How to work with content marketing?
Content marketing has become a popular term in the industry in recent years, and we are finding that more and more companies are putting more money into their marketing budget to increase their focus on content production.
A very positive, and not least important development. Nevertheless, we also see many challenges — good content that will engage and ultimately drive traffic by itself also requires dedicated employees and plenty of time!
What is content marketing?
Simply explained, content marketing is about creating engaging and relevant content for potential customers, which in turn increases interest and awareness around your products or services. It can be in the form of articles, videos, photos, guides and the like that are published and shared through your own channels such as blog, newsletter and social media.
Why focus on content?
Confidence
Good content is a powerful tool to build trust as a supplier. It shows that you understand the user, and can use your knowledge to help them solve their problems. For example; the user may need to renovate the bathroom, and need a new washbasin cabinet. Then it is also important to choose the washbasin and mixer that are compatible with this cabinet. Although you may not offer a mixer yourself, you can still refer to what specifications one should relate to when buying a mixer. This is how you as a supplier show that you know the subject and the user also feel more confident that the washbasin cabinet is a good product.
Hint! Think about what you are usually asked about by customers in a physical store, and meet your customer's need for information even online.
Traffic
Content marketing is a natural and important part of search engine optimization. Google recognizes good content, and often ranks longer texts and blog posts high in search results. While you will increase traffic to your page from Google over time (as your ranking increases), you should also share your content in other channels such as newsletters and Facebook. Engaging content also often leads to users sharing the content themselves on their social media — thus gaining an even wider audience and reaching a potential new audience.
Brand Awareness
If you are present when potential customers need an answer, they get a “peg” to hang you on. Content is an essential aid for brand new businesses or businesses with less familiarity to raise awareness and visibility around the brand. Ergo you will be easier top of mind the next time they are going to shop for a product or service you provide.
Conversion
Ensure an easy input to the product or service when working with content, then the conversion rate will also increase. For example, in a blog post for an interior store about “autumn favorites in the living room”, it should be linked directly to the relevant products so that it is easy to make a purchase or order.
How to work with content marketing?
Set time and priorities!
The size of the marketing department varies from company to company. Some have one all-possible person, or potato as we also like to call it, who takes on all the marketing tasks, others have larger teams of dedicated people to the various disciplines. Nevertheless, everyone has the same problem, time does not stretch and content is reduced in priority. While content doesn't always have the immediate impact, over time it will increase brand awareness, drive more traffic and more conversions. Time must be set aside for those who are going to keep it, so that one actually has time to work out the good ideas and then produce. Good content rarely comes from “something that just had to be done” — it requires thorough preparation and continuous research.
Do thorough preliminary work
What is the goal of working on content marketing for your company? How are you going to get the best benefits? By conducting a web analysis and keyword analysis in advance, one will gain a basic insight into how the website works today, where it can be improved and what people are actually interested in and searching for in Google. That's when the content marketing really takes effect!
Make a plan and set goals
It may sound very simple, but at the same time, this is often where many people fall through. The vast majority of people experience time constraints at work, and without a concrete publishing plan, we see that content marketing is often downplayed. Start with an annual wheel of the most important anniversaries, events and events to come — then you have some themes to play on. It can be anything from May 17 to Reflex Day on October 18. Set a goal of how many posts you will receive per month and on which days they will be published. Rather, start with one or two posts a month to get the ball rolling, and you'll increase as you go.
Based on the preliminary work, one should set some specific goals to work towards. Better visibility? Higher traffic to the website? More engagement in social media in the form of likes and comments? Increase conversion from your blog? Set some measurable goals that you need to reach for a bit. Use Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager actively to measure the impact of the work you do.
With a good publishing schedule and goals to reach for, it will also be easier to implement!
What channels are you going to use?
Think quality rather than quantity. Where is it relevant for you to be and do you have the opportunity to follow up on the response that comes? Should posts be shared on Facebook, someone must also make sure to respond to any comments and questions in that channel. Users make high demands and expect quick responses in social media. Is there a small market department with maybe not the largest funds? Choose a few channels that you think are most relevant to your target audience and message, and be sure to become the best on those channels!
Who's going to hold it?
Find a form of how you will conduct and work with content marketing in the future. Is it the marketing manager who is supposed to hold it? Is there a single person who should be both responsible and produce or should one create a small team for content? Here you need to find out what is best for your company and department. In any case, we recommend that a person has overall responsibility and control that time is set aside for what is to be produced. Then it is avoided that it is postponed time and again and finally “boils away in the cabbage”. If no one has the opportunity to set aside enough time, it can be profitable to get outside help.
Create commitment around it!
Engaged content comes from engaged drivers and the interest in content. Spend time on internal marketing — tell us about the concept, the idea behind it and how the other employees can contribute. Be open to all ideas (then one can rather peel away afterwards) -- create a whiteboard where everyone in the company can come up with ideas for content. The good ideas can just as well come from the front desk as from the general manager or from something a customer has said. Do research on content — collect campaigns from other companies that you like, find out what kind of content inspires you. Team personas Who are you going to talk to and create content for? Kickstart it all with a workshop — don't forget to lay out a concrete plan and goals for the workshop so that you actually benefit from it.
We help you lay the groundwork so that you get started with your content marketing.
