Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and engage a target audience with the goal of driving profitable customer action. Unlike traditional marketing, it focuses on engaging customers through useful information rather than direct sales pitches. Research shows most business decision makers prefer educational content over advertisements and feel closer connections to companies that provide it. Creating a content strategy requires understanding audiences, publishing helpful content regularly across channels, measuring effectiveness, and refining efforts continuously.

2. What is Content Marketing?
Unlike traditional interruptive marketing, branded content is engaging, relevant
and provides value, to attract and acquire a clearly defined target audience - with
the objective of driving profitable customer action.
It’s the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling.
Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that
makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief
that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers,
they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.
And they do. Content marketing is being used by P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and
John Deere. It’s also developed and executed by small businesses and one-person
shops around the globe. Why? Because it works.
According to the Roper Public Affairs, 80% of business decision makers prefer to
get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. 70% say
content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company, while 60%
say that company content helps them make better product decisions.
You can create marketing that is anticipated and truly makes a connection! You can
develop and execute “sales” messages that are needed, even requested, by your
customers.
The State of Content Marketing 2012 (Outbrain Study)
• 100% of brand and agency marketers use content marketing.
• Video is the most common form of content created.
• Social media is the most popular channel for driving traffic.
• Social media, video advertising and content marketing are viewed as the most
effective tactics for brand awareness and affinity.
• 82% of marketers will increase content marketing efforts in 2012.
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10 Visual Content Marketing Tips
1. Make a commitment
Don’t miss opportunities to connect with existing and prospective customers.
Treat content like a critical business asset and allocate a budget for planning your
strategy, content development, and publishing. Make sure your content supports
business goals, drives results and meets client needs.
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2. Know your audience
Basic website user data is easy to get (Google Analytics). It can be more
difficult to determine your visitors’ intent. This information is important as
you consider the various kinds of content your clients are interested in.
Is your goal to get people to buy something? Or, do you want sign-ups for
an event? Pinpoint your audience for these goals. Define your success metrics
and figure out the audience needed to attract those metrics.
3. Understand what content your audience wants
Once you know a few things about your audience, think about what interests
them. Media consumption habits are undergoing dramatic changes now.
One company’s clients might be interested in short items that can be read
quickly, while another’s might prefer how-to videos. Think about where the
audience prefers to consume content. Your website or Facebook? Their smart
phone or desktop? Conduct interviews with clients to find out. And check out
what your competition is doing.
4. View yourself as a publisher, create an editorial calendar
Map out when and what content will be published in a 12 month period.
Think strategically about what types of content you release. Publish them in
a timely manner and support them with appropriate marketing initiatives.
5. Have a strong and consistent voice
Make sure what you publish is unique and identifiable as coming from you.
Think about your tone. Lighthearted and conversational, or authoritative
and scholarly. Communicate brand missions, values and philosophy in simple
terms and eliminate the use of corporate speak and buzzwords. Be consistent
across all communications to avoid confusion.
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6. Offer valuable information
Problem-solving content is a good way to show clients and prospects that
you are interested in helping them accomplish their goals or meet their
objectives and isn’t just trying to sell them. This builds trust, makes you an
authority in your field and encourages people to return to your site.
7. Be relevant
Be proactive and deliver relevant content to your users, insuring that every
visit to your website is meaningful and interactive.
8. Determine your objective(s)
Why are you creating this content? Consider calls to action, triggers or other
ways to further the momentum of users along the path toward your desired
objective.
9. Repurpose and promote
How many ways can you use and distribute your content? Can a webinar be
reworked as a whitepaper? Can a whitepaper be broken down into a series
of blog posts? Make sure you are reaching your clients consistently across all
channels.
10. Track results
Once you have an editorial calendar and can repurpose content across
multiple platforms, your content should start driving engagement,
conversion and revenue. It’s imperative to track the results. Measure how
many people viewed certain content, how many clicked through to another
page and how many converted. It will be clear what is and isn’t working,
enabling you to refine your efforts and continue to improve your results.
Need help?
To take your content marketing to the next level contact Lori at
BersonDeanStevens: 877-447-0134, x111 or Lori@BersonDeanStevens.com.