Like it or not, content marketing is here to stay. That is, as long as online marketing is dictated by search engines.
The past few years have seen several significant changes made by search engines (particularly Google) that have affected how online marketing is done. The most important of which is the amount of attention given to quality content that informs, not content that sells. Google has repeatedly told businesses that as long as their sites keep producing fresh, quality content regularly, they are assured a spot above spammy businesses.
While it does make sense from a consumer’s point of view, businesses still find it hard to adapt to it.
According to studies, nearly half of B2B marketers do not have much of a content marketing strategy. Most are still undecided on letting go of their traditional marketing styles and investing in something totally new. They know that Google and other search engines are ranking sites with great quality content. They know that “Content is king.” What they don’t know is where to start.
Related Class: Introduction to Content Marketing
Businesses and marketers that take time to properly plan their content marketing strategy will have an advantage over their competition. So, how can a business create an effective and consistent content marketing strategy? This article will be discussing important tips to create an effective content marketing plan if you want to experience consistent growth spurts.
Forms of Content
- Articles
- Blog posts
- eBooks
- Whitepapers
- Infographics
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Graphs
- Data charts
You may be surprised to see a few of them that you probably never even considered part of content marketing. But content marketing is not just about articles. Every usable piece of data online is a form of content. They come in different forms and have their own promotional value.
You would think that creating content alone would attract people, but this is never the case. It requires solid promotion and syndication tactics to achieve optimal results. Take heed though that even the best promotion strategies will not transform a bad piece of content or an article into a good one.
So, how do you improve your content marketing plan? Before you even start to improve your content marketing strategies, here are some questions you need to ask yourself or your client to be more effective. This will also help you recognize the limitations of your resources.
- Do you know of someone who can write compelling content for your business, service, and products? Someone who can really move someone or make the reader react positively?
- Can you find someone that can help you create great designs or images, graphics, and data visualizations to add to your content? Content alone can be very boring.
- Do you have someone who can write a script, or produce and edit an interesting video? Audio is also alright, but video is more powerful.
- Is there someone who can create, engage, or manage a targeted audience? Someone who is really good at social media?
Once you have identified your company’s resources and you lack some of these key points, you then need to consider hiring help; either looking for someone to fill the position, or hiring an agency. Either way, you need to understand that to be effective in your content marketing plan, you need to be able to provide what is needed for your promotional strategies.
Content Marketing Tips
- Define your purpose.
- Identify your target audience.
- Map out your strategy or strategies.
- Create something that tells a story about your business.
- Mix your strategies: diversify your content marketing plans by mixing the different types of media like videos, images, infographics, eBooks, or graphs.
- Promotion: let people see your efforts through your social media networks and email marketing of your new content.
Now that you know how to be more effective in your content marketing planning, it is high time to change your approach and implement these changes as soon as possible.