The expression is not new, but only recently it has started to gain the attention of brands and companies. The bottom line is this: if you want your business to reach your audience, you will need to create relevant content for your audience to perceive you as an expert. That’s how content marketing is born.
But what, then, is content marketing, and how can I create a content strategy for my business?
In the words of most marketers, content marketing is the art of producing content that is relevant to our target audience.
This will:
- Get the attention of your target audience and potential customers;
- Add value to those who read it;
- Generate traffic to your own media channels;
- Turn you into an expert in the field;
- Therefore, improve your reputation, online and offline;
- Therefore, increase your chances of doing business.
In the digital world, this content can be in text, image or video, whatever you want – as long as it is considered of interest to your target audience. It is, therefore, important to be aware of trends and turn hot topics into opportunities.
As an example, a pharmacy that wants to stand out from the rest in the context in which we find ourselves – with the Covid-19 pandemic – will take advantage in releasing content on the correct use of masks, hand washing, which foods can help the population to keep their immunity high, tips to avoid anxiety attacks, among others. A law firm can take advantage in promoting webinars or releasing ebooks on government support measures that companies can access in the context of the pandemic.
How can I promote my content?
There are several strategies for promoting your content online, everything depends on the target audience you want to reach and the way you relate to it. From social networks to creating a blog, choosing the right platform to communicate is crucial to getting your message across in the best way.
To give one more example, if you sell sneakers and want to reach a younger audience, it may make sense to have a YouTube channel, an Instagram account or even Tik Tok, to partner with some influencers followed by these younger layers, and so on. If, on the other hand, you have a more corporate business, you can bet on a blog on your company’s website, or even on a Linkedin group to disseminate your content.
You can also provide video tutorials, webinars, ebooks, anything that adds value to your client or potential client.
Create an email marketing strategy to draw the attention of your subscribers to the content you are promoting and take the opportunity to ‘gift’ those who pay attention to you – if your followers downloaded your ebook upon registration, offer them more exclusive content, discounts, advice, or whatever makes sense for your area of activity.
It is important to be aware that the journey that the consumer is going to take is also at stake here:
- Prospecting – the time when the potential customer only looks for information online, blog posts, etc., and finds information about your product;
- Consideration – the time when the potential customer, after getting to know your business, compares your product to another, reads more reviews about you, sees online demos of the product and finally
- Makes the decision – contacts you or buys the product.
Here, too, we are talking about a funnel, in which the prospecting phase is always more comprehensive and tapers as we reach the point of making a decision.
Part of the content marketing strategy also involves paid media, so you should define a strategy for the best platforms (online and offline) in which to invest.
And, of course, have a content strategy for the press, in order to achieve news results that position your brand or your business as an expert in the field.
Don’t forget to tell your story
Having a good content marketing strategy is essentially knowing that you must always keep in mind the need to tell a good story – the more authentic the better.
Let’s look at the case of Cristina Ferreira, possibly the most successful case of content marketing in Portugal and which makes this presenter, blogger, magazine owner, businesswoman and entrepreneur – and so on… – perceived today as one of the biggest influencers in the country.
And to monitor the results
Finally, don’t forget to monitor the results of your content and of your campaigns. Only by knowing the performance of your content and the way people are interacting with it you can make better decisions to improve your future strategy.
Ready to impact your followers with a five-star content marketing strategy?
Rita Justo, press officer at Media em Movimento
Bio