Content Marketing. Do you know what it is?
Better still do you know how it can help your business?
Last month I went along to Content Marketing Sydney to find out more about this relatively new take on traditional marketing. One thing’s for sure, marketing in general has changed with the advent of social media, and we’re now firmly in the content era. In simple terms, storytelling and sharing via quality content is in. Ads aren’t.
So what exactly is content marketing?
According to our friends at the Content Marketing Institute , Content Marketing is a “strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
It can even be said that perhaps nothing has fuelled our consumer culture more than the content brands we love – valuable content increases demand for products.
A good starting point to get you thinking about content marketing is to think about what you REALLY do in your business, and then how you can delight your audiences with content driven experiences.
You need to find the content; where does the content live in your business and who can help you share it? Above all you need to think about creating great content that will connect, influence and convert for your business. Your content needs to be relative, effective and timely, and trigger a moment of inspiration that will later trigger a return on investment for you.
Our top ten tips for Content Marketing are:
- Create content that inspires – think of yourself as your brand storyteller.
- Your content should build suspense, foster aspiration, drive empathy and harness emotion.
- Find the stories behind the stories – don’t be afraid to share what goes on behind the scenes. Tell your customers stories they haven’t heard before.
- Get creative and use humour.
- Make an appointment with your audience – get in touch with them at a particular time of the day/week/month.
- Attach talent to your content that your audience trusts.
- Exploit content ‘holes’ – constantly seek new opportunities in the market.
- Find a niche market.
- Talk to your customers, not at them.
- Repurpose your content – one piece of content can be spread far and wide across all of your business’ platforms including website, social media, infographics, white papers, video etc.
Finally, find your champions. Content can function as a great unifier for your business. Forget working in marketing silos and create a movement in your business to inspire, recruit and plan your effective content today.
Want to know more? Find out how we can help your business on its way to a fabulous future in Content Marketing.
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