Content is still king in 2020: 5 tips for an effective marketing strategy

Facebook reported a remarkable 30-40% increase in usage over the last couple of months as more people are staying at home and spending time online. 

What does this mean for businesses and marketers? How can you seize this opportunity to stay on your customer's radar?

The answer is to create more useful and engaging content. 

 Content marketing is a tried-and-true strategy to promote your brand and build trust with your audience. Follow these tips to create an effective content marketing plan.

1. Deliver the right message - Start with Why

 As consumers become more distracted and overloaded with visuals on social media, marketers need to come up with more creative and interesting concepts to differentiate themselves from other brands. It starts with why.

 WHY do customers need your products or service? How do you solve their problems? These questions should be at the core of your marketing strategies. 

 Once your brand message is clear, you can start crafting content that delivers the right brand identity and amplifies your marketing message to the right audience. 

2. Give away quality and free content (Yes, FREE!)

There’s no doubt that businesses are struggling and looking for resources to pivot and improve their businesses. This is in fact a good time to offer freebies and educational content to add value to your prospects.

For example, when Neil Patel gave away his premium features Ubersuggest for free, he saw a surge in his website traffic and new customer sign-ups.

Offering free, quality content is not only a good strategy for lead generation, it also improves your business’ reputation in the field.

3. Create timely and relevant content

In April, Nike launched a global marketing campaign called Play for the World – a celebration of creative ways people can still exercise and play sports during a lockdown. The campaign features genuine and relevant videos of athletes who work out in their own homes.  

Although their sales have been heavily affected by the pandemic, their marketing campaign has been a great success, helping them engage with their fans and even attract new customers.

Think about how your brand can stay relevant in times of crisis.

4. Use free tools 

The greatest obstacle when it comes to creating good content is the lack of resources and the budget to acquire content creators. Fortunately, there are free tools like Canva, Unsplash and Google Drive to get you started on creating and managing content.

Some of the best tools include:

• Keyword search: Google Trends
• Writing: Grammarly
• Design: Canva, Unsplash, Flaticon
• Email marketing: MailChimp, HubSpot
• Data and analytics: Google Analytics, Hotjar
• Project Management: Google Drive, WeTransfer, Dropbox, Notion, Trello, Asana

?5. Pick the right distribution channels

Just because TikTok is the hottest social media platform right now, it doesn’t mean that you should jump on the bandwagon. 

Understand where your target audience usually hangs out and create engaging content on platforms they frequent.

For example, if you’re a B2B business service provider, sharing quality content and starting conversations on LinkedIn might be more effective than Instagram.

The key is to understand who your customers are, where you can connect with them, and how you can add value to their lives.