The conventional way to market your business is through the use of advertising. The traditional channels being print media, radio, and television. However, the ubiquitous nature of the Internet has spawned a whole new world of marketing. Content marketing is composed of three main pillars: Search, Social, and E-mail. It is the art and science of attracting clients by giving advice, as well as providing helpful educational, informative, and entertaining content.
It’s an Art and Science of Attracting Clients by Providing Helpful Content
Pillar 1-Search
So, let us begin with the first foundation of content marketing – search. It all starts with your website. This is the most significant piece of real estate that you will own on the web. Here is where all good things happen and everything is possible. Your website and all streams of messaging begin here. This is where you write your best copy, your finest case study, or your greatest story. I have heard it said by several great marketers that, ‘advertising is temporary, but content is forever.’
It is essential to have some basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) implemented on your website. The question that we need to ask ourselves is – did we make the best page on the website? Did we have the right title tags, H1, H2 etc. Google puts out great content on SEO because they want us to succeed.
According to Jay Baer, we have two types of visitors from SEO. One who is ready to spend, and one who is looking for help. The first group consists of the ones who will go to your service page or the product page. People are sometimes afraid to put out prices because they are concerned about the competition, but studies have shown that when it is warranted for your business, there are more conversions when prices are shown. The other group consists of people who are looking for help, who will read your blogs and other parts of your website. This is where they can subscribe and link up to you and your business.
Pillar 2-Social
There are many alternate ways of sending your message out there aside from the social streams, such as podcasts, the audio format, or putting on an event (well, real events will happen again when Queen Corona eventually leaves the scene). When putting out content, it needs to be helpful beyond the service you offer – it must be directed to a much broader audience, not just those who pay you. One of the biggest tests when writing something of value is to ask yourself – is this something I want to read?
The other side of the coin is making sure your content is data-driven. Analytics need to be used in order to see what does or does not work. One of the biggest demands when adopting a strategy is to make sure a mission statement is written before you create a content strategy. Doing this give you a light to guide you when creating content. The ultimate goal with your content marketing is to build a mountain of interrelated topics and subtopics which reaches a critical mass of visibility. It needs to be all about your audience and helping them.
Pillar 3-E-mail
The last piece to build the foundation for your content marketing is e-mail. Many people think that this is an old-school method of marketing. However; 91% of people read their e-mails every day, and opening rates have gone up during these COVID times. What makes e-mail campaigns important is that they target interested leads who already know about your business. Send out e-mails to promote your business is a straightforward process. Your audience consisting of new potential clients as well as existing ones.
The basic style is that of a newsletter sent regularly to communicate with your subscribers. New, fresh, and relevant content is sent to your e-mail list. In some ways, this is akin to social media in a sense that it involves creating content for your audience to see. It is all about reaching out to your customers where they spend most of their time.
There are many benefits to Content Marketing
As you can see, there are many benefits to content marketing. There are business owners out there who have built million-dollar businesses without having spent a penny on advertising. It is possible – it just takes time, commitment, and empathy to create helpful content for your existing and potential clients.
New to content marketing? Looking for a strategy? Reach out and call us at 514-349-9702. We can help.
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