Content marketing has long been in practice by man. When the internet was not there, and when there were the print media mainly speaking for man, then also content was marketed. Actually, content marketing is all about telling a story. The better you tell a story, and convey a message through your content, the stronger it becomes as the marketing element.
The Old Style of Content Marketing
In the earlier days when there was no internet, then also creative storytellers existed who would draw a picture, make a diagram, take a photograph, write a piece, and all of them would be highly hit in telling stories and captivating the audience. At that time the content would be delivered through newspapers, magazines, banners posters, advertisements on radio and television, etc. After the internet explosion, content marketing for supporting the websites became more practiced. It’s content only, which is the face of a website, and talks on behalf of the business, brand, product, and cause. Hence the emphasis on marketing got stronger for websites, and with the growing demand for SEO and online marketing which is being researched for even before the creation of a website, content marketing techniques and ideas constantly evolved through the support of marketing innovators.
The Characteristics to Be Injected in A Good Content
A content attains a standard in quality to be considered as a right piece for marketing when it has some of these characteristics:
- Meaningfulness.
- Relevance to the matter.
- Clarity in delivering the story, thought, motto, or cause behind it.
- Ability to bond the audience to the content, and bond with the audience through the content.
- Precise with the delivery of the meaning.
- High quality that makes it a piece worth sharing, discussing and revisiting.
- Helps sell the story, cause, product or service.
While developing content, the motto should be to make one which fulfills the above requirements. A content which fulfills the above necessities is the right piece for marketing and can be used perfectly for marketing of the website, product or cause online.
The Right Content Would Buy Customer Loyalty
If the content is built that way, it has the potential to buy customer loyalty. People have always appreciated things which really are worth appreciation. Till date, people love revisiting content to appreciate it and enjoy it. Talk about a movie which is a big hit in a region or globally; people would not complain about watching it more than one time, and that’s because they would love the content. The same applies to a good video, good photography, and also for a good infographic. Take for example books which are bestsellers- some so many readers would repeat the whole book several times, simply because they appreciate and like what they read. And the same thing happens with content shared online. If your content is good enough, bonds with the viewer, and is influential; it’s bound to get revisited, appreciated, liked, and shared, and also would inspire other content creators to get recreated. And such content would buy loyal customers who would get close to the product or service, simply because they like the content marketing of that business. This is basically the same route that goes towards branding too. Such quality content, which fetches loyal viewers and turns them into customers again, acts as potential tools for branding too in the longer run.
How to Learn to Become A Good Content Marketer
There are some characteristics and features you have to input in the content, and also keep in mind while developing the content for the purpose of marketing, which would make for the ingredients to cook up the best marketing content.
Strategize the Content
The strategy is the first thing to start with. There are many small steps again in this, which builds the whole strategy. What is the content for, where are you going to post it, if it’s suitable for the platform you are posting it on, can you anticipate viewers for it on that platforms, keywords you should use on the content, what kind of thoughts it should provoke or convey; are some of the vital questions you have to have answers to strategize. When you form the strategy, it would be based upon the answers to these vital questions and more similar questions.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Contents always are targeted towards a segment of the audience. If you are selling a kids’ product, the content would be targeted towards parents and guardians. If you are selling the product for retirement benefits and plans, then the content would be targeted towards working professionals in their middle ages generally. If you are selling marketing and earning programs for mothers at home, your content would be for young and middle-aged homemakers. In this way, contents are to be targeted towards a group of people. And you must know for whom you are making the content.
How Do You Bring People to Your Content?
You have the content ready for marketing. Now the question is where you would post it, and how do you anticipate viewers to come to that platform to see it. If you have content for senior citizens, you cannot expect them to come to a youth-based dating website; hence no use posting the content in such a site. This step therefore also must be a part of planning digital strategy.
Finally- What Do You Expect Your Content to Do?
Your content is expected to do something. It may be for raising general awareness about you like the business, company, or brand, or organization. It may be about selling an idea or product. It may be about growing public awareness about a cause. It may be about delivering the news. It may be about managing online reputation. There can be so many reasons behind content marketing. And you must ensure that you are prepared to handle the reaction of your viewers after they see the content. If they follow a link, they must be satisfied with it. This final step fulfills the purpose of marketing through the use of the content.
Image Source: Diggity Marketing.
Andrew Thompson is an SEO analytics professional. He works as an independent blogger and data analytics consultant.
