How to Get Started with Content Marketing?

When you are just starting out in Content marketing, it can be difficult to know where to begin. The key to getting started is to treat it like any other business, by creating a strategy. To be specific, “Content Strategy”.

Content is the foundation on which your content marketing strategy is built on. Without content, there is no strategy. Create content on a regular basis and share it with your target audience. Here are some hacks on how to get started with content marketing strategy:

The first and most important thing you should do is define your goals and objectives. Do you want to:

1.??????Increase organic search engine traffic?

Yes. Content Marketing can help you increase organic search engine traffic but you need to understand that Content marketing is an approach to marketing that focuses on creating and sharing valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action and it focuses heavily on the concept of “give before you get”. Search engines like Google and Yahoo! find and rank web pages based on the content and the flow of the content, so you need to make sure that your content is rich and relevant.

Content Marketing is a great way to increase search engine traffic because it helps you to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) because of the high-quality content that you are providing but you will either have to learn how to create high-quality content or you will have to hire some experts to take care of it.

2.??????Attract more customers?

Even psychology supports the fact that if you’re a business and you offer someone something for free before the buying experience, they are more likely to consider you among your other competitors while they plan to make a purchase. The reason why Content Marketing is one of the most sought-after marketing practices is because it builds up the trust like no other forms of marketing. Your audience will only come to you if they trust you and Content Marketing makes it sure that they trust you. Once you segment your audience into three categories i.e., Top of the Funnel (TOFU), Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) and Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU), all you need to do is to create content for the audience for all of these three categories to convert them into potential customers or at-least someone who knows about you and is attracted towards your brand.

Most of the funnels in content marketing looks like this:

TOFU:---------- Blog Posts, Social Media Posts, Podcasts, Videos, etc.

MOFU:--------- Email Courses, Newsletters, Case Studies, Guides, etc.

BOFU:---------- Demos, Consultation, Testimonials, Promo Code, Customer Stories, etc.

3.??????Create a new stream of income?

If you are thinking to create content to make some money by selling your expertise, you are not alone. There are many people in the market doing the same. For example, the content creators, influencers are all doing the content marketing. The reason why it is popular is because people trust people more than they trust brands. An individual person attracts more people than a brand does and that is why personal branding exists.

Even the movie stars, musicians and celebrities promoting products validates the point that a person generates more curiosity about a product than a logo haha.

You too can start creating content, establish a good distribution and figure out a product such as books, courses, merchandise, etc around your expertise, skills and brand and you can sell them to make money.

Content Creation has become a solid way to make money both full time and part time.

4.??????Build links, authority and trust??

If you have a website, then it is a good idea to build relationships with other websites. One of the best ways to do this is through content marketing. The better the content, the easier it will be to attract visitors to your site. These visitors will have a positive experience and will be more likely to spread the word about you. In the process, your website will start to build a positive reputation, which translates into a higher page rank. What this means is that you will get a lot of free traffic to your website. Use this traffic to attract even more visitors. You can then do this over and over until you have a large stream of targeted traffic that keeps arriving on a regular basis.

5.??????Boost brand awareness?

Content marketing is the process by which brands create and distribute relevant, engaging content in order to build a community of loyal followers. This type of marketing can be beneficial for your company for a number of reasons. First, it offers an opportunity to humanize your brand. When you are constantly posting about industry news or sharing about your own company, followers are left with the impression that you are a one-dimensional brand, focused only on profits. By sharing stories about your employees or celebrating your business’s culture, you will be able to show your followers that there is more to your business.

6.??????Enhance your company's reputation?

Content marketing is a great strategy not just for boosting your company’s reputation but also to bring in new customers. In fact, it is a very effective way to create a positive image of your business and enhance its credibility.

Before you get started with content marketing, keep these things in your mind:?????????????

Product and/or service selection is also an important factor.

The type of product you select will largely determine the type of customers you attract and which marketing channels you can use.

Take “Cred” for an example. They have used YouTube to create videos around personal finance which feature celebrities talking about their financial journey and what did they learn from it. “Cred” has surely found a way to help them stand out of the crowd using content marketing.

Then take “Zomato” for example. They try making the most out of Twitter. Some brands use Instagram better.

So, it is very important for you to figure out which platform will be better for you and what content will you post.

Be careful not to get too ambitious.

When you get started, keep it simple and aim to be consistent. If you get too ambitious, you will be disappointed when you don’t see those numbers in your head manifesting.

To be honest, many companies fail with content marketing. This is because they do not understand the power of content. They rush to produce content. They focus on what to publish rather than how to publish it. That is why they fail. Content marketing is an art. You need to use your creativity to create valuable content. The valuable content should help your customers to solve their problems. It should educate them to take actions. It should create long-term value for your brand.