Content Marketing Isn’t Only About Blogging
As reported by Content Marketing Institute, as many as 88% of B2B marketers benefit from various content marketing activities to a certain extent but only 6% perceive this form of brand promotion as effective. Where does this big discrepancy come from? One of the main reasons standing behind this state of affairs is the scope of implemented content marketing activities limited to only one form such as company blogging. And after all, content marketing has much more to offer!
Content marketing – what is it?
Content marketing helps to achieve a 6 times higher conversion rate, 8 times more traffic to the company website, and much greater customer engagement than usual marketing activities. Sounds promising? If you haven’t performed any content marketing activities so far, continue reading our entry and get ready for buckling down. Your potential customers are waiting!
The right content marketing strategy – how to prepare it?
To successfully implement an effective content marketing strategy in your business you need:
- accurate user personas, meaning exact silhouettes of potential recipients for whom you want to create,
- professional and well-prepared, quality, user-friendly content in line with SEO principles,
- a content marketer or a copywriter (hired or freelance) who will be responsible for creating and planning the publication of content (if you’ve enough time and expertise or don’t have sufficient funds, you need to do it yourself),
- a content marketing funnel closely linked to your sales funnel (meaning, the content users are supposed to access and the moment they should do it),
- a content promotion plan (organic activities or paid social media and Google ads),
- analytical skills that will allow you to monitor statistics and determine what works for your business and what doesn’t (to learn more about measuring content effectiveness, go to our previous entry).
What should your 2021 content marketing strategy include? What content forms are widely appreciated and used by marketing agencies and departments?
Content marketing – activities performed by marketing specialists
Statistically speaking, marketers use social media primarily for content marketing activities. However, content marketing offers many more possibilities which are illustrated in the postcron.com infographics that present the results of the Content Marketing Institute research.
Social media posts
Social media platforms are used by 88% of marketers. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram posts full of expertise complemented by proper activity on Snapchat and TikTok. First and foremost, your company’s social media profiles should redirect users to your website. Attract your followers’ attention with an appealing content snapshot and present them with the whole text only when they visit your site.
Website articles
Is it still worth running company blogs in 2020? Absolutely! The fact that content marketing isn’t only about blogging doesn’t mean that you should undermine this element. After all, many users have active ad blockers. In this situation, paid ads won’t reach them. Besides, people stopped paying attention to banners and links a long time ago. As a solution to this problem, 78% of marketing specialists run company blogs thanks to which their websites are displayed on top positions on Google in the right place at the right time whenever someone tries to access their products or services.
Your recipients really want to benefit from various content marketing activities that allow them to get to know your brand or provide them with extra information, guidelines, and tips concerning given products or services.
Newsletters
76% of marketing specialists take advantage of the possibilities offered by newsletters. Today, creating and taking care of a mailing list is one of the most effective and budget forms of B2B and B2C marketing. So what should you write about? Newsletters can notify users about new blog entries, the most interesting industry-related articles published over the week or special offers, and product launches – their content depends on the reading requirements of the recipients. Try different solutions and ask your clients or customers about the form and type of content that’s of interest to them.
If you want to delve into the subject to discover other useful tips, read our blog post: How to write newsletters that won’t annoy users?
Video clips
Surprisingly, as many as 72% of marketing specialists use video marketing. Why is it so surprising? Because it costs an arm and a leg to prepare this form of content marketing. Fortunately, very broad reach compensates for the incurred costs, and Facebook as well as LinkedIn willingly promotes video content.
Company YouTube channels can also be extremely successful – after all, YouTube is the second-largest content search engine in the world, so properly described and appealing vlogs may become powerful backlinks to your company website.
Case studies
Case studies describe specific company’s projects and experiences. They also illustrate the implementation of given activities or solutions and indicate how successful chosen products or services are. Case studies are an extremely important, yet frequently neglected element of a brand’s social proof and content marketing strategy. For the time being, only 41% of specialists benefit from this form of marketing.
Infographics
They’re used by 40% of respondents. Infographics are still undervalued, even though, for users, they’re one of the most convenient forms of absorbing knowledge. It’s much easier to learn from a picture than from a block of text. Summarizing your blog post or presenting data and statistics in a form of an infographic is a great solution that’s beneficial for users, SEO, and internal linking. After all, readers are noticeably more willing to share and quote blog posts with infographics. Moreover, infographics complementing your blog support link baiting which is a strategy that helps to obtain numerous organic, SEO-friendly external links without having to pay for sponsored texts.
Webinars and lives
How to obtain more business inquiries and mails? Think about webinars and lives. This form of content marketing is chosen only by 30% of specialists. And it’s a shame because it’s an invaluable source of leads and unique premium content that encourages potential B2B clients to share their phone numbers and company email addresses. If you need more fresh leads, don’t hesitate and plan your own webinars!
Books, ebooks, and reports
According to the Content Marketing Institute, both ebooks and traditional books are chosen by 25% of marketers. And it’s worth remembering that it’s top-notch premium content. Ebooks and reports are a much more effective and affordable source of quality leads than paid ads. Furthermore, combining your premium content with paid ads guarantees success.
Content marketing means…
… all forms and types of online content – blogs, vlogs, tutorials, product descriptions, newsletters, podcasts, ebooks, infographics, case studies, and many, many more. Don’t limit yourself only to selected content marketing activities and you’ll see the first effects of your activities very soon. Be patient, content marketing takes time and can be compared to conscientious, regular workouts that start to pay off after a while. But the game is definitely worth the candle as the good condition of your website will stay with you for long years.
