In this ever changing market, it is important you stay updated and informed on all the newest business trends in order to run a successful company. In the past, promoting your business was expensive and limited to TV, radio and print ads that mostly reached a local population. Today, you can reach potential customers all around the world, and for a much lower cost.
Technology has given small business owners the same advantages the bigger companies used to monopolize. You can use the internet a number of ways to promote your product, and one of the most efficient ways to drive high traffic to your website is via content marketing.
What is content marketing? It’s a technique of creating content your target audience finds relevant and valuable, with the intention of creating a loyal paying customer. Basically, you are providing something someone values, in exchange for potential monetary reward. So what can you provide online for free that is of value?
In this highly competitive world, providing value means helping clients improve their life by providing tips and solutions they are looking for. As trends change so do customer’s needs, and being able to provide them with something they deem valuable can help you build a relationship where they feel more comfortable buying from you. In content marketing there are two types of value you can give - educational and persuasive.
When you provide educational content you are providing a target audience with information about a specific subject. This is a great way to build a reputation in the field, as your audience will consider you an expert in the niche. This is also very cost efficient since you can promote your products to your followers over and over at no extra cost. For example, if you are running a health and fitness blog, you can create an email list and send promotions for vitamins and exercise equipment while giving them helpful advice.
With persuasive marketing, you are more or less marketing yourself and business with content created specifically to drive sales. Instead of giving readers information that provides value, you convince your readers the value is received from the actual service or product you are providing.
Although both types of content marketing are effective, the oversaturation of aggressive persuasive marketing has been making customers more resilient to the technique. Traditional marketing tends to emphasize selling, rather than connecting to clients. With educational marketing, it’s the opposite.
Educational marketing is more efficient at building a loyal customer base, as they tend to trust you more when you consistently give valuable information for free. When someone views your business as honest, they listen to your advice and indications. Selling your products and services is a lot easier when you customers believe in you.
If you have never done content writing before, you will need to do more than just create content to ensure success. You will need to know how to market the content with blogs, guest postings, and a number of other marketing techniques. As with all valuable skills it may seem difficult at first, but with some practice you’ll be able to master content marketing in no time. Here are some tips that will help you better understand how you can use content marketing to promote your business.
Good Content
In order to run a successful campaign, you need to be able to provide readers with engaging and valuable content that will result in action. In other words, you need to have great content. If readers aren’t getting anything from the content you provide, they will stop reading and you will have nobody to offer your services and products to. Take the time to research your topic and avoid anything that’s only there to add more words. Customers can tell the difference, and will quickly be turned off. If you are not very creative, you can find experts at Freelancer.com for an affordable rate. You may also find professionals that can help in other areas of your business as well on Freelancer.com.
Be Consistent
In order to have a successful campaign and build a loyal customer base, you need to consistently provide new and helpful content. Content marketing is a great way to get long term results, but it only works if you stick with it for the long term. If your content is old and outdated, you may get some visitors that come once or twice, but without new content, they have no reason to come back. Not only will you be losing potential customers, you’ll also hinder your company’s growth.
Guest Posting
Guest posting is a great way for you to reach your target audience on other sites. There is no shortage of blogs that offer guest posting for free. As a matter of fact, there are over 3,000 blogs that accept guest posts. You can use this opportunity to reach new people with your content while leaving a link that will bring readers to your website. Blogs that have been around longer and have an established fan base can offer you a window to a whole new set of clients.
SEO Your Content
SEO, or ‘search engine optimization’, is a technique that optimizes your marketing content to make it friendly for Google’s search engine ranking algorithm. This is important if you want your business to appear high on Google’s search list. The higher you are ranked, the more likely your business will be seen. SEO is a great way to drive targeted traffic toward your site, while pushing your business toward the top of certain search queries.
Use Social Media
Marketing on social media is extremely popular due to the potential reach and affordability. It seems that just about everyone uses social media to communicate in one way or another. Content marketing is just another way to communicate to your target audience. Good content can be shared a number of times, helping your reach new customers without having to pay for the promotion.
There are two ways you can use social media to spread your content. One of those ways is by creating a business page to build an audience. If you provide valuable content, readers will like and share your page. The second way is by promoting your content with paid advertising. This will get your content features on other similar network user’s feeds.
Be Versatile
There are a wide variety of ways you can distribute your content. As long as the content you provide has valuable information, the way you choose to spread this information is up to you. Here are the most popular forms of distribution marketers use.
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Videos – these are popular with people who prefer watching videos over reading long articles. It is also a great chance to use entertainment to inform.
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Articles and Blogs – this is the most popular form of content marketing, because it helps in search rankings and can be easily accessed.
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Infographics – using pictures is efficient in getting your information across, and can be easily remembered.
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Audio Content – podcasts are growing in popularity and are a good way to get your information heard.
What If I Can’t Write?
While you may be good at business or marketing, you may not be a good enough writer to create the type of quality content you need. It’s okay, you can always find a solution. There are many writing services online, where you can find good quality writers for a great price. Content marketing is one of the top ways to grow your business in this competitive market, so make sure and take advantage of this affordable opportunity.
There are various ways you may use content marketing to promote your business. Which tactic/method do you swear by? Let us know in the comments below.
