In a digital world, content marketing should be an essential element of any company’s marketing strategy. Whether you’re an online-only business or you operate a bricks and mortar premises too, gaining publicity on the internet is vital.
The vast majority of people search for company information online before visiting a store, restaurant or bar, so building an online presence is vital if you want to succeed offline. Of course, if you sell products or services online, your online profile is the key to growing your business and increasing your profits.
With effective content marketing, you can ensure your material is being seen by members of your target audience and, more importantly, that it prompts engagement with them. Crucially, however, you’ll need a content marketing strategy that’s capable of attracting, informing, and persuading your targets if you want to convert them into customers.
To enhance your campaigns, increase your reach and boost your sales figures, take a look at these top three content marketing tips now:
1. Refine your keyword selection
Any content marketing campaign relies on carefully chosen keywords. Get this wrong and you simply won’t achieve the results you’re after. Selecting key terms upon which to base your campaign requires in-depth research of your target market, savvy consideration of the costs and an understanding of user search behaviour.
Getting your content online isn’t the ultimate aim here, even if you manage to secure placements on popular blogs or websites. Your goal is to increase sales, so putting your content in front of the users who are most likely to convert is essential. In short, you need to ensure your content is going to be seen by your target demographic.
To do this, you’ll need to know what they’re searching for, how they’re searching for it and what patterns of behaviour they follow. When you combine this data, you’ll have a good idea of the keywords you need to be targeting. From there, you can balance the benefits of targeting high value key terms with the faster results you could obtain with less popular keywords.
2. Use a specialised agency
Successful content marketing requires expertise and consistency. While it’s important to upload fresh, new content on a regular basis, you should never be uploading content just for the sake of it. Instead, everything you publish should be in pursuance of an overall campaign goal.
Managing an effective content marketing campaign requires full-time monitoring, particularly if you plan to produce and publish your own content. If you’re going to use video marketing to engage your audience, for example, you’ll to have the equipment, skills and resources to shoot professional-grade footage and edit it to a high standard.
If you don’t have the time, resources or experience, using an agency is probably your best bet. Better still, find a specialist content marketing firm that caters to your sector. If you own a B2C food retail business, for example, find a London food marketing agency to create and deliver your campaign. Alternatively, if you run a B2B service company, find an agency that specialises in the B2B market.
3. Monitor campaign activity
Monitoring your content marketing and measuring campaign results is essential if you want to minimise your outgoings and optimise your conversion rate. When you follow your campaigns closely, you can learn what works best and what needs to be improved. Furthermore, you can make mid-campaign tweaks to enhance results and optimise campaign performance.
Remember – this applies whether you’re managing your own content marketing or whether you’re using a specialised agency. Before you sign up with a marketing firm, be sure to discuss how they monitor your results, whether they will provide you with a detailed performance breakdown and, if so, how often they supply this information.
A good marketing agency will care about your campaigns as much as you do, so be sure to partner with marketers who understand your business and recognise your goals.
Becoming a Content Marketer
If you’re launching a new business or you’re still exploring the market, you may be tempted to handle your own content marketing from the outset. While this may seem like a good way to cut costs, it may hamper your success from the get-go.
You only get one chance to launch a business, so it’s essential to capitalise on the opportunity from the outset. By seeking expert advice and assistance before you start trading, you can ensure your business gets off to a successful start and continues to grow.
