2July 2023
Content marketing is the practice of creating, distributing, and optimizing content to attract and convert customers. It can take many forms, from blog posts to videos to social media updates.
For example, Crunchyroll markets itself online by producing videos that highlight popular anime moments. This content helps keep the brand top of mind, drives traffic to its website, and encourages subscriptions.
Content Strategy
A content strategy is a plan that outlines the goals and tactics you will use to connect with your audience through content. Having a clear, organized strategy helps ensure your team is working together effectively to meet business objectives, such as increasing website traffic or driving sales.
Content strategies include all the elements that go into creating high-quality, valuable content. This includes establishing what content formats you will focus on and what channels you will publish on. It also covers how you will measure and communicate your content marketing success to stakeholders.
Examples of content marketing formats include blog posts, case studies, infographics, templates, and video. Each type of content can be used for a different purpose, such as to generate leads or drive traffic. For example, Evernote uses their blog to write articles about note-taking productivity. This helps attract prospective customers to their site and generates leads by demonstrating how the company’s product can improve productivity.
Content Creation
Content creation is the production of marketing material like blog posts, newsletters and videos. It focuses on informing the audience on a particular topic, without it feeling too gimmicky. It also includes creating visual assets like posters and infographics.
When developing content, it’s important to take into account the customer journey and which stage of the funnel the target market is in. This helps with crafting relevant content that will drive leads and sales. For example, in the awareness stage, informative blogs are a great way to educate customers on an industry topic, while at the consideration stage, more promotional content like product comparisons or how-to videos can be utilized.
Brainstorming new content ideas can be a challenge, so it’s helpful to utilize tools like Grammarly or Canva for spelling and scansion checks, as well as to stay up-to-date on search engine optimization best practices and techniques. Keeping up with industry news and trend forecasts can also help inform content development.
Content Distribution
Content marketing includes content creation and the distribution of that content to a desired audience. Distribution channels vary by industry and the goals of each campaign. For example, if you’re looking to increase brand awareness, your strategy might include paid advertising channels like social media and Google AdWords.
Other channels, such as HARO, help you connect with journalists who are seeking sources for stories. If you’re able to contribute an expert opinion to a news story, you may receive a link back to your website and even a mention in the article itself.
To make your content truly effective, it should be distributed on the channels that are most popular with your audience. This can be determined by analyzing your content performance with the KPIs, metrics, and SMART goals you set ahead of time. Then you can compare your results to your previous efforts to see whether they were successful. If they weren’t, you can figure out what went wrong.
Content Optimization
Content optimization is one of the most important aspects of content marketing. It involves using SEO best practices to optimize web pages so that they rank higher in search engine results. It also involves making sure that your content is relevant to the keywords you are targeting.
This can be done by using tools like Ahrefs to find keyword data and competitor research, as well as by using readability tools like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor to improve the quality of your copy. It is also important to remember that search algorithms are constantly changing, so it is necessary to regularly update and refresh your content.
Another key part of content optimization is ensuring that your web page includes a call to action (CTA) to drive traffic and conversions. This can be done by including an email signup form or a link to your product. Make sure that the CTA is placed in a place where it will be easily visible to readers and doesn’t interfere with the flow of the article.