BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONTENT MARKETING
Content marketing is simple terminology for a complex process, taken at face value. Content is creating information that meets all the customers’ needs, and marketing is distributing and promoting it to a targeted group of people. Marketing is all about behavior and action. Content Marketing is about web site traffic or generating buzz or press mentions, and all that leading to profitable customer behavior. Marketing is impossible without great content.
Every bit of your content marketing focus must affect prospect or customer behavior. When behavior becomes the cornerstone of your content, the promotion and distribution of that content take on a different stand than just creating buzz or traffic. Every word and every page you create should have the purpose to drive the ultimate customer action. The basic principles of content promotion are often simple and often overlooked.
1) KNOW WHO YOUR AUDIENCE IS:
You need to direct content in a way that will resonate with your audience which is why the most important aspect of content marketing is knowing who your audience is. knowing who your audience makes it easier to reach the right audience and drive them to convert.There are numerous ways to find out who your audience is, but one thing important and effective way is to create audience personas. By collecting and relating facts about an audience we can establish the behaviors and trends of those we want to start a conversation with.
An accurate idea of your actual target audience will help you in creating content that suits just not the type of your business but also the audience that is or will be associated with it.
According to CAN-SPAM law, you have a right to use email to communicate with your customer but that doesn’t mean that you can send them uninvited information on a regular basis. As long as you have some kind of permission, you can use email information to get their permission to send them your content. Use new offers, discounts, gifts to get them to sign up for your content. The law also states that you must also give your customers the option to “opt-out” or unsubscribe to any of the content you sent them as well.
You drive traffic to your website only when your audience is aware of your presence in the market. But how will your audience know that your business even exists? yes, promotion is the key. If you create great content and no one knows about it, to engage to it, you’re simply wasting time and effort on your content which is of no value. A combination of content as well as link networking, public relations, social networking, and gaining visibility is the ultimate strategy that helps your business with brand awareness. When you are building relationships with the media in your particular industry through your business, you are building a community of audience of your content. This distribution network is necessary to gain the most out of the great content that you create.
Almost all companies believe they can create great content on a regular basis. A brand, more often than not, will engage in a content project say a blog, without promotion, not see positive results, and stop the initiative of creating further content, thinking that the content didn’t meet customer satisfaction. The majority of the time, the problem was in the marketing and promotion of the content and not necessarily in the content.
2). PERMISSION IS NECESSARY
Any content that you deliver to your audience or potential customers that are not specifically requested could be considered spam. hence, it is crucial that you have your customers opt-in to your programs which means that they have specifically requested your ebook, newsletter, magazines, etc., for both your print and email content programs.According to CAN-SPAM law, you have a right to use email to communicate with your customer but that doesn’t mean that you can send them uninvited information on a regular basis. As long as you have some kind of permission, you can use email information to get their permission to send them your content. Use new offers, discounts, gifts to get them to sign up for your content. The law also states that you must also give your customers the option to “opt-out” or unsubscribe to any of the content you sent them as well.
3). CONTENT AND PROMOTION WORK HAND IN HAND
Content and promotion of that content work hand in hand. The content that you create for your audience will have nil value if it doesn't even reach your audience.You drive traffic to your website only when your audience is aware of your presence in the market. But how will your audience know that your business even exists? yes, promotion is the key. If you create great content and no one knows about it, to engage to it, you’re simply wasting time and effort on your content which is of no value. A combination of content as well as link networking, public relations, social networking, and gaining visibility is the ultimate strategy that helps your business with brand awareness. When you are building relationships with the media in your particular industry through your business, you are building a community of audience of your content. This distribution network is necessary to gain the most out of the great content that you create.
Almost all companies believe they can create great content on a regular basis. A brand, more often than not, will engage in a content project say a blog, without promotion, not see positive results, and stop the initiative of creating further content, thinking that the content didn’t meet customer satisfaction. The majority of the time, the problem was in the marketing and promotion of the content and not necessarily in the content.
4). Having value in the content is important
Imagine watching or reading some article you cannot relate to. It either becomes illogical to you or you easily get bored. Hence, it is very important that the content you create is valuable to the user. The audience who start reading content is usually expecting something out of it which keeps them engaged to the end of the content, so when creating your content help your audience concentrate and reach their end goal. When you add valuable content, the audience starts respecting the person behind that content and they return again to get more valuable information.Another way of making sure that the content has value is to incorporate a voice and tone that reflects your business in your content. Every business has a unique identity and a voice of their own. These identities become compatible with brands and when it comes to marketing strategies and actions, they create consistency across the industry. The goal is to become popular through content alone. When you are writing or executing your content make sure the identity and voice of the brand reflect well in the content and resonates well with your audience.
5). Meet Your Customers Where They Are Plus One
Choose the media platform you will be on, depending on your customers. That been said, give your audience content on a media they already use, but also, you need to be innovative. Interact with your audience better by establishing the right channel to reach your audience and save your time and energy by avoiding the wrong platforms. When you are writing or creating content, keep in mind that there are different channels and media platforms to interact with and different ways to create content for each channel. So, don't limit yourself to one channel or one media platform, as a multi-channel marketing strategy can get you great results when managed properly.Just because your analysis says that a small percentage of your audience engage in online video, doesn’t mean you can’t get your audience there. As long as the content you create is truly important and is valuable, you have the opportunity to be seen as an innovative content writer just by the type of media platform you are using to promote your content. If you create a valuable video on a topic your audience needs to hear about, they have smartphones and laptops with an internet connection to get them there.
Conclusion
Strategies of content marketing are always important. knowing when and where to upload your content is proportional to the number of audiences you attract and more importantly, the type of audience you attract. Also, the type of content you create should never stay static. Strategies become less effective over time and inventing or adopting new ones is what will keep you progressing. With time, shift your focus to producing more in-depth content on a regular basis. Along with the above principles, keep in mind that what is trending today might not be trending tomorrow. What the audience likes today, they might not be interested in tomorrow. Try not to get into controversial topics as content when trying to drive in traffic, as in the long run, it may leave a bad impression on the audience. Overall, Content marketing will always be evolving, so make sure you and your strategies and content are evolving with it.
