Word of mouth is a primary marketing factor motivating customers to buy. Online content marketing is one of the best ways to reach and motivate a target audience with new ideas or content and get them to make a buying decision. This type of online marketing appears in many forms like blogs, podcasts, infographics, white papers, case studies and eBooks. A blog placed on an organisation’s website typically results in an average of 55% more visitors and 87% more inbound links than those websites with no blog.
How Content Marketing Can Work Best for You
When it comes to online marketing, content is king. Online marketers must create top quality, engaging and interesting content when reaching out to existing, new or future potential customers. Properly search engine optimised content is the single most important driving factor in building loyalty and attracting new customers.
There are a lot of content marketing “practitioners” out there preaching their own particular brand of what really works. This makes it hard to find the approaches that will work best for your specific business or organisation. Here are the most effective and proven content marketing methods.
Quality Content, Not Quantity
Think about the hundreds of thousands of articles, blogs, news, releases that are published on the Internet each day. How do potential customers decide what will be read and what will be passed over? You must determine what your customers want and then create engaging information that reaches out to them – information that can help them meet their needs or wants.
Start with a catchy title that pulls readers in. Follow with well-written, thought-provoking information they would find interesting or helpful. More than answers, people want helpful information, a better deal on something or to find a cheaper way to do something. Give readers what they are looking for without selling and they will be on their way to becoming satisfied customers.
Inform People and Don’t Sell to Them
People receive pitches all the time. When they’re in a market, hundreds of signs pitch the latest items on sale. When driving they are pitched to by billboards. Newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, online publications – all are filled with ads, sales pitches and pop up banners. People have become very good at recognizing blatant attempts to make a sale. That’s why your content marketing should inform and not sell your product or service.
Create marketing content that genuinely provides useful information on a topic related to your product or service. Mention your product or service within that content. Talk about the merits and advantages provided by your product or service and how people were helped. Well written marketing content will help a reader come to his or her own conclusion without resorting to an outright sales pitch.
Release Small Pieces of Relevant Content Over Time
There is a tendency to create a whole bunch of content, publish it on the Internet and expect to get quick or immediate results. Those who are experts in the field of content marketing suggest another way. Since news and current events are always changing, the people you’re trying to reach with your message are changing what they’re looking for and the way they look for it online. Effective content marketing means consistently publishing content that is relevant to current events.
Track and Change Old Content As Needed
Tracking and analytics will give you a better idea of which topics the people within your specific target market may be interested. Typically, high traffic, sales generation and prompts for more information are good signs you’re hitting the right target. If your content is not producing responses, get rid of it or replace it with better content.
Use Social Media to Spread the Word
If you don’t get social love, you don’t get customers. Once your marketing content is out there online, you want to get as many people as possible to take a look at it and pass it on to Google+, FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. People should like your marketing content so much that they’re willing to share it with others. Sharing with others who already have an established relationship carries a lot of credibility.
Use the Right SEO
Everyone in content marketing wants their post, blog or website to end up at number one on the first page of Google. There are many so-called experts who have all sorts of SEO tricks to get on page one. While some of those tricks might work, most will not. Write catchy headlines and descriptions that will attract people looking for specific answers. Then tell them how your product or service will help them, provide answers, etc. The best SEO is writing to people’s needs, not adding too many keywords. Include some relevant keywords but don’t make it seem unnatural or forced. Search engines are getting very good at spotting those who are trying to game the system.
The process of coming up with effective content marketing involves creating material that informs and is also written in a subtle way that presents your business or organisation in a positive and even helpful light. The best content marketing generates interest in your business by bringing more traffic to your website, sparking conversation and ultimately making more sales. Content that informs, educates, entertains and inspires will position your business as a thought leader in a particular industry and bring more sales to your business.
Struggling to make sense of what content your local business should be working on, speak to our local SEO consultant for some ideas.