Did you know that 70% of people prefer to learn about a company through a blog post or article than an advertisement? About a quarter of all internet users use an ad blocker so they don’t have to see online ads.
Small businesses have to build content marketing campaigns in order to get seen online.
Advertising costs continue to increase as social media networks look to boost their stock prices. It’s not the same as it was five years ago when you could advertise on Facebook and get incredible results for very little money.
Content marketing lets you connect with consumers and build trust. If you have a solid content marketing campaign, you can reach the right person at the right time with the perfect piece of content.
That person becomes a customer.
How can you create a content marketing machine for your business? Read on to find the top tips for creating a content marketing strategy.
Know the Problem and Solution
The best content for marketing addresses a problem. Your customers are online to find solutions to their problems. Look at how they use search engines.
They want to know how to do something. They want to know how to fix a plumbing leak, lose weight, or invest in the stock market.
They also want to know the best things to buy to solve their problems. They’ll look for the best rowing machine to lose weight, the best plumber in the area, or the best place to take a vacation.
They search for thousands of things every minute. As a content marketer, you need to show that your business provides a solution to their problem.
That doesn’t mean that you sell to them right away. You need to establish your expertise and authority in your industry.
Your content should show that you know the emotions related to the problem. Someone who wants to lose weight wants to feel better and more confident.
The business website content and marketing pieces should talk about these things. You can then show how your products or services help solve the problem.
Set Content Marketing Campaign Goals
Content marketing can do a lot of things for your business. At a high level, you probably expect that it will generate more income for your business.
There’s the thought that content marketing will deliver high-quality leads and more traffic.
When you build content marketing campaigns with the problem and solution in mind, they will meet your expectations.
Setting clear goals gives your content a purpose and helps you develop your strategy. You can prioritize and make better decisions.
Set goals for your campaign by taking baseline measurements of your revenue, traffic, and cost per lead. Measure the average order value of a customer and the average lifetime value of a customer.
Set guidelines to increase those numbers slowly and steadily. You don’t want to set goals that set your business up for failure because they were unrealistic.
Map Content Marketing Campaign Elements
There are dozens of content marketing campaign elements to think about. There’s social media, blog posts, email marketing, buyer personas, messaging, video content, and so much more.
You don’t need to develop content for every marketing channel.
Focus on a few and do them well.
This is where it helps to know your customers and your goals. For example, if your primary goal is to get more traffic, then you’ll turn your attention to the content marketing campaign elements that drive traffic to your site.
These will be regular blog posts optimized for search engines.
If you want to nurture your leads, then create a lead magnet or a quiz funnel.
You’ll want to draw a map of your funnel, which helps you visualize your content.
Quality Matters More Than Quantity
There are content marketing experts who say that your content has to be long, and you have to post a new blog post every day.
There’s a correlation between long blog posts and better search rankings. That doesn’t always mean that a 2000-word post will rank higher than a 500-word post.
It comes down to value and depth. A long article that doesn’t address the problem or question someone is trying to solve won’t rank well.
It won’t get backlinks or shares, and people won’t stay on your site to read the article. That impacts your rankings.
Stay Up to Date on Content Marketing
Will regular blog posts always be at the center of a good content marketing strategy? They may be, but content marketing is changing.
Blog posts still matter though video content is gaining steam. Your job as a content marketer is to stay ahead of the pack and know where content marketing is going.
That allows you to create content in a new space before anyone else. Right now, the next big thing is the Metaverse. Big brands are already learning how to use the Metaverse to engage with consumers on a deeper level.
If you can become one of the Metaverse content creators before anyone else, your brand will have a competitive edge in this space.
The biggest challenge is learning what trends have staying power and which ones are just fads. You don’t want to go all-in on something like Clubhouse when you could invest time and energy in other content marketing efforts.
When you do become better at predicting the future of marketing, your brand will always have an edge.
Learn to Build Content Marketing Campaigns
What does it take to build content marketing campaigns that bring more traffic and leads to your business? It takes a lot of understanding.
You need to know the problem your customers are trying to solve. The content has to address those problems and show your business can solve them.
Do those things well, and you’ll have a lead generation machine. Head over to the home page of this site for the latest business and marketing buzz.
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