Content Marketing is a popular business practise today.
However, there are a lot of common content marketing FAQs that I get asked every day by clients.
Questions like: where do I start with content marketing? How does content marketing work? Is content marketing right for my business?
No worries!
If you have content marketing questions, I have content marketing answers!
I’ve put them all in this blog for you to enjoy.
Prefer to listen, rather than read? Here’s the Podcast summary!
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is the process of creating content aimed to pique the attention of people and engage both potential customers and current clients. This accessible marketing approach works by raising brand awareness and brand relevance on their terms.
For example, instead of a disruptive advert telling people to buy frozen meals, you create a blog about the convenience and nutrition of your branded frozen meals that people will enjoy reading whenever they are actively looking.
For more, read: How can content marketing help a business?
How content marketing works
Content marketing involves the strategy, creation, publishing and distribution of pieces of marketing content that are orientated around your ideal customer’s challenges and desires.
When you create content and place it online, you are providing value, which I define as information and entertainment. Content marketing gets its strength from the fact that it’s available at the right place at the right time, and leaves the decision with them.
Content marketing empowers people to make their own decisions – and that’s why it works.
For instance, an educational video about how to use your hardware products on a DIY project creates relevance and excitement from someone who is interested in it, rather than an ad that highlights the products and pushes it onto them when they’re not open to the message.
For more information, read: 5 ways how to do content marketing.
How content marketing helps
Content marketing forms a part of your holistic marketing strategy.
While you will segment people based on a common demographic or characteristic, such as “female University student” or “young families looking for a rental property in Sydney”, your target audience is still made up of many unique people with different preferences and behaviours.
That means some respond to adverts, while some will prefer blogs and others will enjoy podcasts. Content marketing helps businesses connect with them all because it reaches out and spreads marketing messages to people across a variety of channels.
Content marketing is designed to bolster your overall business marketing.
How content marketing drives sales
While content marketing isn’t as aggressive when it comes to selling, that is also its strength.
People today are a lot more selective about where to spend their precious attention, and often get frustrated with direct sales attempts.
Content marketing plays a subtler game. In my experience, people like to see around 8 to 12 pieces of content before they make a decision, depending on where they are in the customer journey. So, providing them with value at every step of the way creates a powerful conversion funnel.
To learn more, read: What are the 8 stages of the customer content journey?
How content marketing helps SEO
Search Engine Optimisation works by presenting the best search result when a person requests a specific search in a search engine platform like Google, Bing, eBay, Amazon, YouTube and more.
These search engines use complicated algorithms that scan digital content to find the best matches to a person’s query. Content marketing helps your SEO rank because you’re creating a “cloud” of pieces that contain relevant keywords and phrases.
These together convince search engines to consider you as a good result and therefore, show your content to more people.
For example, think about this article. This is one of hundreds of Melotti Media blogs. Search engines like Google can identify that there is a lot of fresh, unique and relevant content for specific searches relating to marketing, copywriting and content marketing – so, it pushes my brand up higher in the ranks.
How content marketing is changing the game
Interesting question!
Ok, so in my opinion, content marketing is changing the game in business because today’s customers have an insatiable appetite for value, education and entertainment (especially if it’s free!).
The more content you give them, the more they’re reminded of your business in a good light. So, it’s revolutionising marketing because content marketing is working more collaboratively with audiences rather than forcing their attention.
Businesses have to find innovative ways to attract people’s precious attention and create content that earns results. Additionally – with the introduction of AI and new technology, content marketing is evolving rapidly; so, it’s continuing to change the business game, even now.
How content marketing has changed
Following on from the previous answer, content marketing is evolving – just like any other form of marketing.
Originally, content marketing was simple. Businesses wrote useful articles that raised general awareness – people read those blogs and were influenced by them. However, over the last decade, content marketing has expanded across all forms of media, including podcasts, visuals, video and a combination of all four.
This has made content marketing more accessible to all different preferences and platforms.
Content marketing is continuing to evolve with the help of AI and machine learning, interactive content, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Time will tell what they will look like!
How content marketing helps business
Content marketing helps businesses because it helps customers – it’s as simple as that.
It offers so many advantages to business, including:
- Increasing brand visibility
- Making your brand relevant
- Improving accessibility to your brand
- Informing and entertaining your audience
- Making your brand more appealing
- Answering people’s questions
- Providing a great customer experience
- Expanding your brand’s reach
- Improving your SEO
- Developing your brand’s personality
- Making you a Key Opinion Leader in your field
And of course, content marketing helps you drive conversions and sales by influencing them, helping people progress down the customer journey.
To learn more, see: 7 ways to increase your audience’s engagement with your content marketing.
Is content marketing worth it?
From my personal experience as a business that uses content marketing every day to drive leads and conversions, I would say a definite yes!
The reason why is because it keeps my marketing costs down and provides a strong, ongoing “conversion engine” that works 24/7 to get results. For example, my Message Marketing Podcast and Message Marketing Blog are both accessible at any time to anyone looking for information. This consistently drives traffic to my website and generates enquiries that turn into conversions and paying customers.
The more quality content you create, the better you will do as you’re covering so many bases.
And because the majority of content marketing is free (or highly cost-effective), that makes it a very good marketing initiative.
To learn more, read: Content marketing success- how to meet your customer’s obsession.
Does all content marketing work?
NO!
Just creating content isn’t enough. It needs to be well-thought-out, planned and executed carefully.
If it’s rushed, poorly targeted or not amplified correctly, it won’t go far and then you’ll be disappointed. Content marketing is not an “easy” form of marketing.
It takes a lot of ongoing hard work to get right and earn results. But it is possible.
For example, one blog every month won’t get you any decent results. You need to write blogs regularly to create a snowball effect. Content marketing gets results when it compounds together.
How do I find the time or expertise to do content marketing?
As I said – content marketing needs time, effort and creative skill to earn results.
Unfortunately, most businesses either don’t enjoy creating content or just don’t have the time or ability. That’s where a professional marketing copywriter can help you.
A freelance copywriter, like me, can help ghost-write a lot of this for you on your behalf. That way, you’re getting quality content that’s not taking so much time or resources to produce.
How can Melotti Media help you with content marketing?
To engage your customer and achieve ongoing business success today, you need a powerful message, quality copywriting and consistent content. However, this is easier said than done.
Perhaps you’re time poor and spread thin, or writing may not be your expertise.
So, let us take care of your message marketing, copywriting and content marketing needs!
For more information or to speak to a quality marketing copywriter to get the results your business deserves, contact me now at enquire@melottimedia.com.au.
Our Message Marketing services can sharpen your words into achieve your goals, today.
Christopher Melotti
Melotti Media | Copywriting & Message Marketing Bureau
www.melottimedia.com.au
