Do you need outside help in building a fantastic content marketing machine?
No!
Now, it certainly helps... But if you're willing to do some research and strategizing, virtually anyone can build their own content marketing machine! By putting content on your site that your leads want to see - and which brings in the leads you want - you can easily turn your website into a lead-generation monster.
A DIY Guide To Great Content Marketing Strategies
1 - Identify your actual market.
Online marketing needs to be targeted. It's important to remember that your online activities could be seen by an audience of over two billion people, since roughly one-third of the world's population now regularly uses the Internet.
So, which of those two billion do you most want to appeal to?
Think carefully about who your ideal customers are: Their demographics, income level, physical location, outside interests, and other "profile" information. Good content strategies appeal to these people, while keeping out folks who will only waste your bandwidth.
2 - Pick your content.
"Content" is an extremely broad term online. Virtually anything conveying a marketing message for your website is content, from your blogs, to pay-per-click ads, to individual pieces of graphical flair on your website.
Generally speaking, a company's blog is the true foundation of its content marketing strategies. If you're in content marketing, you're blogging. Period.
Beyond that, however, you have a range of options including:
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Podcasts
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Slideshows
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Videos
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Social media, like Facebook or Google+
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Infographics
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eBooks
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Webinars
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And much, much more
Which you pick will ultimately depend on your budget and, more importantly, what your customer profiles suggest will appeal most to your visitors.
3 - The Funnel: Learn it, live it, love it.
Online marketing is usually described in terms of a (very leaky) funnel. Large numbers of people go in the top - representing your raw website visitors - while relatively few make it out the other end to actually become customers.
Therefore, content marketing strategies are usually grouped into several tiers, roughly corresponding to the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. Putting the right content into the right tiers greatly increases that content's effectiveness.
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Top: Top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content is what's freely available on your website, meant to attract interest and increase brand awareness. Blogs, podcasts, and infographics would generally go here.
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Middle: Middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) content converts casual visitors into leads, by requiring they submit their email address or other personal information in exchange for premium content. Put eBooks, videos, and other in-depth messaging here.
- Bottom: Bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) content focuses on creating sales. These are already qualified leads, so you're looking at highly technical content, free demonstrations, webinars, and other sales-related material.
Of course, none of these rankings are set in stone. You'll likely want to play around with your content distribution to find the most receptive audiences.
Speaking of which...
4 - Keep revising your strategies.
You'll want a Content Management System (CMS) to keep track of your website statistics and the effectiveness of your content strategies. Trying to calculate the data by hand is possible, but incredibly time-consuming and prone to error, so software is the superior solution.
If you can afford it, Hubspot is the best CMS on the market, but you're paying for quality. For shops on a budget, Google Analytics is free and provides an acceptable alternative for less-detailed management.
Either way, once you have a steady flow of data, you'll be able to quickly evaluate which strategies are succeeding, which are failing, and which just need tweaks.
5 - Keep the content coming!
You also need a steady flow of new content, which means having a workflow in place to guarantee new blogs, graphics, and other materials are ready to be uploaded on at least a daily basis.
If you need assistance getting more content, or if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact 98toGo for all your content marketing needs!
