In a world where over 2.14 billion people shop online, businesses need to do everything they can to cut through the noise.
One of the ways to do this is with content marketing.
Content marketing is the creation and sharing of online content, including website copy, blogs, social media posts, and videos. When done well, it nurtures customers through the sales funnel.
Wrapping your head around content marketing can be tricky. There are a lot of different avenues you can pursue, making it hard to know what you should (or shouldn’t) be doing.
In this article, we’ll outline six key steps you can take to give your content marketing efforts the best chance for success.
1. Understand what your audience wants
Before you create any type of content, you need to know two things:
- Who your target audience is
- What they want from your business
If you don’t have this information, your content will lack the direction it needs to move customers through the sales funnel. You’ll be creating and posting content that doesn’t resonate, and potential consumers won’t stick around.
So how can you find out who your audience is and what you should be showing them?
There are a few ways to tackle this.
- Analyze your existing customer base: Take a look at who’s already been buying from you. This will give you an idea of who you should be targeting.
- Research competitors: Reviewing who your competitors are targeting should give you an indication of the type of audience you should be targeting, too.
- Run some market research: Talk to consumers directly to see what they think about your product or service. You could run an online survey or host a focus group to see what consumers have to say.
Once you’ve got a good handle on this, you can start to plan and create content that resonates with your target audience.
2. Position yourself as an industry expert
To show consumers that you’re knowledgeable and trustworthy, your content should position you as an industry expert.
Take a look at Southern Air Custom Interiors as an example.
To position itself as a knowledgeable business, the company produces a variety of blog content covering topics that are relevant to its industry. This aircraft seat repair article is a prime example.
By creating a library of content similar to this, Southern Air Custom Interiors positions itself as a reliable and informed business.
So think about how you can create content to position yourself as an expert. Whether that’s writing insightful and helpful blogs about your industry or creating video how-to guides, make sure you incorporate this into your content strategy.
3. Align email marketing with your content
To be successful with content marketing, you need to think about how your content feeds into other marketing elements. If you only focus on content, you miss out on the bigger picture.
Email marketing, for example, is a popular way for businesses to connect with customers. In 2021, 77% of marketers saw more engagement with email.
So how can you make sure your email marketing efforts support your content marketing?
Here’s what we’d suggest:
- Promote your website content with email marketing: Have you published some new blogs? Or updated your website? Whatever it is, feature it in your emails. Not only will this encourage your audience to head over to your website, but it’ll also help your content reach more people.
- Direct your email audience to your social media content: In addition to your web content, use your email marketing as a way to direct people to your social media accounts. This can help increase your following and impact the performance of your social media posts.
Doing all this work is only worth it if your audience opens and reads your email. And with the average open rate sitting at 21.33%, you need to do all you can to get consumers to open your emails.
According to MailChimp, a low open rate can result from a poor email subject line.
To make sure your email subject lines are as engaging as possible, we’d suggest running a few A/B tests to see what works. You can test different formats and styles to see what works best for your audience.
4. Consider translating your content
41.76 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home — and this is just one example of the many languages that people speak there.
Here’s the full list:
By having your content in one language, you risk alienating people who don’t speak English as their first language.
So if you want to broaden your reach and attract an international audience, your content needs to be translated. In doing so, you’re inviting a massive number of potential consumers into the conversation.
There are a couple of ways to approach content translation, but we’d recommend using machine learning technology alongside a professional translator or agency.
Although machine learning tools like Google Translate are more reliable today than ever before, it’s not the ideal website translation method. A machine simply can’t pick up the nuances of language in the same way a person can.
Not to mention, you’ll need someone to make sure the keywords and phrases are still in your content. That’s where a professional translator who can speak conversational Spanish comes in.
You’ll save yourself time and money by translating text in bulk with technology, but get the accuracy, tone, and detail you need by having a translator edit the text.
5. Choose the right content types
We’ve already touched on how content marketing incorporates various content types.
Take a look at Real Thread as an example. On this page of its website, it features a variety of content types to explain its services. It has images, videos, and a step-by-step guide, all on a single page.
Or look at this website by Ultimate Meal Plans.
In addition to featuring some popular recipes on its homepage, it also has FAQs and a list of five reasons why meal planning is essential.
But with so many to choose from, how do you know which types of content to use?
Truth be told, we can’t answer this question for you. It’s up to you to determine what content resonates with your audience.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are some different types of content you might want to consider:
- Blog articles
- Listicles
- How-to guides
- Ebooks
- Website copy
- Social media posts
- Videos
- Case studies
The best way to figure out which of these content types are right for your business is to give them a try.
Start publishing and posting different types of content and track their performance.
The content types with the most engagement and traffic are likely to be the ones you should pursue.
6. Utilize customer reviews
By promoting and utilizing your customer reviews as part of your content marketing efforts, potential customers will perceive your brand as trustworthy.
And when consumers trust a brand, they’re more likely to buy. In fact, 7 out of 10 customers will buy from brands they trust and abandon those they don’t.
So how can you incorporate customer reviews as part of your content marketing?
You can either promote customer reviews on your social media channels, use paid advertising to get the reviews in front of potential customers, or put customer reviews on your website.
Homestead Supplier is a great example of the latter. Amidst its homepage content, the company has embedded three customer reviews.
Think about how you can maximize the value of your customer reviews. This will help you build relationships with potential consumers and show them that you’re a trusted and reliable company.
Improve your content marketing tactics today
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About the Author: Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, content marketing, and SEO. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Content Solutions, a digital marketing agency. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.