Content Marketing isn’t a new phenomenon but it is certainly the buzz term of 2013, and if you’re starting up a new business there are a few things in the field of content marketing that every entrepreneur should be familiar with.
Whatever your promoting a product or a service you will have to outline and implement a marketing plan. Digital marketing is not only cheaper to undertake but is also proving a more effective way of connecting with your target audience.
1) Market Useful Content Or None At All
There is no point in simply marketing content for the sake of it. When starting out in any business venture, understanding your core demographic is essential, the better you know them the better you can serve them. Develop content that is truly useful, this may mean giving away a few trade secrets or offering up data that might be useful to your competitors as well as your audience. But your customer base will appreciate it, they will engage with your business and want to do so more in the future because of it.
Taking the easy route and marketing the same old overly promotional content will do your business no favours. The great thing about being a start-up is that you’re at the beginning of your brand’s story, and you can kick off on a high and build a relationship as a business that values their customer’s opinions and show this by giving back useful content.
2) Listen To Your Customers
Content marketing isn’t just about broadcasting your message out, it’s also about listening to the response from your demographic. Your customers are your brand’s best asset, and having an open dialogue via symbiotic content marketing and social media channels is a great way to improve your business.
As we’ve mentioned above, cold automated content marketing is a waste of time, you need to build authentic relationships with your audience and one of the best ways to do this is to listen to them. People appreciate being listened to and it’s imperative for entrepreneurs to understand that their customer base is made up of people. It sounds obvious but it’s an important point that’s often over looked.
3) Authenticity Is Key
Giving your brand a personal feel is essential these days. With the proliferation of digital technologies and the popularity of social networks for communicating and connecting, businesses need to have a personable presentation. When content marketing this can be achieved in a range of ways from signing off Tweets or Facebook updates with the initials of the writers, to promoting content that will be useful for your customers but may not have originated from your brand directly.
Aim to put the pro in approachable, you want to be professional of course, but also appear human, this will make your customers feel that they can ask you questions, give you feedback, even offer creative criticism – all of which help you to provide a better product or service, which is the overall aim of the game.
4) A Blog Could Be Your Best Tool
Having a blog is a commitment and it’s only worth doing if you can post regularly, depending on the size of each post this typically entails once a week to once a month. Content marketing isn’t always about disseminating content else where, it can also be about publishing quality material on your own site. And a frequently updated blog that is full of useful information and insightful industry opinions is a great way to build up an audience who will visit and revisit your site month on month and likely lead to conversions and sales.
It’s also a great opportunity to demonstrate your own expertise as an entrepreneur in your given field. Having a blog is a good way to show your customers you know what you’re talking about and that your brand likes to practice what it preaches – which is an important quality and lends more authenticity to both your business image and content marketing efforts.
Content marketing is relatively simple even for entrepreneurs who may not be familiar with the idea. Provide useful material to your customers, this reflects better on your brand than always trying to sell your wares to them. You’ll build up a loyal audience who will help shape your business into the success you want it to be.
This article was written by Barry Cooke. Barry is a social media consultant who has been working in the industry for over a decade and a half in a number of different sectors from customer services and chat apps to the finance and travel industry.
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