A lot of people have been asking us about the foundational work that goes on behind the scenes of an effective content marketing campaign. If you want to successfully use content marketing strategy to grow your business both online and off there are a few steps you’re going to want to make sure you get right. Without taking the time to prepare, your content efforts often won’t land with your targeted audience.
In this article we’re going to look at what you can do to to build a solid content marketing foundation that will help to build, nourish and grow your business.
Understanding The Power Of Content Marketing
Content marketing is at the forefront of the digital marketing revolution. In order for your business to succeed at the levels you desire you’ll need to implement and effective Jacksonville content marketing strategy.
Essentially, content marketing is using content in your marketing strategy. On the surface it’s really as simple as that, but the strategies run much deeper. Content marketing can take a variety of means. The following are some of the most utilized forms of content: blog posts, videos, infographics, slideshow presentations, and webinars.
Content gives you the ability to build relationships with your customers, and provide them with plenty of value before they buy anything from you. The foundation of any successful business is built upon the back of customer relationships. Content marketing will help to deepen these relationships.
Of most marketing methods content marketing does take a lot of initial effort, but it’s well worth the rewards. There are a variety of means for you to distribute your content. These channels will cause you to create different forms of content in order to effectively optimize for each one.
Building The Correct Foundation
The proper foundation starts with understanding what your needs, objectives and goals are. For content marketing to really work you’ll need to be orienting your efforts towards a certain outcome. This will allow you to see if what you’re doing is really working, and what you’ll need to adjust for future success.
When defining your goals make sure they are measurable. This will allow you to know if you’re on track to achieving them or not.
Make sure you also know the unique value you’re contributing to the marketplace. Without having this defining feature by your side you run the risk of creating content that’s similar to everything else that’s already out there. Know your worth and make sure you can communicate it effectively.
What Resources Do You Need?
Content marketing may seem simple, but there are a lot of parts you’ll need to master. This includes either creating for yourself or outsourcing the creation of content, disturbing the content and making sure you do everything you can to ensure it spreads as widely as possible.
When you start to mine your company for the value you’re bringing make sure you take note of how you’re going to bring your unique value into the content you’re creating. Are you going to write about the most common problems your customers have and how you can solve them? Or, are you going to explain the more technical parts of your business in simpler terms, so people can better understand what you do? The options for perspectives you can take and content you can create is essentially limitless.
Another thing you’ll want to explore is your network. In some cases you may have connections that you can use in order to encourage sharing your content, or even have valuable relationships with people who have large audiences for you to post in front of.
Platform, Creation, And Expansion
In the online space your platform will be anything you’re using to broadcast your message. This includes your personal or company website, your social media account as well as any other websites, or platforms you’ll be writing on. Once you’re satisfied with the platforms you’ll be using to broadcast it’s time to start creating your content.
The first step in the content creation process is ideation. During this phase you’ll generate as many ideas as you can, so you can choose the best ones to run with.
Once you’ve found some gems, created content around those topics and posted it to the respective platforms, then it’s time to analyze the results. Effective tracking will help you to see what’s working and which campaigns you can adjust to bring in better results.
I hope you’ve found this article illuminating. A successful content marketing strategy can have a huge impact on the bottom lone of your business. Learn to effectively channel the power of content marketing by working with our C7 Creative digital marketing team.
by Calvin Bryant
Digital Marketing Geek
