Over the years, the majority of businesses have switched to applying content marketing strategies from traditional marketing practices. Content marketing is the provision and sharing of online content such as blogs, memes, informative or humorous videos, and social media posts. While content marketing does not directly sell the products, it subtly promotes the brand in a way to generate consumers’ interest.
Due to the increasing popularity of content marketing, a variety of firms have initiated this project to promote their brand. However, as this approach is vastly different from the traditional approach, the lack of experience causes the success of the results to oscillate. Hence, it is essential for organisations to understand the key principles that contribute to an effective content marketing strategy:
Recognise the audience demographic: Content marketing can only be effective if it appeals to the audience. Many companies attempt to reach out to every demographic but suffer backlash due to the vast differences in the modes of thinking. Following from this, every organisation is required to analyse the products and services they offer and identify the type of market; the products will appeal to.
In addition to defining who the product/service is being directed towards, it is also vital to understand the likes and dislikes of the target audience. The organisation is required to step inside the minds of the consumer market to create content that is both appealing and engaging. For instance, Zomato, an application to find restaurants, (available in 24 countries) is set out mostly for a younger group of individuals. This company pursued content marketing through social media platforms and by using pop-culture references to create their social media posts. Due to this marketing strategy, the company gained approximately 1.3 million followers on Twitter and Facebook along with 191 million visits per month. Hence, with a precisely determined audience, any organisation can use content marketing to build its name.
Clearly define the company’s brand: Similar to identifying the demographics, it is equally important for companies to define the brand. The construction of a brand depends upon the distinguishing qualities of the product offered by the company. With a well-defined brand, a company can convince their customers regarding the competitive advantage they offer. Essentially, for content marketing, having a well-established brand is essential. As a result of this, the content created for marketing should be directly related to the brand.
Furthermore, before the generation of creative content, the company must consider how they desire to be perceived by their consumers. Taking the example of Rolex watches, the company’s brand is all about the luxurious lifestyle. Hence, the marketing teams at Rolex, knowing their brand, have selected social media platforms that allow visual stimulation to appeal to its customers. Currently, Rolex comprises an Instagram page, dedicated to images of their various watches, all presenting the rich, expensive lifestyle. This page alone has more than seven million followers, thus demonstrating the effect of understanding the brand.
Yield the most results from the website: In content marketing, the company’s website can be the most expedient tool to expand the existing degree of awareness regarding the brand. In the world of digital marketing, standing out from billions of other websites require extreme creativity. While that is hard to achieve, many companies settle for blogging. In the current day, companies rely on blogging to attract traffic to their websites. Blogging facilitates additional traffic as well as leads as it comprises keywords, generated through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). The tools that determine the SEO ranking work by determining the most searched item in any search engine. On that premise, organisations discover the mindset of their customers and therefore, integrate those keywords subtly in their blogs. Ergo, when the particular keyword is entered in the search engine, the said search engine contrasts the words against its database of stored files and consequently, displays the results in the series of most matched items to least matched items.
Essentially, writing blogs on the company’s website proves itself to be expedient as it exposes the website to a myriad of new users. Furthermore, blogging expands the company’s existence on the internet, thus generating more traffic. However, in content marketing, blogging should be done meticulously. A 20 – 80 rule of blogging allows the website to retain its customers while informing them regarding the company’s new products. This rule suggests that the 80% of the blogs displayed on the website are dedicated to informing the readers about the various brand-related struggles they may face whereas, the other 20% must be directed towards the promotion of the brand products. To further generate traffic to the blog posts, organisations can share their blogs on the various social media platforms with a link that directs the user to the website.
Discover the optimum means of communication: Communication between customers and organisations is the key to the construction of loyal relationships. Hence, the company must find a way to have open communication with its consumers. In addition to the website, the organisation is required to have additional channels that can facilitate communication between and with customers. These channels can either be in the form of e-mail advertisements or newsletters. Furthermore, companies can also use social media platforms to form a personable relationship with customers. Organisations can encourage their clients to communicate their thoughts and opinions on the various platforms provided to them.
Promulgate and generate intriguing content: Essentially, for effective content marketing, it is crucial for organisations to create content that is captivating for the audience demographic. This content is generated after completely understanding the brand as well as the type of people it is directed towards. To generate fascinating content, the company must hire resources that understand and have a similar thought process as the selected audience. Organisations can share the content in the form of humorous or influential videos that fit the brief of the brand. In addition to videos, businesses can use memes, or blog posts or informative ideas that are enlightening for the customers. A company should not only be restricted to sharing posts that are created originally, but they can also share popular posts on the internet after crediting the source. However, in doing so, it is essential to only share the content that is related to the brand.
Furthermore, the use of social media platforms can also be useful in displaying entrancing content. In order to have effective content marketing, the organisation must create value with every single post. Hence, every tweet, post or blog share must be pre-planned and examined before publishing.
Content marketing requires the amalgamation of traditional and e-commerce marketing. Thus, it is crucial for any company to hire qualified resources to perform this task with full efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of content marketing is to attract more customers towards the products/ services offered and to expand the brand. Essentially, organisations switching to content marketing seek to understand and communicate with their customer base, define their brands and use their website as well as the various social media platforms to promote the products by the use of captivating content.
Author Bio
Hi, This is Steve Dalton from England and he is getting higher education from Cambridge University. he also loves to get assistance from UK Essay Writers Online projects.
