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It’s only natural for a business to strive towards organic growth and expansion over time. In order to successfully grow a business, you need to have a content marketing strategy. Whether you operate as a small independent startup or a large international corporation, your content marketing will shape the way your brand is perceived.
According to Hub Spot, only 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates. This shows a disconnect between businesses and their consumers in terms of what types of content customers want to see before making a purchase.
A content strategy consists of different platforms, resources, and methods you need to know how to employ and use. According to research done by Mark Growth, 47% of customers go through 3-5 pieces of branded content before making a final purchase decision.
Combining the right content types with great ideas and topics found in your industry will allow you to raise your conversion rates, engage more customers and create better brand awareness. All of these factors combined will amount to your business’ growth so finding a right balance is important. With that said, here’s a list of 6 content marketing essentials you need to know about.
1. Blogging
Starting a blog is the core of content marketing. Providing quality, informative and trending content will lead the readers to your website or online store. Make it consistent and make sure it adds value to the reader. All you have to do to start a blog of your own is to create a section titled “Blog” on your company website.
You can create engaging articles on numerous topics surrounding your brand and industry. Your followers would likely be interested in your comments on trending news, common industry problems and any tips or tricks you have to share. It’s quite easy to spark discussions through calls to action in your blog posts, allowing for further audience interaction right there on your website.
Sharing relevant, actionable content with your audience will spread positive word of mouth about your brand and attract more leads and customers to the website. Not to mention the positive effect blogging will bring to your SEO optimization and search engine ranking. Remember that blogging is a constant activity and that you will always have to be ready to publish a new piece to keep things fresh and interesting.
2. Social Media
Being present and active on social media is a must. Social media allow you to communicate with your customers, learn about them, and advertise on a low budget. With billions of daily users, you just need to pick your target audience.
Whether you choose Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn, you need to tailor your content to the specific social media platform. Platforms such as Facebook offer content sharing possibilities (such as your blog posts) while professional platforms such as LinkedIn offer more in-depth networking possibilities.
Social media increases the chances of your content going viral and for it to be shared among friends and acquaintances with a press of a button. Live activities such as video chats, quizzes and surveys are also a possibility, meaning that you can get creative with your content creation and marketing.
Social media platforms allow for an unprecedented level of access and interactivity with a global audience. However, managing multiple social media pages will require you to place a dedicated manager in the position of a brand representative. This should be a talkative and knowledgeable individual who will be able to represent your company in full capacity with the social media audience.
3. Influencers
Working with popular internet personas might be the solution to your content marketing worries. Teaming up with an influencer is a smart move to make when growing a business. Influencers typically operate on social media and content platforms such as YouTube. These individuals are influential (pun intended) in their social circles and followings, making them perfect candidates for collaboration.
People need to learn about you and an influencer already has a base of loyal followers. All you need to do is create a sales pitch for the influencer in question and offer certain incentives in exchange for the marketing services. Some influencers have flat monetary rates for marketing while others might settle for free products or service subscription with your website.
Remember that you should only work with influencers who have some type of connection with the industry your company operates in. Collaborating with a fitness influencer if you provide online security services won’t yield an adequate return on investment on your part. The level of access these individuals have cannot be reached through in-house marketing efforts. Choose an influencer according to your budget and try sealing a deal.
4. Localizing Your Content
Expand your audience and conquer other markets. One of the best ways to increase your brand’s popularity and market awareness is through localization. Choosing several global languages to translate to such as Spanish, Italian and German will put your brand name on the global market, unlike any other marketing effort.
Translate your content to different languages to go from local to global. You can do so in-house if you have native speakers and copywriting staff ready for translation. However, in case you don’t, you can refer to professional platforms such as Pick Writers which will help you choose localization services depending on your brand’s marketing needs.
You should make a clear distinction between translation and localization, however, since the former might go over many people’s heads. Localize your content, especially blog and social media posts in order to get your point across correctly. Localization provides a high return on investment as it will enable people from across the globe to use your products and services without an intermediary or a reseller.
5. Videos
As we’ve mentioned previously, video content platforms are used by billions each day. Open a YouTube channel and start making useful how-to videos or tutorials, linking it to your business. You can add extensive descriptions to your videos and add numerous important links in regards to your company. In doing so, you will lead viewers directly into your brand’s product portfolio, blog or other purchase incentives.
However, the production values of your videos will speak volumes about who you are as a company. You need to make sure that your videos are representative, high in quality and branded with your logo and visual identity. This will create an innate connection between your videos and the products that carry your brand.
Whether you opt for discussion videos, interviews, tutorials or top ten lists, make sure that they are original and relevant to your target audience. People love these types of videos and if you make them properly, you might hit a high number of subscribers. Not only that, but your overall internet popularity will spike as a result, leading to more website traffic and leads which will grow your business.
6. Email Marketing
Lastly, email marketing opens up a lot of new doors. Despite what you may have heard email is alive and well, used by billions across the world. This makes email marketing a logical step in ensuring that your business grows.
You can inform your customers about a sale, discounts and special offers; you can invite them to shop your latest products; you can ask them to take a survey; you can remind them how cool you are. All you have to do is create a sales pitch which will correspond with your target audience’s wants and needs.
For example, millennials might be enticed by short-form content with appealing visuals. Older generations might be more appreciative of PDF catalogues of your products or even a video demonstration. You also need to be mindful of your email marketing timing, subject line and opening depending on the target audience you want to attract. Platforms such as Grammarly and Hemingway can help you achieve maximum legibility and reading flow so check them out.
Make sure to hit a perfect balance between these groups and use an email marketing management platform such as Mail Chimp. This will allow you to manage your mail lists and engagement rates more clearly, leading to further growth and refinement of your content marketing strategy.
Conclusion
It takes time, effort and strategic planning to grow a business. Marketing is an essential part of business growth, especially in today’s competitive market.
It may seem daunting at first to fight for the spotlight with so many brands and companies which will do their best to be the industry leader at the end of the day. Once you have your content types lined up and create your first content calendar, the process of marketing will be much smoother.
Make sure to follow the essentials we’ve outlined above and start working on reaching your 2020 business goals. With the right approach, your audience will slowly form around your brand and you will be able to make the most of your product portfolio and content marketing.
Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she had found herself as a freelance writer. She observes with a special interest how the latest achievements in media and technology help to grow readership and revenue and shares her opinion. You can find her on Facebook.
