To be effective at Content Marketing, you must create, schedule and distribute content regularly and consistently. You should have a plan, such as a conversion funnel, to help you organize your content marketing efforts. A conversion funnel helps you to track your customer’s journey from discovery to taking an action that is valuable to the business. It is imperative that your content marketing strategy takes the knowledge from the funnel into account and is aligned with your sales process.
Content marketing started online, where people were downloading videos to watch offline. Today, it is an industry trend. Content marketing, also known as inbound marketing, is the practice of attracting customers through the creation of valuable content. For example, LiveVault, a disk-based backup system for corporate data, hired independent marketers to create a series of videos that would attract IT professionals. Not surprisingly, this strategy was a hit. Gary Ross’s viral videos have amassed hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. This content-driven strategy has helped the company build strong communities on Facebook.
While the term “content marketing” may seem new to you, it has been around for a while. Business owners have been using content for years to grow their brands and improve their bottom line. John Deere, for instance, first published a free magazine in 1895. This publication is still available online. Another company that has used content marketing is AARP The Magazine, which has won several awards for quality content and listens to its readers through social media.
The first step in creating a content marketing strategy is to determine your target audience. Remember that no matter how great your content is, it won’t get traction if you don’t know your target audience. You need to know who your target audience is before you begin writing. By knowing your target audience, you can focus your efforts on creating relevant content that will attract them and increase your revenue. So start creating content today! You’ll be amazed at how quickly it pays off.
For example, GE recently conducted a campaign on Instagram where they teamed up with six influencers and several superfans to do a walk on GE’s Instagram. And while GE did not pay for the ads, they got more page views by building a social media presence. Likewise, resharing blog posts on Facebook is an excellent content marketing strategy. You can also consider repurposing your content into eBooks and long-form content.
The concept of content marketing has come a long way in the last few centuries. You can find an example of Content Marketing in action in the first Lego Movie. Blendtec, a blender manufacturer, had a YouTube series called “Will It Blend?”, where users were given a taste of what the product would be like if blended. The first Lego Movie was also a content marketing stunt. Then, there are the endless number of examples of Content Marketing.