Content is the life force of many of your marketing goals, including customer engagement, awareness, outreach, and conversions. It is also an essential part of your overall marketing strategy. Without it, you’re missing out on an incredible range of opportunities to reach your goals, connect with your audience and, of course, make a profit.
The ten essential elements of content marketing
A well-constructed content marketing plan is key to your success, and if you haven’t thought yours out then you won’t be able to effectively and efficiently achieve your goals. Creating a good content marketing strategy isn’t easy however, as there are many elements that are easy to miss or overlook in your planning .
These include:
- A brand bible
- Your goals
- Audience research
- Your customer’s journeys
- Your team’s abilities
- Strong communication
Your content plan is your foundation for success, organic traffic, customer engagement and conversions, brand authority and more. Each of these elements provides an extra level of detail to your content, allowing you to reach your audience with customized experiences that solve their problems and establish you at the forefront of their decision making process.
You may have noticed that we only mentioned six elements here, and are wondering where the other four are. Don’t worry, get all the tips that you must have in 10 Essential Elements for Your Content Marketing Strategy.
Understanding your audience with buyer personas
Inbound marketing dictates that if you want to sell to your audience then you’ll need to have an intimate knowledge of what they’re looking for from you. You need to understand their needs, interests, demographics and what you can do to motivate them to purchase.
You need buyer personas. These are fictional representations of the kinds of people you want to market to that are based on research and data analysis. These help you focus your efforts on marketing to a specific type of people that your audiences most likely made up of.
Your buyer personas will include (fictional) information such as their:
- Name
- Job
- Family life
- Quotes
- Income
- Needs
- Interests
- And more!
You want to have a complete picture of all the important information that makes up your persona as this will give you something to focus your marketing on.
If you’re struggling to collect the information you need to start creating personas, we’ve got a guide that contains the details you need to begin. Find out more in What Are Buyer Personas and Why Are They Important?
Content pillars
It is not enough to produce a wide variety of content, publish it on your website, post it on your social media accounts, and hope for the best. You need structure to ensure that the content you produce appears when your audience is searching for it and that it can establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
This is especially important when you consider content created for your website. Blogs, articles, PR, and more need to be set up with a framework that shows that you are the go-to source for all things on a particular topic. That’s why we’re here to introduce you to content pillars.
A content pillar is a foundational content page that provides valuable information to users in your industry. These hold all your knowledge about a particular topic (e.g., like the article you’re reading now does!) and contain further subtopics from related resources on your site. These not only help your audience find all they need to know but also create a framework for improved search engine optimization, meaning that search engines’ web crawlers can scan your site and see that you are a comprehensive resource for that topic.
To ensure your content gets the recognition it deserves, you need to have content pillars set up on your website. Learn more about these here: Making Your Content Count with Content Pillars.
Writing good copy
Content creation is a multifaceted project, consisting of many different techniques that you need to get right to succeed. From imagery and information to the formats you use to present it to your audience, just one step out of line will send your whole campaign crashing down.
One of the most important of these techniques is copywriting — weaving informative and enjoyable words together to convince your audience that your business is the best choice for their needs.
So, what do you need to do to ensure that your writing hits the mark?
It’s easy! Check out our guide — Good Copywriting: How to Create Powerful Copy to Convert Your Audience.
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing uses many marketing strategies, including content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media, to create brand loyalty and attract new customers.
Whereas traditional marketing techniques look to find new customers, inbound focuses on improving your brand visibility to attract buyers to you. These growth marketing strategies work because customers don’t feel like they are being sold as the content is educational, engaging, and value-oriented. When successful, inbound marketing delivers better results than traditional marketing too!
The inbound methodology comprises three key components: attract, engage, and delight.
This three-step technique allows you to efficiently transform those unfamiliar with your brand into prospective customers, satisfied clients, and finally, loyal promoters of your business.
Before you jump into inbound marketing for yourself, make sure to familiarize yourself with the process with A Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing.
Inbound marketing trends to watch out for
Inbound marketing is a mixing pot of techniques, leadership, teamwork and tools. The inbound space is constantly evolving, with new strategies and customer experience measures introduced every year. Just because it worked last year, doesn’t mean that it will necessarily benefit your business today.
So, what inbound trends should you be integrating in your company’s marketing strategy? There are quite a few to choose from, including:
- Influencer marketing
- Voice search
- New social media platforms
- AI and machine learning
- Customized chatbots
- And more!
Above all, you need to ensure you are able to use the latest technologies and techniques to provide value to your audience. Staying on top of new trends is your ticket to highly engaging customer experiences.
Check out the best trends in inbound marketing to make your overall marketing plan more effective in 10 Inbound Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021.
Email marketing
Email is still one of the highest-performing forms of content you can use to connect effectively with and engage your audience. So, when was the last time you had a look at your email marketing strategy? If your answer was more than three months ago, then it is time that you head back to it.
We’re saying that if you’ve heard that email is a set-and-forget strategy, don’t believe it! It’s also true that many of the older marketing strategies that were once popular, including TV advertising or physical mail, don’t work as well as they used to. However, email marketing is still an incredible way to get the word out if you keep it optimized.
The first ever email marketing blast was sent in 1978 and received an incredible 13 million dollars in revenue, according to Smart Insights. That is equivalent to some 70+ million today! But don’t be fooled — just because email marketing started almost 50 years ago doesn’t mean it isn’t still amazingly effective. However, you need to do it correctly to ensure results.
Enter the inbound email marketing strategy. Gone are the days when a cold email blast would be sufficient to convince your customers that they should purchase from you. You now need to start a conversation directly related to your customer’s interests, needs, demographics, and self.
You may think that with the rise in social media platforms, email doesn’t have the pull it used to. Don’t be mistaken! As with every marketing strategy, how you plan and distribute it will make it successful.
Email marketing is still used by billions of people across the globe for good reason. So, start Improving Your Inbound Strategy With Email Marketing.
Benefits of blogging
It has become increasingly important for businesses in all industries to have a powerful presence online to establish their authority. Blogging is an effective way to achieve this, as well as drive traffic to websites, attract customers, and enhance inbound marketing efforts.
HubSpot found that nearly 80 percent of businesses with a blog marketing strategy acquired customers from their blogging efforts, meaning that if you’re not using this form of content to connect with customers then you’re missing out on opportunities to convert.
Blogs help businesses:
- Drives traffic to their sites
- Build topical authority for SEO
- Get a high ranking on search engines
- Find product testing opportunities
- Convert traffic into leads
- Establish their position as a thought leader in their industry
- Announce news
- Keep your brand up to date
- Manage crises
- Drive results
- And more!
But how do you get these results? You need a blog marketing strategy, as you’ll need to do more than simply write content and publish it on your website. Find out more in What Are The Benefits of Blogging for Marketing Your Business?
Video marketing 101
Why you need it
Chances are that most of the websites you visit have some form of video on them. If they don’t, then that business will likely use them across other platforms. Why? Because video is an effective way for businesses to drive traffic to their websites, attract prospective customers, and enhance their inbound marketing efforts.
After all, video is the number one primary form of media that businesses use. So, you need to be able to weave them into your strategy. Video marketing is the tool that will help you compile facts, insights, and expert opinions about your industry, business operations, and audience interests into one engaging form of content.
These have a range of benefits for your business and its returns, including driving traffic to your site, establishing your authority in your industry, providing concept testing chances, and giving you a platform to announce any developments. But that’s not all!
So, if you’re still considering whether or not a blog is a tool you need to invest in, read our blog that will tell you Why is Video a Key Tool in Your Content Marketing Kit?
Tips and tricks
It’s not just the content form itself that will bring a benefit to your business. Once created, you need to ensure that you’ve created a framework and collection of assets that help you make your videos perform.
Video creation is the easy part. And while your videos may offer answers to questions users have, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to get them to engage. That’s why we’re here with a few quick tips to help your videos get the views and, more importantly, the conversions your business wishes to see.
Take our lead and learn to succeed here: How to Make Video Landing Pages That Engage Your Audience.
User-generated content
In a world where the words of one person can affect the thoughts of many others, boosting your brand with authentic content is your ticket to success. So, if you want to grow your business quickly you need user-generated content (UGC).
UGC boasts a range of benefits as it is:
- High quality
- Authentic
- Cost-effective
- Brand specific
- Easy to generate
This helps sway consumers to trust your brand since the content comes from people who are happy to share their experiences.
Want to generate good UGC quickly? Follow our guide to learn more: The Complete Guide to User-Generated Content for Growth.
Personalization and privacy
All the content we’ve talked about here works exponentially better if you include personalization in the process. Let’s face it, out of the last ten marketing messages you received, most of them would have had some form of personalization.
Maybe it was a callback and promo code when you left your cart, a birthday discount, or even a movie recommendation on your favorite streaming service. These offers are all customized with some form of information you shared by entering it yourself, from usage history or some other legal source.
Personalization like this is all enabled by data use, and we cannot stress enough how important data collection is for your company. But where do you draw the line? The answer seems simple — only collect the data you need to provide an excellent service. However, there are more layers to it than that.
Since you don’t want your business to appear invasive or for your audience to turn away as you’re asking them for too much, you need to understand where to draw this line. Find the answer in How to Balance Personalization and Privacy in Your Marketing.
Seasonal marketing
The truth is that generic marketing campaigns won’t get the same results as those customized for the season if a specific holiday is coming up.
Your marketing campaigns, especially your content marketing strategy, need that extra bit of flair. Let’s face it, a personalized email with deals and well wishes for the season has more sway than a generic banner ad.
Incredible content is your friend, and with a considered seasonal marketing plan backed up with data and insights, you have the tools to turn your audience into retained customers.
For more information, check out Your Guide to Seasonal Marketing.
Content makes the world go around. As you’ve seen in this article, if you’re not actively producing content and ensuring that it is both seen by your audience and providing value to them, then you’re risking losing an indeterminate number of potential customers.
That’s why Growth Marketing Genie is here to help. We have a team of content marketing specialists, data-driven experts, professional creators and growth marketers that can help you transform your content strategy into a lead-generating machine.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you get started.
Book in a Free Consultation