and your strategy, to ensure it’s kept current and engages your customer. The first step is a solid content marketing plan, with a clear highlevel path for the upcoming year and more detail for the next one to three months.
Content method is the piece of your marketing strategy that continuously demonstrates who you are, the expertise and value you give your market. You might’ve heard how vital content production is to the development of your company; this has to be considered and managed, rather than treated as an after-thought.
Some key considerations:
- Do you have multiple audiences?
- Can your content effectively talk to more than one reader at a time or does it need adjustment or separate and dedicated material?
- What’s the best channel or channels to use?
How To Create An Effective Content Marketing Strategy
Every business, irrespective of size and except for monopolies, will have clients and customers who need a solution, be this a product or service and have a choice as to from whom they buy. Core questions your strategy needs to address are:
- Do you know and does your marketing speak directly to your customers’ crucial pain point(s)?
- What makes them purchase from you, rather than your competitors?
- How frequently will new content be published and on which platforms?
Your material marketing strategy influences how you reach your audience. If you do not have a content strategy, now’s the time to produce one. Lots of companies feel overloaded and are unsure where to start. Do you know what content you will create, how often and where best to have it published?
It brings individuals to your company, giving you the time to speak to them, directly, when they’re either seeking information or ready to purchase. Without a material marketing strategy, you can’t expect people just to find your site.
In its rawest form, content is purely text, audio, or video that assists individuals to resolve issues. The key active ingredient every material marketing method requires is quality. Lots of material floats around the web; much is ineffective. The content that is well received offers information and value.
Your content marketing strategy attracts potential consumers. Your offer is the hook. Don’t waste your money on poor content that isn’t informative; it will be ignored; instead, focus on creating good content, that will attract prospective customers.
Identify the issues and objectives your clients will struggle with, determine a monetary value to your business and prioritise accordingly. This should be the focus of your content marketing plan. Decide how and where to allocate the budget, both for paid advertising campaigns (PPC) and creation of new content/ articles that are published across your digital assets.
Paid advertising will bring new customers to your business much quicker than organic traffic. However, that comes at a price. Factor in the setup and management costs into the total PPC costs. Organic traffic is more of a slow burner, but is longer lasting and can be re-purposed, giving a lower, relative, cost per item. Your prospective customers can discover these short articles, helping to inform, build trust and add value. When they need an item like yours, your brand is top of mind. Without a content marketing strategy, though, you’re simply hoping that they’ll find you and then purchase.
It’s that simple.
As part of your analysis, be clear:
- Who is your ideal client?
- What digital platforms do they frequent? You want to be present and active on the same platforms your customers use
- What is their burning issue(s)?
- What are the keywords that they use to find solutions? Don’t guess. We, at Digital Marketing Surrey, use data-driven analysis to ensure our recommendations to our clients have traffic and purchasing intent. You can target both competitive and non-competitive keywords. Concentrate on longer-tail variations to get targeted traffic to your website. For circumstances, a keyword like” running shoes” will target a wide variety of individuals. The keyword “running shoes for bad knees” will limit your audience, which is a good idea when it concerns bring in and transforming certified leads. You do not want to rely exclusively on a single keyword.
- The voice/tone to use in the content
- The most appropriate call to action
Ensure your strategy:
- Establishes you as an authority
- Offers more generous content than your rivals
- Assures your marketing reaches your target audience with they need you the most
B2B Content Marketing Considerations
The primary aspect to recognise in the B2B market is the procurement cycle of the purchaser. The bigger the organisation, the more involved and lengthy this is likely to be. Also, depending on the item, the cost and whether you’re buyer is in the public or private sector will influence whether new purchases are subject to the Request For Information, Request For Prices, Request For Quotes process. If you’re dealing with a smaller organisation, chances are, they’re more flexible and more likely to be able to make quicker decisions.
B2C Content Marketing Considerations
The B2C market is slightly different to the B2B, insomuch as the person buying, is either buying for themselves or on behalf of someone else. Either way, once they have the necessary information to inform their buying decision, they’ll either buy right away or secure finance, if necessary, and return to purchase.
Your processes and systems must be able to receive payment, fulfil the order and provide the necessary post-sales support.
What Are Examples Of Content Marketing?
Effective content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Results may be seen within a few weeks, but typically, it is longer. Be patient. Content marketing is a long-lasting method that picks up momentum as you go. Think of its impact like that of a snowball. At first, when you first begin at the top of the mountain, you have only a tiny little snowball in your hand, but, as it rolls downhill, it gathers mass and speed.
Content should seek to coach and educate your audience, for example, explaining how your product or solution addresses a problem for which they need resolution. A practical approach talks to those who are seeking a solution and those who are using your solution to resolve and remove the challenge.
Your competitors will offer similar products and services to you; you need to demonstrate why you’re different and why prospective customers should purchase from you. This is why content is vital. To prove why you deserve purchasing from, you need to make your voice heard. Considerations include:
- What format will your material take? For example, one or a mix of:
- Infographics
- Videos
- Articles
- Infographics
- How / where will your message be shared? There are multiple channels to use, primarily:
- Your website and blog
- Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc.
- Third party websites on which you can display an advert or share an article
Having identified the subjects, the formats and channels, you can create a content marketing plan and budget. Next step is the creation of the content itself and whether that’s by yourself, an in-house team or an external, London based content marketing agency.
How To Measure Content Marketing Performance?
The simple answer, like nearly every investment, consider this as an investment; what is the ROI (return on investment)? You must know what it costs you to produce, maintain and promote your material and measure the leads and sales it then generates. Depending on the product or service, this may be a one-off purchase, or it could lead to multiple purchases over time. In the case of the latter, make sure you know the potential lifetime value of a client following a particular path. There is a range of methods and measures you can utilise to track different aspects of your customer’s online journey, whether searching for information or making a purchase.
When you deliver your marketing correctly, you’ll secure:
- Improved audience engagement
- Better lead generation
- More sales
- Reduced consumer acquisition cost
Research reveals that one method employed by successful online marketers, with which to achieve a strong content marketing ROI is to use tools to help with content development, curation, and circulation.
Best Content Marketing Tools
The most effective marketers use a small handful of tools (5 on average). As with many things, there’s a wide array of tools available, at varying prices, and it can be tough to pick which works best for you.
Key metrics to track:
- Analytics. This is the best method to know if your content marketing’s working. Make sure the tool(s) you use, integrate with your website and any other digital platforms you use.
- Customer’s journey. Where do they interact with your brand, product, service? Where do they drop out, and what can you do, to remove the barriers in completing the intended action?
- Customer’s journey: are they coming directly to your digital presence, or are they being referred? If the latter, do you have that data?
You can likewise establish custom-made reports through Google Analytics (and Google Browse Console) to go a little deeper. These reports can consist of eCommerce reports for tracking sales to comprehensive customised dimension reports that show your website’s popular authors, SEO ratings, best publication times, and so on.
Additionally, you can integrate other platforms you require tracking, such as WooCommerce, Google Adsense, WPForms, and lots more.
Feedy is a popular tool; it’s one of the better methods to keep track of sites and topics you wish to follow, all in one location.
Remember to establish an alert for your brand name, for the title of a resource, for relevant keywords, and more, to get notified in real-time, daily, or weekly. Link Explorer is a complementary tool from Moz that lets you examine the online authority for any website. Whether you’re using this to track your rankings or for competitive intelligence, that’ll help you know if your content marketing technique is working. Mention is a fantastic way to monitor social networks buzz about your business or brand.
Best Content Marketing Platforms
As with tools, there are many platforms to choose from, each with differing price points, including:
- Google Search and Keyword Planner are both free resources. These enable you to discover new material ideas, and, in the case of Keyword Planner, indicative search volumes for the selected term.
- HubSpot is an inbound marketing tool which can help you with sales and CRM (customer relationship management). It assists marketers to create quality content, create a material calendar and plan your content publishing schedule. You can target customers, track and measure the efficiency of your content across all channels and manage your contact lists efficiently. It has a full-funnel marketing system which helps marketers develop, administer, and distribute content material and emails with the aid of their marketing tools and applications.
- ScribbleLive’s data science innovation helps users produce quality material. It helps companies manage the whole content life process from planning, creating, distributing content to measuring its impact. This makes it one of the best tools for enhancing your material marketing technique.
- Grammarly is among the finest word processing and checking tools. It assists authors and editors to construct clear and concise sentences. It helps in eliminating complex words and phrases. It uses colour codes so that users can easily find errors and fix them. It explains inappropriately utilised adverbs. It also highlights sentences which contain passive voice.
Using the internet to communicate with the public gives you amazing control over the reach of your marketing efforts. Most avenues of internet marketing services allow you to give parameters of who should see your ads and website. For instance, those catering to tourists will want a global reach while a town cobbler should focus on nearby communities. Remember to include search marketing ROI in your business operating costs.
These and other forms of digital marketing are here to stay. Start taking advantage of these opportunities today; you can be sure your competitors are! We are an internet marketing specialist who can help to promote and market your brand. You and your business deserve it!
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