What are content marketing practices and how do they benefit your business?
Content marketing is the practice of creating and distributing content to attract, engage and convert potential customers. Your content could come in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, and social media posts.
This form of marketing helps to build trust with your target audience by providing them with valuable, relevant, and useful content. Equally important to note is that content marketing is also an effective way to drive traffic to your website by creating and optimizing content for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes.
But what are content marketing practices? And how can you incorporate them into your efforts? Keep reading to learn more now.
15 Content Marketing Tips
The following 10 content marketing tips will ensure your focus is on creating valuable content that resonates with your audience and drives conversions:
1. Make sure your content has a clear, measurable business goal.
Check your content to ensure it’s focused on the right goal. Doing so will help you to measure the performance of your content and assess whether it’s delivering results.
2. Know your target audience.
Your target audience should be the focus of your content. Brainstorm topics that are interesting and engaging for your readers, as well as topics that are relevant to their needs.
3. Understand your buyer’s journey.
The buyer’s journey gets potential purchasers from awareness to conversion. Your content should include helpful resources that address each stage of the journey and support your conversion goals.
4. Solve for the reader.
Find a problem and solve it for the reader. This is how you’ll create content that is valuable and relevant to your target audience.
5. Adopt the pillar-cluster model.
The pillar-cluster model involves creating a main pillar article and then using supporting articles to create a related content cluster. This strategy helps you to more easily address the needs of your target audience and also helps to improve your SEO rankings.
6. Write in-depth content.
In-depth content should cover a topic fully and provide an extensive amount of information. Long-form content is seen as more authoritative and will help you to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
7. Rely on analytics to track your performance.
Analytics can provide helpful insights into your content performance. Pay extra attention to the bounce rate and time spent on page, as these are good indicators of how engaged your readers are with your content.
8. Keep content consistent and up-to-date.
No one likes outdated content. Your content should be updated regularly and maintain a consistent tone and style. This is important for your readers as they’ll know what to expect from you.
9. Adopt a historical optimization strategy.
Think about how you can optimize content that is already published. This could include updating outdated information, adding more resources or optimizing for SEO to improve visibility.
10. Repurpose your content.
Content repurposing ensures you always get the most out of your content. Take one piece of content and repurpose it into multiple formats or channels to reach a larger audience.
11. Quality over quantity.
Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to your content. It’s better to create fewer pieces of content that are high quality and engaging than a large number of low-quality content.
12. Incorporate visuals into your content.
Visuals help to make your content more engaging and easier to digest. Images, videos, GIFs, and infographics are all great ways to break up text and make your content more interesting.
13. Leverage influencers in your content marketing.
Influencers can be a great asset to help amplify your content. Leverage influencers to help spread your message, increase brand trustability, and reach a larger audience.
14. Encourage user-generated content.
User-generated content is an effective way to create engagement with your audience. Encourage your customers to share their experiences with your products or services on social media, in blog posts, or on review websites.
15. Incorporate storytelling into your content.
Storytelling can help to increase engagement and make your content more interesting. Try weaving a story through your content that resonates with your readers and connects them to your brand.
Loving this article? Check out our other post on content syndication marketing before you go!
7 Content Marketing Tips for the Modern Marketer
Modern marketing professionals should keep the following content marketing tips in mind as they create and publish content for marketing purposes.
1. Ensure your brand voice remains steady across channels.
Keep a consistent brand voice across all channels. This will ensure readers recognize your content and feel a connection to your brand no matter which platform they’re reading on.
2. Personalize your content.
Content personalization can help to create more meaningful connections with readers. Try incorporating customer data or segmenting content for different customer types.
3. Utilize data to strengthen your points.
With each point you make, consider backing it up with data. This will help to make your content more persuasive and trustworthy.
4. Publish original research.
Original research will give your brand more authority in your industry. Publish case studies, surveys, or reports to position yourself as an expert in the field.
5. Expand beyond written content.
Written content is still important, but don’t be afraid to branch out with other types of content like videos, podcasts, or infographics.
6. Prioritize the user experience.
Think about your users when creating content. Make sure your content is easy to navigate and understand, and that the design is visually appealing.
7. Remarket your content.
Content remarketing helps you stay top of mind with readers. Remarket your content by optimizing for SEO or sharing it on social media platforms.