Think back to your high school algebra lessons. There were students who either had already decided that they would enter the philological faculty or were simply more interested in what was happening outside the window than in what a teacher was saying. And those students answered any claims, “And where will it be useful to me in life, this algebra of yours?”
The lesson is over, and the bell rings, but the essence remains the same. No matter how much content there is on your site, it will not be able to give the desired link transitions until you answer the user’s main question, “Where is this information useful to me in life?”
What is content marketing?
A marketing tool that is based on building a plan with relevant content, its active promotion, and aimed at attracting the target audience is called content marketing. Competent content marketing does not ask but motivates, does not impose but helps, and does not force but informs. Take a topic that is interesting and relevant in your industry, present it in an informative way, and embed it in an unobtrusively constructive review of your products and services.
Perhaps non-obvious advertising in the form of a whole information block may not seem so effective for marketing conservatives, but still, competent content is in great demand. And there are a number of reasons for this because:
- It captures the entire target audience
The stage when your potential customers are at the very top of the purchase funnel is very unstable. To reach them, you need to tell them about yourself and your advantages. And the content does a good job of this task.
- It forms trusting relationships
Customers get used to your content and trust it because you do not say, “Buy!” but solve all problems and give practical advice along the way, from the idea of acquisition to its implementation.
- It increases the position of the site
The necessary information in an interesting presentation leads to a natural increase in the link mass through affiliate programs because it is not a shame to refer to high-quality content.
- Natural website promotion
Content attracts not only the target audience to the site but also search engines since an increase in the number of promoted queries in each new content leads to a natural increase in traffic.
- It strengthens the brand
The way you present yourself stands alongside the other elements of the brand. With content, you can showcase your originality, creativity, and branding to your customers.
Filling the site with content is not just writing texts. This is writing the necessary texts, and creating practical instructions, the purpose of which is to help the user, and the result is profit. And not vice versa. And if you don’t know how to write those necessary texts, you can ask for help at a writing service like essayshark.com. They deliver texts samples, which can be used as guides while dealing with content writing.
Putting together a team
Content marketing is what “connecting people” really is because this task cannot be done alone. The team of content creators for the site should be led by an experienced content marketer, and a brand needs an SEO specialist, a designer, and more than one copywriter. You really need to have a lot of content writers in stock; creative people are fickle, and where the muse is, they go there.
And finding a quality author is often a mission impossible. Therefore, we decided to take a closer look at the process, from searching for a content writer to content ready for publication.
Looking for a content writer
There are several ways to announce a vacancy to content writers and start working with them - through:
freelance exchange
job search websites
content studios
social media
forums
recommendations from friends.
Filter for candidates
For quality teamwork, each candidate must be carefully vetted.
An experienced content writer is needed! The training will take a long time.
Too expensive authors should create relevant content.
A quality portfolio is better than a rich resume.
Make the same test for everyone for easy comparison of their work.
By the way, often such writers can be found on different writing services. They help students who need to write an essay.” However, they can deal with content writing as well. Often such writers are very versatile.
How to fill out a content plan
To come up with an idea for content, you need to have a few inspiring competitors’ blogs in stock, as well as be able to interact with the target audience and directly ask what they would be interested to know. Ideas may appear at the intersection of queries you previously used. Alternatively, take advantage of content marketing: unlike “traditional advertising,” you can always rewrite an interesting topic.
Content can be anything, but most companies prefer not to stagnate on just one type but to alternate between them.
Target audience analysis
To understand which topics will give you the most traffic, analyze your audience and understand who you are talking to. The most elementary way to do this is to answer a few questions:
What are the age, gender, and marital status of your target audience?
What are income, profession, and education?
What country, city are they from?
What are their preferences, interests, and needs?
How can your products/services help?
What queries are entered in the search bar?
And the more answers you give to such questions, the more accurately the portrait of your target audience will be drawn up.
Methods for compiling a content plan
A content plan is a list of relevant topics that will be filled with content for a certain period of time. This list can be compiled by:
- Intuition
Method: the material is published when it arrives, without a certain logical sequence or time frame; everything happens according to the author’s intuition.
- Popular posts analogy
Method: It is necessary to analyze reader preferences and popular posts in order to develop topics similar to those that have already brought impressive traffic.
- Content matrix
Method: A content matrix is a table of relevant post ideas, where each general idea is developed logically into subsequent, more detailed topics. The table is filled by methods of generalization, clarification, and similarity.
Content marketing will help you reach your target audience and convert them into customers. The main thing is to solve visitors’ problems, convey the importance of your information and talk about the prospects.