Content marketing has been around for a long time and it’s still one of the top games in town, for good reason. Great content never gets old. In an online world where opinions and junk abound, well done content will always stand out, so it is worth your time to develop a strategy that will keep your business in the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Planning Your Content Strategy
Before you start producing content, you’ll want to have a plan in place. What do you hope to accomplish with your content? What type of content works best for that purpose?
Content comes in many shapes and forms, ranging from text and photos to videos and audio. Certain topics are better suited to one or another form of content, so select the one that works best for you.
It doesn’t matter what type of content you select (and it’s fine to have more than one format), make sure it’s amazing. The best content will stand out from the competition, so strive to be the best. Look at what everyone else is doing and take yours up a notch.
You will also need to consider where your content will be featured. Will you post it on your own site? On a third party site? Social media? There are plenty of options available, so there’s no need to limit yourself.
Keep It Fresh
Creating great content isn’t enough to keep you ranking high. If you write one great article and never do another one, or post a video once every six months, it won’t do you any good. Fresh content is a must. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to post on a daily basis, but setting up a publishing schedule can help you stay on track.
Fresh content doesn’t even have to be brand new. You can repurpose previous content and turn it into something unique. A blog post, for example, can be used to create a video or vice versa. Snippets from posts or articles can be posted on social media, or you can turn an article into a slideshow or gallery. The possibilities are endless and it’s often easier to repurpose content than come up with something brand new each time.
Make It Click
Engaging the emotions is a sure-fire way to get visitors invested in your content. There’s a good reason funny videos get passed around, as do those tear jerker ones. People tend to share things that make them feel something . . . so do your best to activate an emotion. Remember to end it on a positive note, however. While a sad video can really capture someone’s attention, it can also leave them feeling depressed and you really don’t want them to associate that with your company.
Activate Their Curiosity
Take a look at Instagram’s top hitters and you’ll see that they offer plenty of visually interesting images that make you want to know more. Get people to ask what the story is behind the image and they’ll click through to learn more. This works on many different platforms, with a broad range of formats. The trick is to make people curious enough to click through.
You can spark curiosity with a question, an outrageous statement or statistics that will get readers to click through to read more, watch a video, etc.
Tell a Story
Once you have people through to your main content, what are you going to tell them? Storytelling is a powerful digital marketing strategy that every company can use. Whether you post videos, photos or text, tell a story.
Stories are memorable. If you think back to a favorite childhood book, you probably still remember the storyline. Try to remember the first chapter of your grade 10 math book and you probably have trouble. Stories are what capture our minds and stick with us, which is exactly what you want your content to do.
Plan out your content marketing strategy and make it happen. Your business will benefit, as more and more customers learn about you through that content. Whether you write on your own blog, hire a ghostwriter, or simply work with social media, your company’s story is a key part of connecting with your clients.
From Lead to Lead: Building a List
Do you get the sense that you are going around in circles trying to find leads? You’ve got all sorts of ideas about how to market your product or service. All you need now to make it work is to find the right people! Building a customer base is essential for a business to succeed, so let’s take a look at how you can get more leads.
