A complete guide to content marketing
This content marketing guide is a comprehensive, actionable resource that covers various aspects of the content marketing process and principles – from content marketing for beginners to how to build a content strategy.
The importance of a strong content marketing plan for modern businesses cannot be overstated. So, what exactly is it?
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach centred on creating and publishing valuable content that’s relevant, professionally and consistently, with a view to attracting a target audience. It comes in various forms, such as blogs, videos, social media, podcasts, imagery and so on. The key with content is that it educates and informs, providing useful information to its audience. It doesn’t push a sales message.
Why is content marketing important?
There are many benefits to be gained by using content marketing. They include:
- Improved brand awareness. Having plenty of high-quality content online can help even the smallest of businesses get noticed.
- Better lead generation. Prospects who find your content are highly likely to be in the market for a product or service your business is selling.
- Greater customer retention. Due to the added value.
- Better return on investment. Content marketing is more cost-effective than paid for ad campaigns.
- Driving social media traffic. You can get to be seen on different platforms.
- Establishing thought leadership. This helps engage prospects.
- Building trust and authority. Increasingly important with the shifting landscape of digital marketing.
- Search engine optimisation (SEO) visibility. The most effective content is optimised so it can be easily found.
- Building lasting client relationships. Vital for growing your business.
There is so much more to content marketing than simply using written text. As important as that is, there are other ways to get your messages across. Here are some typical forms of content marketing:
- Blogs. An increasingly popular resource in the marketing toolkit, a blog can add a great deal of value by giving specialist information on a topic that is useful for the reader.
- Video. This is another particularly popular way to inform website visitors of news or information that will help them.
- Social media. Posts that are of interest to your target audience can be far-reaching with different platforms.
- Infographics. These are a great way to simplify complicated messages.
- eBooks and whitepapers. In-depth information that is tailored to the needs of your target audience are another top resource.
- Podcasts. With more and more people turning to podcasts, they are a great way to educate your target audience.
SEO content marketing
SEO and content marketing go hand in hand. Content marketing supports SEO efforts, keyphrase research and implementation, optimising content for search engines with the use of headings, internal linking and meta data. Good quality backlinks with other suitable businesses can build trust.
Content marketing for B2B
Webinars, case studies and whitepapers all make great B2B content marketing methods.
One of the most pressing B2B marketing challenges and opportunities today is around the creation, and repurposing, of content. While effective content marketing remains essential in engaging prospects throughout the B2B sales journey, producing good-quality content consistently across different platforms has become resource-intensive. Repurposing long-form content into smaller, easy to digest pieces is a good solution here. Personalisation and targeting can be highly effective tools.
The content strategy process involves setting clear, measurable and time-bound goals and KPIs. You will need to undertake in-depth audience research to help you with targeting, as well as persona development. Next, you will need to plan your content – editorial calendars can be very helpful for this part of the process.
One of the most important content marketing steps is measuring your strategy’s effectiveness. Key metrics to track include traffic, engagement, leads and conversion rates.
Tools for measuring ROI can be very helpful. Tools such as Google Analytics and HubSpot are easy to use and will give you a detailed accurate reflection of your results.
We have outlined below some content marketing tips to help you get started:
- Consider publishing consistency. The frequency of strategic, regular, coherent delivery of brand messaging across different digital platforms is critical. Inconsistent marketing will confuse your audience.
- Repurpose content for different platforms. Tailor it according to the audience you are targeting on each.
- Stay updated on industry trends. The content marketing landscape is changing so rapidly that if you take your foot off the gas for the shortest period, you run the risk of losing out to your competitors.
- Take advantage of user-generated content and partnerships. There is nothing quite like a review, testimonial or feedback from a client who is happy with the service you provide.
- We have all the designers, marketers, developers and branders under one roof, so you get everything your project needs from one conveniently placed team
- Our team has been cherry-picked to only include the most experienced and skilled individuals to ensure the very best results for clients
- We only take a personalised approach and promise to treat you and your business as true individuals
There are untold benefits to using a good content marketing agency for your content marketing services.
It’s important to choose the right one. Ask questions around their expertise, how long they have been established and provided content marketing solutions. Ask them questions like: ‘What is content development?’ and ‘How much does content marketing cost?’.
Check their website to get a feel for how their own content marketing looks. And inspect reviews and other feedback from other clients.
At WEBPRO, we want you to be more than just content with our content marketing services. Contact us for more information.
Head to our content development page to learn more about our marketing services.
Ready to turn content into results?
Let WEBPRO craft a strategy that works.
