The goal of every business or commercial enterprise is to dominate the minds of consumers and remain the foremost in their evoked set of options whenever there is a choice to be made. One of the most effective ways to reach your target audience and build brand recognition is through content marketing. It allows you to create content that is valuable and engaging to your customers while gradually establishing your brand as an industry leader.
In this article, I will discuss strategies and tips to help you maximise your reach, and get the most out of your content. It covers everything from creating content that is appealing to your target audience to optimising your content for search engine rankings and developing a successful content marketing strategy. It is a vitally important resource for businesses and entrepreneurs looking to grow their content marketing efforts in a manner that drives customer engagement, builds trust, and helps catalyse the attainment of their business goals.
Content marketing is a strategic approach to developing and disseminating valuable, relevant and consistent content in order to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience; and ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. It enables businesses to reach new audiences and build intimate relationships with them by sharing information that allows them to connect with you on an emotional level.
By creating engaging and valuable content that your target audience consumes, you shape customer perceptions of your brand and position your company as an industry authority, creating a stronger connection between customers and your company.
You also build trust by providing valuable and informative content that your customers find relevant and applicable to their lives. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is used by 73 percent of B2B marketers and 70 percent of B2C marketers as part of their overall marketing strategy. Again, 91 percent of marketing professionals polled by Semrush reported significant growth in their sales and business success with content marketing in 2021.
Creating content that resonates with your target audience:
The first step is to clearly identify and understand who your target audience is, what their pain points are, the specific challenges they face, and what motivates them. This will assist you in creating content that resonates with them and addresses their needs and concerns.
Customer pain points in financial services delivery, for example, includes hidden fees, unrewarded loyalty, bad customer service, a lack of clarity and information on industry trends, and the best financial products. In the insurance industry, lack of customer insights, poor staff knowledge of products and policy plans, inconsistent service quality, and other such factors trigger the major customer service pain points.
The cardinal rule in content creation is to ensure congruence between your business goals and the needs of your target audience.
Creating a content strategy:
Content strategy is concerned with the planning, creation, distribution and governance of content. Content includes not only the words on a page, but also any images or multimedia (text, audio, video, animation) that are used. Content strategy includes decisions regarding the types of content you will create, the distribution channels you will use, and the frequency with which you will create content.
The primary advantage of text content is that it is essential for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Good text content is required for top SEO performance because text content is the foundation of SEO. Audio media is useful in developing and circulating short form training material. Audio files are also easy to create, easy to duplicate, and easy to use.
Audio marketing includes a broad spectrum of content, including jingles and other branded content. It also includes audio ads which are delivered through online streaming platforms like podcasts or music streaming apps.
Video content marketing is when brands create video content in order to increase their online visibility. Video is typically published on YouTube or a social network – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. – but it can also be delivered via webinars, courses, live videos or self-hosted videos.
Video content, if done correctly, keeps customers engaged and can evoke strong and positive emotions. Overall, videos can take a mass of information and present it in a compressed format, making it easier to understand and interpret in just a short amount of time.
Produce high-quality content: Invest in creating high-quality content that engages and informs your target audience. This includes the use of blog posts, infographics, videos, webinars, podcasts, mini e-books, whitepapers, and other forms of content. Blog posts have many benefits, including helping drive traffic to your website, increasing search engine optimisation, growing your email list and generally educating and engaging readers.
Again, Infographics can present complex data and information in a visually appealing manner that is more digestible and engaging for the reader. A white paper is a comprehensive report or guide on a specific topic and the issues that surround it. It is intended to educate readers and assist them in understanding and resolving a problem or solving a dilemma.
A clear example would be a detailed guide explaining Ghana’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme. White papers, e-books and webinars are all strong lead magnets that could be used to build a strong customer database over time.
Creating effective content:
There are numerous channels vying for your customers’ attention. As a result, it is critical to develop content that is engaging, valuable and interesting to your target audience. In creating, it is important to write and deliver content for your readers and customers, not for yourself. Your customers’ concerns should be the principal determinant of what content you create. The content must, therefore, be useful, beneficial, relevant and applicable.
Your blog posts should always be paired with an accompanying video or image. Additionally, write for different lengths and different categories of your audiences, such as long-form articles, e-books, and guides. Financial institutions can create content on credible investing options, insurance companies may offer content on the practical benefits of various insurance policies, healthcare providers can create content on healthy living, preventive care and the management of chronic health conditions.
Distribute your content appropriately:
While Google is the undisputed king of search engine results, many consider social media to be the most effective channel for content marketing. You can publish your content on a variety of platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. Although Facebook is the most popular social media platform, it should be noted that it has the highest rate of click bait and fake news articles.
LinkedIn is by far the most trusted social media channel, and it’s also one of the best places to find industry leaders and thought leaders. YouTube is an excellent platform for hosting video content and is one of the most popular content marketing channels. Instagram is a popular visual social media channel that is particularly difficult for brands to rank on.
Again, it is also critical to promote your content via multiple channels in addition to social media, such as using email marketing, influencer marketing, and others. Email marketing is reputed to have high conversion rates, and influencers can help spread content to different audience categories.
Analyse and measure:
As a business, it is important to keep track of your content marketing efforts and be able to identify what works and what does not. This makes your content marketing activity more dynamic and responsive to relevant market trends and benchmarks.
Some of the most relevant metrics in determining the success of your content marketing efforts include data regarding website traffic, level of content engagement, number of leads generated, and actual customer conversions. Tools like Google Analytics and Buffer offer detailed information regarding the nature and distribution of your website traffic and the quality of your social media engagements.
Content marketing is an effective and innovative method of reaching and engaging a larger audience, driving traffic and leads, and ultimately growing your business. It endears your company to customers, and creates deep bonds of attachment and turning them into strong apostles of your brand.
The writer is a business consultant and lecturer
Email: [email protected]
