What is Content Marketing?

What is content marketing?

Simply put, content marketing is the process of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

It’s an ongoing process that includes creating, curating, publishing, and distributing content that’s valuable to your target audience. And it’s not just about blog posts or website copy; content marketing can take many forms, including e-books, webinars, infographics, white papers, and even podcasts.

The goal of content marketing is to attract and retain customers by creating and curating relevant and valuable content. It’s an ongoing process that includes creating, publishing, and distributing content on a regular basis.

Content marketing should be a strategic part of your overall marketing plan. It should align with your business goals and objectives. And it should be an ongoing process, not a one-time campaign.

Why is content marketing important?

In today’s noisy online world, it’s more important than ever to create and distribute high-quality content that will help you stand out from the crowd. With so much information available at our fingertips ings contain more links than ever before), it’s easy for your target audience to get lost in the shuffle and forget about you entirely.

Creating quality content on a regular basis can help you stay top of mind with your target audience so that when they are ready to make a purchase, they think of you first. In fact, according to Demand Metric research , companies who commit to content marketing see six times more conversions than those who don’t. Additionally: • More than 60% of B2B marketers say they are effective at content marketing (Content Marketing Institute) • The average conversion rate for websites with blogs is 6%, compared to 1% for those without (HubSpot) • B2B marketers who use blogs generate 67% more leads than those who do not (Social Media B2B) Of course, simply creating any old blog post or piece ofcontent won’t guarantee results. You need to create high-qualitycontent that is relevant and helpful to your target audience if you want themto stick around –and eventually convert into paying customers. That’s where a solidcontent marketing strategy comes in handy… How do you create acontent marketing strategy? Creating a winningcontent marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, there are really only four key components: 1) Set realistic business goals for yourcontent What do you want yourcontent to achieve? Do you wantto increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Generate more leads or sales? Once you know what you wantto achieve with yourcontent ,you can develop specific goals (and KPIs) to track progress along theway . Just make sure yourgoals are SMART: Specific , Measurable , Achievable , Realistic ,and Timely . 2) Conduct audience research You can’t create relevantand engagingcontent without first understanding who you are talkingto . That means taking the time tounderstand your target audience : Who are they? What are their pain points ? What kindsof things are they interested in ? The better you know youraudience ,the easier it will beto create content that resonates with them . 3) Identify which types ofcontent will help you achieve yourgoals Onceyou know what kinds of thingsyour target audience is interested in ,you can start brainstorming ideas forthe types ofcontent you could create . Will blog posts work best ? Or areyou better off investing in things like e-books or webinars ? 4) Create an editorial calendar Onceyou have a solid plan for the typesofcontent you want to create ,it’s time to start mapping out when –and how often –you will publish newpieces . Thisis where an editorial calendar comes in handy . Not only does an editorial calendarkeep you organized (so you don’t have 20 different pieces ofcontent floating around in various stagesofcompletion ), but it also ensuresthat yourcontent is timely and relevantto current eventsand trends . Plus , if other peopleare involved in the creation or approval process for yourcontent (such as designers oreditors ), an editorial calendar ensuresthat everyone knows what needs toprioritized –and when thingsare due . How do I get startedwith content marketing ? If all this talkaboutstrategically planningand executinga solid contentmarketing plan sounds likea lotofwork … well… itis . But donot fear! Thereare plentyof ways toget startedwith contentmarketing even ifyou donot havea tonoftimeor resourcesat yourdisposal . One wayis toovertime existing piecesofbrand collateral such as product brochuresor data sheetsinto easilydigestible blogposts or articles . Youcan also considerrepurposing oldblog posts intonewer formats such asslide decksor infographicsor vice versa ! Ifyouhavemore timeon yourhands ,you maywanttoconsiderdeveloping newpiecesoforiginal content fromscratch such as eBooksor webinarsor even somethingas simple as asurvey or quiz ! No matterhowmuch timeoryouhaveto investin developingnew piecesofcontent ,the most importantthingisto just getstarted ! Creatinghigh-qualityvaluableconsistentisn’t easybut it’sworthit inthelonghaulifyou wantto attractand retaina loyalcustomerbase -and drivemeaningfulbusiness results!