Content Marketing is a marketing strategy

Content Marketing is a marketing strategy focused on creating and distributing relevant content (such as articles, ebooks and posts on social networks), without explicitly promoting the brand. With Content Marketing, the company helps its target audience to solve their problems and becomes an authority on the subject.

What is Content Marketing

When starting a Digital Marketing strategy , every marketer finds this front called Content Marketing. But what does it mean, after all?

Going straight to the point, Content Marketing is the strategy of producing content for your target audience, which helps you in the whole buying process and attracts you to you in a natural and spontaneous way. It is the fuel of Inbound Marketing .

The idea is to inform people so that in the future they will not only respect your brand and have it as a reference, but also become customers of your company.

We can say that the meaning of Content Marketing is relatively new. It was only in this new century that this concept was forged and that studies, analyzes and experiments began to be carried out.

However, its applications were already happening even before the digital age. Yes, that strategy also exists offline. And it's been a long time!

But how so? Isn't that part of Inbound Marketing? How could it exist before the rise of the internet?

Let's contextualize it historically with a classic example.

In 1895, John Deere, a leading company in the agricultural machinery segment, published the first edition of the magazine “The Furrow”. The publication is still in circulation today and is focused on issues related to agriculture.

With this magazine, John Deere dared, and chose to share content with the public interested in agriculture instead of simply creating ads “pushing” the products that are manufactured by the company.

Content Marketing is not about what your company does, but about what your customers need

It is true that not all readers of the magazine had John Deere tractors, but by consuming the information of the brand, they could discover pains that they thought were nonexistent until then. And when they feel the need to make a purchase, they would choose a trusted brand.

In other words, the magazine fulfills exactly the purpose of the concept: educating the public, gaining authority on the subject and influencing the purchase decision. It is one of the first records of Content Marketing, and since then, several brands have made use of the practice.

In short: Content Marketing is talking about your niche market. Unlike a press release or traditional marketing release, it’s not about what your company does, but what your customers need!

WHAT CONTENT MARKETING MEANS

A good promotion strategy in the online environment, which is more and more sought after nowadays, is to do content marketing . What this means? Basically provide quality information, free of charge, in order to build an audience of people interested in the field you represent. The information provided should not be promotional, but should be designed to help readers solve various problems or learn new things. And if your audience comes to consider you an authority in the field, surely those interested in your products or services will turn to you when they want to buy.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO DO CONTENT MARKETING

First of all we want to mention that there are a lot of free things that you can find in the online environment. These are offered by both the largest retailers and the smallest entrepreneurs. If you want to apply an online marketing strategy then you have to offer something for free to your potential customers. This is where a content marketing strategy comes into play . This will help you become an authority in the field you represent and thus gain the trust of your audience or potential customers.

SOME USEFUL TIPS WHEN YOU WANT TO DO CONTENT MARKETING

Focus on specific things . Give your audience content on a specific topic, not to mention several things. There is a lot of general content about a multitude of areas, so in order to stand out you will have to talk about things that are as accurate as possible.

Don't promote yourself . The purpose of the content you write is to attract your audience, not to promote yourself. People do not want to read about companies that are being promoted but want to discover content that can help them enrich their knowledge about certain areas or solve various problems. If you want to do content marketing you have to offer high quality content for free.

Monitors the results of the applied strategy . Find out which blog posts are the most read or which are the most viewed videos. Also find out what content is ignored by your readers. This way you will understand why your audience is interested and you will have the opportunity to offer them more.

Post diverse content . Try to diversify things and post both text articles and images, videos, infographics, audio materials or why not e-books. Also, try to include all this content in your strategy Social Media Marketing.

A content marketing strategy can be very useful in the long run. It really takes a long time to become an authority in the field that represents you, but once you get there your opinion will be more than important for your audience and the products and services you promote will be much sought after.

Marketing strategies are not as simple as they once were. Gone are the days of billboards, advertisements, newspaper ads and leaflets. Online content marketing is the fastest way to reach a wide audience. If you have a small business, here are four helpful tips to help you do content marketing without too much money. 

• Content marketing or "Content Marketing" is the creation and distribution of content in order to promote a product or service. Although this content will not specifically focus on your organization or its offering, articles created to promote it often include a mix of information about specific issues and solutions. The purpose of the content is to communicate value to users. Content marketing is a component of SEO.

Statistics prove that more and more entrepreneurs in the online area understand from year to year how much content marketing is worth. A Twitter survey, hosted in 2017, showed that 91% of respondents are involved in content marketing, which is solid evidence that it is popular and effective. 

It takes a little experience to know how to set your content marketing strategy. According to the same study, only 53% of those respondents said they had a specialist working on content. This is proof that many business owners are engaged in content marketing on their own. Here are four helpful tips to help you do content marketing without too much money. 

Make a strategy

You don't have to read a dozen marketing books to know that you need a promotion plan. Due to the massive amount of technology available, marketing plans are no longer simple strategies. The intention of marketing is to reach the largest possible audience, and your content page must be vast and varied. Simply updating the online store is not enough to attract a steady amount of internet traffic.

You need to work to develop and document a multi-level strategy so that content marketing reaches a wider audience. Here are three ways to focus your content on an audience that meets your needs:

Identifies (or redefines) the target audience. If you haven't already done so, you should determine the customer model you want by setting your age, gender, lifestyle and target income. Ask yourself if this person can spend time online. Do you enjoy blogging, social content or news content? This will determine the type of content you need to provide.

Create an editorial calendar. It takes one to make sure you're consistent with your content delivery. It will guide you when the content needs to be created and how often it should be distributed. Your audience will depend on your consistency, and then your site will become a trusted source for customers.

Distribution of materials . With the help of the editorial calendar, you can follow the distribution line. Never neglect content targeting and timing when allocating a budget to content marketing. You need to publish the content to the right people at the right time. Don't be afraid to be creative with the content, but make sure it's appropriate for current events. Holidays, big sporting events and important news can be closely linked to your marketing strategy. This will generate more traffic, be more attractive to the public and bring you the highest increase in sales. 

Diversify the content

Variety is the spice of content marketing, especially when working on a tight budget. You should change the content topics as well as the delivery method. Don't settle for short headlines on your blog or social media page. Read the sites to understand what your audience is talking about and use this to your advantage. Industry news, trends and new legislation affecting your audience are always helpful.

If you publish one article per week, consider combining it with a video or podcast. If you don't know how to make a video, do a quick Google search and see what quick and cheap ways you can find to make marketing videos. 

You should also alternate the format and length of the content. You can make short, concise posts of 400 words or much longer articles. If you have time, create long posts or guides and ebooks. They are also an option that can separate you from the competition and can brand your page as an informed and detailed one. People like to trust the companies they do business with, to be educated by them, to be invited and involved in debates. 

Use customer posts 

A creative and free technique for creating content is to invite customers to contribute to your page. Many business experts, bloggers or other professionals want to help publish their names. When customers create original posts for your site or social media page, you receive free content, and they will receive visibility. It is a "business" for both parties.
And don't forget to be creative because experts in the field and local celebrities are the possible options. Be open to anyone who can provide high quality, free content that your audience is interested in. 

Ask for help 

The task of marketing content on the social media page, or on the blog may seem daunting or time consuming, but there is always the option of hiring someone to do so. 

Last year's marketing trends are an indicator of the importance of content marketing in 2018. Your business should use content marketing to stay competitive within your verticals.