When you practice content marketing, done right, your readers won’t even realize they are receiving a marketing message. By creating content that is unique, has a specific voice or style, and that imparts new ideas without forgetting the reason why the content exists, you will always be super successful.
Components of content done right:
* Unique – When you create content yourself it should be totally original and share an idea in a new way. People want new ways to understand things and no one can do it quite like you can. You are special.
* Targeted – Know exactly for whom you’re creating any content. That’s the only way to truly make content stand out to the viewer. You want them to feel as if this content was made just for them. They are special.
* Engaging – Bring the reader (or viewer if video) into the content by doing something unexpected to show them more about your personality. People like to feel as if they know you. Give them a peek.
* Valuable – Whether it’s free content or paid content, it should offer some sort of value to the viewer. If your content cannot answer “what’s in it for them?” then you are barking up the wrong tree.
With any type of content, it’s important to pull the viewer in from the start. People will usually read the first couple of lines, or watch the first few seconds of a video before clicking away. You have just seconds to grab their attention and pull them in. Content marketing done right pulls in the viewer so that they have a desire to learn more.
Content marketing that is done the right way will also employ a call to action (CTA). Your call to action should be clear on every single piece of content you produce. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a blog post, a social media status update, or a YouTube video – without a call to action you’ve missed the entire point of content marketing.
There are many different types of CTAs. They don’t all have to be “buy this” calls to action. But, if each piece of content you produce has a reason for being, you should know in advance what type of CTA you want to use. Maybe you want to drive traffic to your blog. Perhaps you want to increase engagement in social media. Whatever it is, guide your viewer toward doing what it is that you want them to do – which was the purpose of your message.
Content marketing needs to be part of your overall marketing strategy. Remember that content marketing is just one tactic that you can use to market your business. It encompasses email marketing, social media, article marketing, blogging, and many other channels because in terms of marketing your business, the saying is true that “Content Is King”.
Content is on your sales pages, in your eBooks, on your blog, and within videos that you make. Even the images that you choose are technically, content. Once you understand that, and start to plan your content marketing with a purpose in mind, you’ll be doing content marketing the right way.