Introduction
Content is the heart of any successful marketing strategy. What’s more, quality content will help your business grow. In today’s world, businesses can do well using a variety of different content marketing strategies to reach their target audiences. But one thing that remains constant across all industries: Quality content matters.
Following are the list of content marketing strategies:
Create a Newsletter Subscription List
Creating an email list is a key part of content marketing, and it can be a powerful tool for building your business.
For example, most of the major weight loss blogs out there have built large email subscriber lists (sometimes over 10,000 subscribers).
This is one of the best ways to build an ongoing relationship with your audience and keep them coming back for more. To do this effectively, you need to put some time into growing your email list in the early.
You will also need to think about when you want to start sending out an automated email newsletter or when you should use social media to promote your content.
Building up an effective subscriber list is something that takes time and commitment.
It’s not going to happen overnight—it might take several months just getting up and running.
But starting early means that you’ll be able to leverage those subscribers when it comes time for expanding your business down the line.
Build a email list with the right people on it.
Your list is only valuable if the people on it are actually interested in your content.
You can’t just get everyone to sign up for your list and hope for the best. Even if you don’t know who your perfect customer is yet, you can still give them a reason to subscribe.
Offer them something enticing in exchange for their email address, like a free guide or access to more exclusive content.
The key here is giving away something of value that they’ll want to sign up for. Anything from an informative e-book, a series of blog posts, or a video course could work well here.
So, if you have a product idea in mind already, think about What kind of information would help that particular type of customer make their decision.
This way, when you do have something ready to sell, later on, it will be much easier to pitch it directly using a sales funnel.
Know your audience and build your content accordingly.
Content marketing is about building a relationship with your audience.
The first step to building a relationship is truly understanding who you’re talking to and what they want. This isn’t rocket science—it’s just good business sense.
Why would you try to build something for someone when you don’t know what they’re looking for?
Your job as a content strategist is not to tell your audience what they should think or how they should feel. Your job is to give them exactly what they want, even if it’s not in line with your own goals or expectations.
Do research on who your audience is before you start writing so that you can speak directly to them.
This might seem obvious, but I’m continually amazed at the number of marketers who aren’t doing this already.
What do we think our readers will like? instead of “What do our readers actually like?” And guess, which approach has always proved more effective?
Write blog posts.
There’s no question that blogging is an effective content marketing strategy.
No other type of content is as inherently shareable and search engine friendly as a blog post.
That said, you don’t want to focus all your energy solely on producing blog posts. Doing so would take time away from other types of content such as white papers, ebooks, or videos.
Blogging also has the unique ability to help build your email list.
For most businesses, email lists are the largest source of subscribers, which makes them valuable both in terms of direct marketing value and in terms of SEO growth.
In addition to writing blog posts, consider using email capture forms on key pages such as your homepage or landing pages to capture new contacts for your database.
Blogging is an excellent tactic for inbound marketing strategy. It’s also one of the cheapest ways to start improving your brand awareness.
- The first step is coming up with a topic—and try to choose something that you’re knowledgeable about and passionate about!
- Then, come up with a compelling headline, write a strong introduction, make sure your body copy is easy to read, and make it easy for readers to share your content.
- Don’t forget SEO! If you want your content to be found through search engines, you need to write posts that are optimized for SEO.
- To do this successfully, use long-tail keywords in your headlines.
Link to other sites’ content, as long as you don’t violate their rules.
If you have a blog post authored by someone else and want to promote it, that’s fine—as long as the author gives you permission. The same is true for social media posts, directories, or any other type of website.
When you link to another website, give credit to the original author or source whenever possible.
Make sure you are linking to authoritative sites with good reputations and only link to content that is relevant and helpful.
If your post received a lot of traffic because of a particular blog post on your site, link back when possible and appropriate.
Give away something for free in return for email addresses.
You can gauge whether or not your freebie is desirable by looking at the results.
If it’s popular, you know your customer base has a need or desire that you have to fulfill with your products, services, and content. If it’s not popular, consider rethinking your strategy.
Your freebie should be easy to sign up for because if it’s too difficult, you’re likely to lose customers before they even get their hands on the product.
Include links for sharing the download on social media so that customers can easily refer their friends and followers to your site.
There are many ways you can approach creating giveaway ebooks and white papers, webinars and short video series, trial versions of software products, or sample chapters of books.
The key is to make sure that whatever you choose is high quality so that users will see what a valuable resource your business is!
Guest blog
One good way to pursue those opportunities is by writing a guest post on someone else’s website. It can be a great tool to reach new audiences, build credibility, and get more traffic back to your own site.
You might even get a chance to publish something on an influential site with a big following.
Just don’t forget to include calls-to-action that lead people back to your own content!
After all, if you’re going through the trouble of writing something for someone else’s site, it would be a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity and drive some traffic back to your own posts.
Social media curation
Social media curation is the process of sharing relevant content with your network.
It should be a part of every content marketing strategy, but it’s important to do so in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re just promoting yourself all the time.
By sharing someone else’s opinion or information on a topic related to your business, you take the pressure off of having to always create something new. You gain credibility by showing you have a vast knowledge of industry-related topics beyond what you produce for your own brand.
It’s important not to overdo it . You don’t want your social media presence to seem like one big advertisement.
One tool that can help with curation is IFTTT (If This Then That), which allows you to automatically share content from certain websites and keywords in real-time.
You can also use social media scheduling tools like Hootsuite, which can schedule curated posts along with your own content weeks or even months in advance.
Some ideas for where and what to share include:
– On Facebook: Share news articles related directly or indirectly (e.g., an article about an organization similar in size and mission)
– On Twitter: Tweet thought leadership pieces and quotes that inspire business growth
– On LinkedIn: Share industry research reports
– On Pinterest: Pin infographics
Know your target audience and make educated decisions about what content to create when to publish it, and where to share it online.
A clear picture of your ideal customers allows you to create marketing messages that speak directly to their needs and concerns in their own language.
Influencer marketing
Influencers are people who resonate with your target audience because they've established credibility in the market.
Influencer marketing used to be something brands did by accident. They’d send a product sample to an influential blogger, and end up with a positive blog post about their brand.
Today, influencer marketing is more intentional and sophisticated than that—it’s become an essential part of any content strategy.
Influencers have a loyal following and have the power to sway their fans’ purchasing decisions. Brands work with influencers to tap into their audiences, share branded messages and drive traffic back to their own sites.
Think of influencer marketing as word-of-mouth in social media.
The average person trusts recommendations from friends, family members, colleagues, and even strangers online more than they trust traditional advertising like commercials or magazine ads.
Influencers are essentially online “friends” who can vouch for your brand—and extend your reach beyond your existing network of fans, followers, or customers.
Webinars
Webinars are generally live presentations that are viewed through your computer via the internet.
Webinars provide a great platform for delivering information in real-time without having to make trips back and forth between locations.
There’s no face-to-face interaction with your audience, but you can often gauge interest by how many people stay on the line throughout the presentation. You can also see their questions and comments as they type them in during the presentation!
Social Media Publishing
Social media publishing is alive and well, but it’s important to note that in order for it to be effective, your social posts must be published at the right time.
- Tailor each of your social messages to the audience they are intended for.
- Publish on the platforms where your target audience hangs out most frequently.
- Link to outside sources as well as sharing content from other publishers that are relevant to your audience’s interests.
This will help build trust and loyalty among readers who may not be familiar with you or your brand. If done correctly, this should help generate leads.
Thought leadership
Thought leadership is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the business world.
However, unless you know what it means, and how you can take advantage of this trend, then it may as well be gibberish.
So, what exactly is thought leadership?
Establish yourself as experts in your field through
- Publications
- Media appearances
- Public speaking engagements
- Blog or podcasts.
This helps to make your brand more visible and accessible to potential customers.
A solid thought leadership strategy will help you build authority and trust amongst people who share common interests with yours and further establishes the credibility.
SEO-driven content marketing
First of all, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about what SEO is.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a type of marketing that focuses on improving your website’s ranking in search results when people look up certain terms related to your niche.
For example, if you’re a coffee shop and someone searches “best coffee near me,” you want to be one of the first places that show up in their results.
This can yield long-term benefits by driving more people to your website and helping them find what they’re looking for.
However, there’s an important thing to note: content marketing and SEO are two sides of the same coin—they work best together!
You can’t have one without the other.
Blogger outreach campaigns
Benefits of blogger outreach campaigns
- Increase the reach of your content to new audiences
- Gaining a link from an influencer’s blog can lead to better rankings in search engines
- Your brand gets exposure through guest posts on top blogs, which build trust and credibility with your target audience
Surveys and online research
You can use surveys and online research to find out more about your customers, your competition, and the overall market.
Use surveys to find out:
- – Your customers’ buying habits
- – How loyal your customers are to you and your competitors
- – What makes your products truly unique or valuable to them
Interviews and podcasts
Interviews and podcasts are another good way to reach customers and expand your audience.
There’s a wide range of ways you can do this, from
- Q&A sessions with an expert on your site
- Facebook Live interviews with industry leaders
- Pre-recorded podcast interviews that involve typing up questions and sending them to the interviewee by email.
Whichever way you choose, this strategy is another great way to share information about your industry in a unique format that’s highly engaging.
SlideShare presentations
With over 18 million unique visitors per month and 70 million page views, it is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations.
SlideShare is a professional content-sharing community where you can upload PDFs, documents, and videos to be viewed by millions of people. You can share your best content with a relevant audience who is already looking for what you have to offer.
Although SlideShare is not as well known as other social media platforms, it has been around since 2006.
With a loyal following and millions of monthly visitors, SlideShare has become one of the most valuable sites for sharing content online.
Content upgrades
Content upgrades are an effective way to collect more email opt-ins, generate leads, and boost conversions.
A content upgrade is a content-specific lead magnet. It’s basically a piece of extra content or resources that visitors can download if they subscribe to your email list.
The idea behind content upgrades is pretty simple: Give readers something relevant and useful in exchange for their email address.
Visual content marketing (infographics, videos)
In order to capture and retain the attention of your audience, you need to offer them something that is visually engaging.
Visual content marketing, including videos and infographics, are great ways to create content that will resonate with your audience.
Here are a few reasons why:
- They’re easy for people to digest.
- They can improve the user experience of your website.
- They’re more likely to go viral, which will help increase brand awareness and build links back to your website from other websites or social media platforms.
Microsites and landing pages
With microsites and landing pages, you can launch a website for your content marketing campaign.
A microsite is a subset of your main website. Visitors who come to the subset will only see pages built around a specific topic.
A microsite will allow you to immerse yourself in one area and provide more information about it than your main site can offer.
It’s like an extension of your existing site but built around a different topic.
For example, if you host job listings on your landing page, you could create a microsite that gives more detailed information and advice about how to apply. What skills are required for various roles.
- Many brands use microsites as part of their content marketing strategy because they generate leads and engage with immersive experiences.
- They also help boost SEO efforts while keeping everything under one roof without diverting traffic away from where you want people visiting most: the product itself!
- Landing pages are another type of sub-site that can be used in conjunction with an advertising campaign or social media promotion.
Newsjacking
Newsjacking is one of the best ways to create trending content and get media coverage. The strategy involves writing content on the latest news or trends in your industry.
Trending content gets more likes and shares on social media and you can target it to your ideal audience using Facebook ads.
Google Trends can help you generate ideas for trending content, but ensure that your articles are relevant to your brand.
If you do newsjacking, then do it fast because popular trends loose their luster quickly!
Breaking content into the series.
Breaking your content into series is one of the best ways you can keep people coming back to your blog.
People love being able to read a small amount of information and then move on with their day. It’s much easier than reading a 1,000-word post all in one sitting.
Every week, you can break your posts into three parts: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each part delves deeper into a topic that you want to post.
It allows you to go deeper than if one long article on the same topic.
Ebooks & Whitepapers.
An ebook is a content piece similar to a long-form blog post, which is delivered in PDF form. It can include images, videos, infographics, and other types of media.
A whitepaper is an informative report that discusses the issues and solutions around a specific topic.
They are used to attract email subscribers by providing value for readers. A good white paper should be somewhere between 3-15 pages long depending on your topics.
Conclusion
Good content will always be necessary if you want to win the hearts of your customers and generate sales. I hope you liked the above content marketing strategies that will help you win customers.