Content Marketing begins with planning and strategizing. It then encompasses the creation of the content, sharing, publishing, and distributing it.
But what can be achieved by content marketing?
Augmenting brand awareness and boosting sales are the two primary objectives.
But most companies use content marketing on a large-scale basis to drive customer engagement, and lead generation and connect at a deeper level with the audience.
Is content marketing a simple process?
No.
It is pretty long-drawn and needs patient handling because results come in late. The key is to be consistent and creative.
So what are five things to know about content marketing in 2022?
Leverage content marketing to better your Sales Funnel
Remember, a content marketing strategy is successful when it is getting you conversions. Simply getting traffic is not sufficient. This means that this marketing weapon in your armory should be integrated with the sales arm to generate – earnings.
In other words, use content marketing o improve your sales funnel. How can it be done?
Be clear about your ICP. Know their pain points in and out.
Use multi-channels to reach out to this target audience.
Offer value to your target customer.
Give the audience something out of the ordinary focusing on services and user experiences.
Make every stage of the funnel measurable so that you know for sure at which stage your customer is.
Use automation
That's the best part about technology. You have easily accessible tools, paid and free to automate parts of content marketing. Google Alerts keeps you updated on the type of content being created using your niche-specific keywords. Get content alerts using a tool like Buzzsumo.
Use a workflow tool like DivvyHQ for holistic automation of the various stages of content creation. Use Hootsuite for sharing content directly to your social media channels. A tool like Zemanta helps content promotion while MailChimp helps automate the daily newsletter.
These are just a few of the innumerable tools available to help your marketing team with content management. Find the right ones to up your game!
Know more about Marketing Automation start-ups in the Indian context by reading it here.
CTAs
Call to Action may sound cliché but this is one important aspect of your content. Remember, your target audience is being hounded by information from all sides. Plus, they lead busy lives. You need to give a push at the end so that they can take an action. That’s where CTAs help.
Signing up for the newsletter or emailer, taking them to a sale-specific link, requesting them to provide their contact details, etc., are different ways to urge them to act and stay connected.
And word your CTAs smartly.
Choose the medium of publishing carefully
A good piece of content is rather useless if not published in the right place.
This is because there is a plethora of platforms, each with its strengths and weaknesses, and each of these caters to certain demographics of the audience. While content creation needs strong strategizing, publishing needs equal attention.
Approach this particular part of the scheme with care. You need to assess and evaluate each platform and channel, clearly pinpoint what you want from your content marketing plan, and accordingly choose.
Measure, tweak; measure & tweak
This is a continuous process that should be consistent throughout. Minus analytics, your content strategy can go for a toss. Want to be on the top of your content marketing campaign? You cannot simply trust your intuition. There need to be more than that. Use automated analytical tools to always have the most updated status and a true picture of what is working and what is not.
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It might all seem pretty overwhelming. Go slow initially. Start with one or two types or formats of content and then take things forward. You can get a professional onboard to help out. All in all, content is the most powerful tool in your marketing kit – with the right approach and proper planning, a lot can be achieved.