Content marketing is often considered to be one of the most effective types of digital marketing. It’s used widely by businesses of all sizes. To get you started, you need to know and understand the techniques that will aid you in creating an impactful content marketing strategy. Here are ten powerful tips for effective content marketing.
#1 Put Quality Over Quantity
You should always prioritize quality over quantity. Creating too much poor-quality content will do you no good. In fact, it can actually spoil your reputation and decrease your authority — which is not how you boost your SEO metrics.
When you put quality first, you establish yourself as a brand that creates content of good quality and values its audience. Of course, high-quality content requires more time and resources to be created. But once you get the hang of it, you will be able to create a lot of high-quality content relatively quickly as you understand what your leads find valuable.
#2 Use Metrics to Evaluate Content
Once you’ve created your content, you should be using metrics to evaluate its performance. If you’re putting out content without paying attention to your audience’s reaction, you won’t know whether it’s effective in achieving your content and marketing goals — attracting more traffic to your website, having more people share your content on social media, and so on.
You may be using some metrics already – but using only some of them is doing only part of the job. You’ll need to take a look at your content and website metrics as a whole to understand how your leads are finding your website and how your content performs.
#3 Reuse and Recycle Content
Reusing and recycling content is actually a great way to save time and resources while still seeing results. When you reuse content that has performed well before, it’s likely to continue to perform well with a refresh of information.
#4 Make Use of Storytelling
Storytelling is by far one of the most powerful tools a brand has. Storytelling is what builds the relationship between a business and its audience. By using stories to humanize your brand, you build trust in your organization and sell solutions to a problem that will be more appealing to your audience.
Storytelling is also about finding what your audience values, what they are interested in, what their pain points are, and what they find interesting. This will allow you to find and craft stories that will connect with them effectively and authentically.
#5 Experiment with Content Types
Effective content marketing finds what specifically works for your brand and audience. Experimenting with content types and formats can help you figure out what types of media your audience finds most informative and engaging. Here are some content types to try:
- Articles/Blog Posts: Articles and blog posts can be posted on your website, blog, and social media profiles.
- Emails/Newsletters: Emails and newsletters are sent out directly to your subscribers. This gives you an easy and unique opportunity to speak directly to your leads and customers. Use it wisely.
- Images/Photographs/Illustrations: Images are a crucial component of any content piece and can also be standalone offerings.
- Infographics/Graphs/Presentations: Infographics and graphs are an ideal way to explain processes or statistics. Presentations can be used to establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
- Videos/Animations: Videos and animations can be used across your website, blog, social media profiles, and YouTube channel.
- Case Studies/White Papers: Case studies and white papers support your claims with data and establish trust in your business and brand.
- eBooks: eBooks can be offered as a special but free content download. This gives you an opportunity to share more in-depth information with your leads and capture their information in exchange.
- Podcasts: Podcasts are HUGE these days. You can get in on the action and provide valuable information about your industry or expertise.
- Webinars/Courses: Webinars and courses help you educate your audience.
- Interviews/Q&As: Interviews and Q&As help you introduce industry professionals to your audience or provide more information about your brand.
#6 Diversify Keyword Choices
Keyword research is essential – and everyone knows it. But not everyone remembers that keyword diversification can help you reach wider audiences. Updating and diversifying your keywords on a regular basis helps you reach more people that are searching for new terms.
#7 Back Up Arguments with Data
As mentioned above, studies and whitepapers are influential content tools to backup your claims with data. Statistics can be particularly helpful as they allow you to present numbers alongside the emotional storytelling elements. Some of your leads may respond better to cold facts while others are more susceptible to relatable storytelling, which is why combining the two is so important.
#8 Include User-Generated Content
User-generated content is content created by your audience. Including user content in your content marketing allows you to reduce content creation time and expenses just like reusing and recycling content does. Moreover, user content can be a part of your storytelling tactics because it shows your audience that you care about their opinion, and you see what they are doing for your brand.
#9 Keep an Eye on Competitors
You are probably already keeping an eye on your industry as a whole for content ideas and topics, but it’s worth looking directly at what your competitors are doing, too. This will give you an idea about your competitor’s content marketing strategy and, consequently, what you can do to improve your own strategy by using some of their techniques and topics.
#10 Combine with Other Types of Marketing
Last of all, combining content marketing with other types of marketing is a great idea. For example, using PPC (pay-per-click) ads to promote your content will help you get more traffic to your website. Likewise, you can promote your social media profiles on your website and vice versa.
Final Thoughts
Content marketing is a strategy that many organizations don’t put as much time, energy, or money into as they should. Your content is the foundation of your website and digital strategy, and is the key to an effective inbound approach. These tips will help you get started and allow you to create a way more efficient and effective content marketing strategy that will help your business get the attention it deserves.
Mary Landers is a freelance writer with a broad outlook. She currently works as an Editor at Writing Judge reviewing a variety of writing services websites. She is also actively involved in writing articles for the Best Writers Online and Online Writers Rating review website. The main topics of her materials are business, marketing, and education.
