Content Marketing- Meaning, types and future
They say content is the king of today’s marketing, and it’s hard to disagree. Content marketingis a long-term strategy that focuses on building a strong relationship with your target audience by giving them high-quality content that is very relevant to them on a consistent basis.
It is used by many prominent organizations in the world, including P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and John Deere. It’s also developed and executed by small businesses and one-person shops around the globe. Companies send us information all the time – it’s just that most of the time it’s not very relevant or valuable. That’s what makes content marketing so intriguing in today’s environment of thousands of marketing messages per person per day.
Positioning your business as an expert in your industry as content has rapidly moved from being just a new marketing tool to a golden standard. It also helps in developing lasting relationships with your audience through opening a channel of communication through social shares and comments thus creating a brand loyalty and trust, with both your current customers and prospects. In short, it caters the prospect customers in such a way that will help them into the way the existing customer base.
Content marketing is the reason why blogs like the one by Tim Ferriss did so well in 2017. It’s the reason why movies like The Last Jedi did were so popular. And it’s why Kevin Spacey was once a keynote speaker at a marketing conference.
Types of Content Marketing
Every business differs from each other. Different businesses have different strategies and goals and for various businesses there are various types of content marketing. So, a business can choose the one which is best suited for them.
- Blogs
Blogs are an effective way to provide value through short-form content. According to Forbes, websites that include a blog typically have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t. This means that sites with blogs have a greater chance of ending up on the first page of search engines like Google when consumers search for relevant keywords. Additionally, business sites with blogs have 97% more inbound links, which also helps with search engine optimization. Not only does blogging help improve your search engine optimization, but it’s also a great way to build relationships with your leads and current customers. The more valuable content you provide, the more likely your target audience will be to consider your brand when they are ready to purchase.
- Videos
Consumers today are viewing more video content than ever before. Based on research by Think, consumers now prefer to watch a video about a product first before buying it. Whether it’s a product review, unboxing or how-to videos, they will surely look for it online. It just shows how videos can greatly affect their decision to buy a product or not. In fact, one-third of all online activity is spent watching video content. According to BrightCove, brands that use video can expect to see an average increase of 157% in organic traffic from search engines. Video also helps increase time spent on site by 105%. According to Effy, social videos have an increase of 1200% more shares compared to other content types. In a study by Insivia, it was stated that landing pages with video content has a higher conversion rate, garnering up to 80% increase.
- Social media
As Forbes mentioned,“if you aren’t available on the major social platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest), regularly putting out content, you’re probably invisible to a lot of potential clients.” Facebook, with an audience of almost 2.5 billion monthly users, can be the best social media for businesses to put their content. As mentioned in Forbes, GrowthBadger’s Kyle Byers recently analyzed SimilarWeb’s data and came to the conclusion that Facebook delivers nearly two-thirds of all social traffic referrals to websites.Instagram is another platform that’s hugely popular, particularly for brands that have appealing visual content. Twitter’s making resurgence. Both Pinterest and Snapchat hold niche potential. No matter what a business is, it needs social media.
- Infographics
Presenting information visually is still one of the most effective ways to get a point across to an audience. When Venngage surveyed over 500 marketers, they found that 37% of the visuals marketers used were infographics (Source: Forbes). Customers will appreciate the ability to easily parse the data given to them, and infographics have a tendency to spread far from their original source—especially if they’re heavy with useful statistics, facts or figures within the industry.
For all its advantages, a content marketing program does come with some challenges such as falling short on resources, failing to secure content rights, inconsistent publishing, and so on. But also, with a little planning, one can avoid those barriers to success.With all these positive benefits, it is still so difficult for small business owners to successfully implement content marketing. Content marketing could be an intimidating strategy for many businesses.
Inbound marketing is not a “set it and forget it” marketing activity. It is a long-term strategy that can take three to nine months to start bringing in a steady stream of traffic and revenue. Content marketing just like all the marketing strategies; require a substantial investment, both in terms of time and money. For this, hiring a marketing agency is usually going to be more cost-effective, but is still going to cost anywhere from $2,000 – $10,000 per month.
What does the future hold for content marketing?
With the end of the year approaching, there are two things that are certain for 2020:
• Content marketing will become even more important
• Content creation and distribution will change radically
There’s a reason Seth Godin calls content marketing “the only marketing left” – it’s authentic, useful, and perfectly suited for the internet generation. But while few can doubt the effectiveness of content marketing, the channels, tactics and tools marketers use to create and distribute content will continue evolving in 2020 and beyond.
