Small, medium, large and even super-sized companies have all jumped on the content marketing train. Of course, this is largely due to the knowledge that content marketing is a very targeted and cost-effective marketing strategy when done correctly.
Content incorporated into your client's business web presence must be relevant, engaging and informative. It should not contain more than 20% sales message and should contain at least 80% useful information.
Want to use content marketing to help your clients gain more and better prospects? Here are three tips that will help:
Content Marketing Tips
1. Develop a Core Message:
Assuming that you have a blog that crosses several types of social media such as, Facebook, your website and a newsletter or feed, your message should be unified. A bicycle shop might discuss latest trends in alloys for mountain bikes on its blog one month and then the following month a piece on the best bike trails in the area. This is the rich content, the information that keeps the reader on the page.
You may include in the first post a short bit that your shop is carrying the new bikes and invite your readers to stop by for a test ride. For the piece about great bike trails, you can remind folks to come in to have their bikes checked. To gain a viral marketing quality (where readers pass on your message) you might include a gift such as a free water bottle for anyone who takes a test ride or has a bike tune up. Internet users tend to share deals with their online friends if it is attractive. Your overt message includes things of interest to biking enthusiasts; your covert message is that coming into your place of business will enhance their bike riding experience.
2. Define your target audience and discover where they hang out online.
A bike shop may appeal to outdoor recreation enthusiasts and want to write content that appeal to that market. Intuitively this makes sense, until you realize that this market is a far larger target audience than writing for biking enthusiasts.
One great advantage of content marketing is the ability to focus with laser precision your marketing message. Seventy thousand impressions with the outdoor recreation audience may result in 3,500 sign ups (5 percent click rate) for your newsletter. A smaller audience of 30,000 biking enthusiasts may return a 15 percent click rate or 4500 leads with less work and expense. Find the forums and blogs where your target audience is likely to be.
3. Create great content:
Forget everything you have heard about keyword use. Yes, keywords help in search engine optimization, but keyword stuffing will actually get you penalized as a result of recent changes to Google’s search algorithm. Writing to key words generally results in poor writing – grammatically incorrect at best, almost indecipherable at worst. Keep your writing lean. Internet readers are skimmers. Use bullet points and infographics to hold the reader’s interest. White space is good.
Remember--poor grammar and bad spelling is distracting to readers. The thought is if you are not competent enough to produce quality content than your goods or services are likely to be sub-par too. Proofread a printed copy. While spell check and grammar checking software are helpful, they are not infallible.
Maximize Return on Investment
One last thing to remember is that the purpose of your client's content is to establish you and your business as expert in your field. The information you put online is intended to attract folks to your business. This occurs as you establish credibility as expert in your field. You not only want to tell them about the latest developments, you want to explain them. Your readers want to know the benefits and any information about the latest products.
In addition, for content marketing to work it must be continuous and current. A blog with the last entry that is a month old is a sad thing to read. Keep content fresh, relevant and informative and return on investment for your client's content marketing strategy will remain high.
