If there’s one thing marketers need to know about effective digital marketing, it’s that “content is king.”
This simply means that whatever strategy you’re using for your campaign, it should always be anchored on sound, helpful, and unique content. Spam and other disruptive advertising practices should not become options if you are looking to build a lasting relationship with your prospective clients and customers.
Here’s how valuable content works: The article, video or infographic is posted in a blog, social media, or any third-party resource website. Depending on the topic and theme of the content, the target audience should eventually discover the content, shares it on social media, and follow the author or subscribe to the website newsletter.
This continuous cycle of content creation builds the reputation of the brand and amasses a crowd of followers. As a result, the campaign generates a loyal customer base that produces not only single-transaction scenarios but also a lasting connection between the business and its consumers.
Unfortunately, as easy as it sounds, creating, using, and promoting content these days are not getting any easier.
More than a decade ago, the content revolution saw thousands of published content on article directories and other resource websites. The main goal then was to churn out as many articles as possible. It may have worked for digital marketers in the past, but not anymore.
Today, the primary purpose of content should be to provide a genuinely unique experience that online audiences will find useful. That is why the priority is not just to produce content, but that it should have specific goals and objectives. This is also known as goal-oriented content.
Goal-oriented content can be achieved in three ways: Identify the right content for the right goal, streamline your content marketing strategy, and align those techniques with your business goals. By doing these steps, your campaign can achieve optimal results. Avoid making the mistake of producing content just for the sake of keeping your blogs active, as that’s not how goal-oriented content works.
There are a few crucial questions you should be asking yourself before producing and publishing content:
What kind of content is it? Is it a website article, blog, white paper, guest post, infographic, etc.? There are different kinds of content, and each one is used under different circumstances.
Who is your target audience? Imagine that you’re writing for an audience that loves indoor furniture. If that’s the case, then make sure that the write-up will revolve around that topic.
In addition, you have to check how you use different technical terms because your audience will likely be familiar with them. Using jargon the wrong way takes away points from your goal to be an authority in the niche.
What do you want them to do after reading your content? What is the action you want your audience to take? Is it to subscribe to your electronic newsletter, buy something from your online store, or share it on social media, or all of the above?
In addition, make sure you can track what your visitors are doing on your site and determine how they got there (external link in a blog, shared a Facebook post, etc.)
How is your presentation of the content? Always check whether your content is easy to scan. Use subheads, lists, and other formatting tools to keep the article engaging regardless of how long it is. How about loading times? Does the content load properly with the necessary images, links, etc.? Keep the reading experience as convenient as possible.
What’s next? After the audience sees your content and does what you expect them to do, how should you follow up? Content production must be planned carefully and has something to do with your marketing plan as a whole.
In coming up with objective-driven content, a few types that can work to achieve specific targets. As a marketer or business owner, it is your duty to be familiar with these kinds of content because you need to use them for a successful marketing campaign.
Engagement Path
This content goal is what builds your audience and reputation online. It does not matter if you’re a small startup—once you can use content to build your online presence, it can definitely help in promoting engagement with your audience.
When your goal is engagement, the key factors are the value and uniqueness of the content. Online readers will not pay much attention to your article if they’ve read the same topic and information somewhere else. Make sure you always deliver something fresh, or if that’s not possible, try to give a new angle to old details so it would still be beneficial to your readers.
When producing content for engagement, use writing styles that don’t only pique interest, but also trigger emotion. An article or blog can easily be remembered if it triggered an ‘ooh’ or ‘aah’ moment. Moreover, utilize a unique voice that sets your content apart from similar topics.
Once you’re done with the content, make sure you include the necessary tools so that it will be easier for your audience to share it on social media, promoting engagement even further.
Link-Building Path
This type of content is primarily used for search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is one of the most prominent techniques in digital marketing as it allows your content and website to be recognized by search engines such as Google.
If your website is virtually unknown, your goal is to build authority by earning links from other sites. The more links to your site, the higher Google will place you as an authority in your chosen niche.
Becoming an authoritative source of information is not an end in itself, though. Once this happens, search engines would place you higher in search results for relevant keywords. Google uses algorithms to identify which types of content are linkable and which are not. The key here is not just the proper usage of keywords, but also the presence of valuable and unique content.
Conversion Path
This particular type of content aims for audiences to take action based on what they read. This focuses on a need or problem that your business or company can address. If the audience wants to buy new furniture, your content may provide them pointers on how to choose the best options in the market. Then, it ends by pointing them to your website for more information.
The main goal of conversion content is not just to create leads but make a profit. After making a sale, the next objective is to encourage buyers to become brand ambassadors for you, thus continuing the process of creating a crowd of followers for your brand.
Conversion-focused content should always be present in your content marketing strategy. No matter how much audience engagement you create or how high your website ends up in Google search results, you won’t see actual conversions without this kind of content.
Finally, conversion-targeted content may be useful in driving profit, but will your customers stay in the long run? This simply means these three types of goal-oriented content need each other to achieve the true potential of a content marketing campaign.
Working on an effective content strategy that utilizes these different factors is no easy task. It is best to work with a trusted digital marketing firm to provide the needed boost and support for your campaign. You’ll need a partner that does not only have years of experience in the industry but a proven track record, as well. These factors will ensure that you’re working with the best.
Video blogs or vlogs are also emerging as great channels to spread brand awareness. Combine these with the usual media in spreading content, and you’ll get a multimedia approach that can reach all types of audiences and markets.
As a wise business owner or marketer, make sure your digital marketing campaign is future-proof. Your company should be able to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the industry. As long as you keep your content marketing strategies in check, and you choose the perfect partner to launch your campaign, you won’t have any problems any time soon.
Read next: Effective and Powerful Blogging Tips for Creative Content Creators (infographic)
This simply means that whatever strategy you’re using for your campaign, it should always be anchored on sound, helpful, and unique content. Spam and other disruptive advertising practices should not become options if you are looking to build a lasting relationship with your prospective clients and customers.
Here’s how valuable content works: The article, video or infographic is posted in a blog, social media, or any third-party resource website. Depending on the topic and theme of the content, the target audience should eventually discover the content, shares it on social media, and follow the author or subscribe to the website newsletter.
This continuous cycle of content creation builds the reputation of the brand and amasses a crowd of followers. As a result, the campaign generates a loyal customer base that produces not only single-transaction scenarios but also a lasting connection between the business and its consumers.
Unfortunately, as easy as it sounds, creating, using, and promoting content these days are not getting any easier.
The Quest to Find Unique Content
As the Internet continues to become a cyber library that stores tons of content from different sources, coming up with unique content is becoming increasingly difficult, as well.More than a decade ago, the content revolution saw thousands of published content on article directories and other resource websites. The main goal then was to churn out as many articles as possible. It may have worked for digital marketers in the past, but not anymore.
Today, the primary purpose of content should be to provide a genuinely unique experience that online audiences will find useful. That is why the priority is not just to produce content, but that it should have specific goals and objectives. This is also known as goal-oriented content.
Goal-oriented content can be achieved in three ways: Identify the right content for the right goal, streamline your content marketing strategy, and align those techniques with your business goals. By doing these steps, your campaign can achieve optimal results. Avoid making the mistake of producing content just for the sake of keeping your blogs active, as that’s not how goal-oriented content works.
There are a few crucial questions you should be asking yourself before producing and publishing content:
What kind of content is it? Is it a website article, blog, white paper, guest post, infographic, etc.? There are different kinds of content, and each one is used under different circumstances.
Who is your target audience? Imagine that you’re writing for an audience that loves indoor furniture. If that’s the case, then make sure that the write-up will revolve around that topic.
In addition, you have to check how you use different technical terms because your audience will likely be familiar with them. Using jargon the wrong way takes away points from your goal to be an authority in the niche.
What do you want them to do after reading your content? What is the action you want your audience to take? Is it to subscribe to your electronic newsletter, buy something from your online store, or share it on social media, or all of the above?
In addition, make sure you can track what your visitors are doing on your site and determine how they got there (external link in a blog, shared a Facebook post, etc.)
How is your presentation of the content? Always check whether your content is easy to scan. Use subheads, lists, and other formatting tools to keep the article engaging regardless of how long it is. How about loading times? Does the content load properly with the necessary images, links, etc.? Keep the reading experience as convenient as possible.
What’s next? After the audience sees your content and does what you expect them to do, how should you follow up? Content production must be planned carefully and has something to do with your marketing plan as a whole.
Content with Direction
The main idea of goal-oriented content is that as a business or company that occasionally publishes content, you have to track whether your audience is doing what they’re supposed to do. But how can you follow something if you don’t know which direction they’re going?In coming up with objective-driven content, a few types that can work to achieve specific targets. As a marketer or business owner, it is your duty to be familiar with these kinds of content because you need to use them for a successful marketing campaign.
Engagement Path
This content goal is what builds your audience and reputation online. It does not matter if you’re a small startup—once you can use content to build your online presence, it can definitely help in promoting engagement with your audience.
When your goal is engagement, the key factors are the value and uniqueness of the content. Online readers will not pay much attention to your article if they’ve read the same topic and information somewhere else. Make sure you always deliver something fresh, or if that’s not possible, try to give a new angle to old details so it would still be beneficial to your readers.
When producing content for engagement, use writing styles that don’t only pique interest, but also trigger emotion. An article or blog can easily be remembered if it triggered an ‘ooh’ or ‘aah’ moment. Moreover, utilize a unique voice that sets your content apart from similar topics.
Once you’re done with the content, make sure you include the necessary tools so that it will be easier for your audience to share it on social media, promoting engagement even further.
Link-Building Path
This type of content is primarily used for search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is one of the most prominent techniques in digital marketing as it allows your content and website to be recognized by search engines such as Google.
If your website is virtually unknown, your goal is to build authority by earning links from other sites. The more links to your site, the higher Google will place you as an authority in your chosen niche.
Becoming an authoritative source of information is not an end in itself, though. Once this happens, search engines would place you higher in search results for relevant keywords. Google uses algorithms to identify which types of content are linkable and which are not. The key here is not just the proper usage of keywords, but also the presence of valuable and unique content.
Conversion Path
This particular type of content aims for audiences to take action based on what they read. This focuses on a need or problem that your business or company can address. If the audience wants to buy new furniture, your content may provide them pointers on how to choose the best options in the market. Then, it ends by pointing them to your website for more information.
The main goal of conversion content is not just to create leads but make a profit. After making a sale, the next objective is to encourage buyers to become brand ambassadors for you, thus continuing the process of creating a crowd of followers for your brand.
Conversion-focused content should always be present in your content marketing strategy. No matter how much audience engagement you create or how high your website ends up in Google search results, you won’t see actual conversions without this kind of content.
What’s the Direction of Your Content?
All things considered, you have to make sure your marketing strategy employs all of these types of content. You can’t create engaging content for your audience and expect to get the links and conversions you want, all at the same time. SEO-rich content is excellent, but organic traffic is still considered more valuable.Finally, conversion-targeted content may be useful in driving profit, but will your customers stay in the long run? This simply means these three types of goal-oriented content need each other to achieve the true potential of a content marketing campaign.
Working on an effective content strategy that utilizes these different factors is no easy task. It is best to work with a trusted digital marketing firm to provide the needed boost and support for your campaign. You’ll need a partner that does not only have years of experience in the industry but a proven track record, as well. These factors will ensure that you’re working with the best.
Content Will Remain ‘King’
Content marketing is definitely here to stay as more advanced forms of content are being developed. Promotional videos are now becoming a popular option, especially in certain types of advertising where showing is more appreciated than telling.Video blogs or vlogs are also emerging as great channels to spread brand awareness. Combine these with the usual media in spreading content, and you’ll get a multimedia approach that can reach all types of audiences and markets.
As a wise business owner or marketer, make sure your digital marketing campaign is future-proof. Your company should be able to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the industry. As long as you keep your content marketing strategies in check, and you choose the perfect partner to launch your campaign, you won’t have any problems any time soon.
Read next: Effective and Powerful Blogging Tips for Creative Content Creators (infographic)