As a keen fan of content marketing, it should come as no shock to you when you hear ‘content is king’.
You know the power it can drive for your whole sales funnel.
But if this is the case, why do so many struggle with the advanced content marketing strategies?
Could it be because they don’t know the benefits of content marketing?
I doubt that.
It’s more likely the case you know the benefits but don’t know how content marketing tips will work for your industry.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is anything from web content, eBooks, blog posts, white papers, infographics, videos, webinars. Anything you produce that educates entertains, inspires or informs your target customer is the form advanced content marketing.
In this post, we’re going to discuss the blueprint for getting your content marketing plan together.
Before we dive in, let’s look at some of the reasons why there maybe hesitation.
Firstly, it’s often hard to see the direct results of content marketing compared to other marketing efforts: paid search for example.
Another reason people might not jump on the content marketing bandwagon is they’re following the wrong metrics.
Without scoping out a proper plan, you’re not sure which metrics matter to you. Because you don’t know which metrics you should be following.
Understanding the value of content marketing in Canada
If you really want to get the right plan for content marketing you need to make sure you understand the value of it.
Now I don’t mean reciting exciting facts about how great content marketing is.
Remember, most people already know the stats.
You need to understand the true benefit for your own niche or business.
The object or goal of content marketing should be to gravitate people towards your service or product. To provide enough value that your audience recognizes likes and trusts your brand enough to want to do business with you. See our absolute guide to content marketing. This is highly valuable, and if done correctly, can have astronomical results for your business.
Working Out Your Own Value
Whilst outbound marketing is all about pushing people towards taking an action, like signing up for a free trial watching a demo, or downloading a free guide. Inbound marketing is all about pulling people in to get to know you better. Creating the right type of content for your audience is timeless. The more people who discover your content, the more chance you have of it being shared. This means generating endless results over time.
Customer relationships change all the time. When these relationships change you need to rely on audience-centric content marketing. Audience-centric content means putting your audience first. When your audience’s needs change, so does your content. It gives you an opportunity to stay in touch with your audience, even if the relationships change and allows you to keep all communication channels open.
Look At Other Brands In Your Own Niche Who Are Winning With A Content Marketing Strategy
Set realistic expectations that suggest when you’ll expect to see measurable results. Is there any value in doing content marketing if you won’t see any results for 10 years?
The best content marketing tips are the ones that realize the bottom-line outcomes. You need to create the connection between the two. The way to do that is to create a performance-driven content marketing strategy.
Presenting That Value
If you want people to engage in your advanced content marketing, then you need to produce convincing data and quantify your content marketing process.
Speak In Their Language
You might think you have a great idea for a piece of content, but if you want buy-in that shouldn’t be what you focus on. Instead, focus on the aims and the goals of the content – Why is it good for your audience? How will the company benefit from producing this content? That is what every seasoned content marketing agency does.
It’s the classic case of show, don’t tell. Prove your points through data analysis and case studies from your own niche. When trying to appeal to people to get buy-in for content marketing, it’s imperative you make it relatable.
Think about it, even a salesperson doesn’t just push a service or a product.
If you want to come across likable through, let’s say, content marketing blog, then you need to do more than just sell, you need to tell a story and content marketing is a great way to do just that. This way you can connect your tactics to the entire organizational end goals.
You need to realign your content marketing strategy with what they care about, or what they worry about.
Making Content Marketing Blog Work For You
If you already doing content marketing but want to take it to the next level, it’s important to analyze the content you already have. There are a few ways to look at your results:
Short term and long term results.
Short term content marketing involves looking at -value metrics such as social shares on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc.
Long term result involves looking at things like leads that have come directly from your content marketing efforts.
Compare it to your current cost per lead. Like with traditional marketing efforts, such as display ads or sponsored posts, content marketing doesn’t have any recurring costs.
Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, it generates more than three times as many leads. Meaning, it’s a lower cost per lead over time. However, you can even reduce costs by collaborating with professional content marketing services in Toronto.
Content marketing allows you to take your readers on an organic journey teaching them about your brand, without being too salesy. People dislike being sold to.
Post-Buy-In
You need to consistently show the value of the content you’re putting together. The best way to do that is through testing and reporting. Come up with hypotheses and test and report back.
The elephant in the room with content marketing is which metric do I follow. The answer is: you follow the ones that make sense for you. When you plan your content marketing blog it should be aligned with your overall strategy.
Takeaways
You need to understand the value your content marketing has for your business. Once you’ve started your content marketing process, the hard work doesn’t stop there. You need to continually find ways to showcase your results in order to prove the benefits your content marketing is having on your bottom line.Connect with one of our experts today to start building your blueprint