get started with
Content
Marketing
“Content marketing is a marketing
technique of creating and
distributing relevant and valuable
content to attract, acquire, and
engage a clearly defined and
understood target audience – with
the objective of driving profitable
customer action.”
Joe Pulizzi
Content Marketing Institute,
Why Content Marketing?
You just got management to buy into a social media plan with a strategy of how to market to its millions of engaged users. Your team has finally gotten the hang of email marketing and now has a growing subscription list to which they’re providing a monthly newsletter. Your online ads, SEO, and PPC are generating click throughs that have resulted in higher volumes of traffic to the company web site. So why do you need content marketing?
We’ve gone from being exposed to about
500 ads a day back in the 1970s to as many
as 5,000 a day today.
- Jay Walker-Smith
President of the marketing firm Yankelovich
We’re oversaturated with marketing. Even as marketers we avoid
marketing. We filter our emails, we use DVRs to skip commercials, and we toss direct mail pieces away without a second glance. When was the last time you actually clicked on a banner ad?
We do our best to ignore all this advertising noise, and yet the internet is still a vital part of our buying process. We scroll through countless pages of research and reviews for everything from deciding what restaurant we’re going to for dinner to which keyboard we’ll purchase for work. We repeat this process daily, and with each click we’re establishing our preferred thought leaders. We begin to trust Yelp when it comes to sushi and
cupcakes, look to Engadget for advice on which phone to buy and expect Mashable to provide insight on the latest trends in social media.
So as marketers, how do we communicate to this more
sophisticated, knowledgeable buyer? The answer is by writing relevant blog posts, creating intuitive infographics and thoughtful
ebooks that educate and inform. The answer is strategic videos and webinars that are easily shared through social media and reach
audiences that no direct mail piece ever could. The answer is
Begin with a Goal in Mind
Start content marketing just as would a traditional ad or display campaign by establishing a goal. Are you trying to improve market share for your hospital or increase enrollment in your bank’s retirement plan? Are you recruiting patients for a clincal trial or encouraging high school seniors to visit your college campus? A clear and concise goal will help determine all of your decisions throughout the campaign.
Know your Audience
Who are the people that you need participation from to reach the campaign goal? Create
personas or specific characteristics for the different demographics or groups within your audience. Analyze the behaviors of these personas. What kind of content is going to engage them?
You already have content.
Unless this is a brand new initiative, chances are you already have a booklet, a brochure or even a video that covers the product or service outlined in your goal. Getting your content marketing campaign off the ground doesn’t include dropping any of your previous marketing materials into a dumpster.
Plan and Share
Consistent, relevent and quality content are the earmarks of a successful content marketing campaign. It requires commitment from your entire team. First, identify the writers within your group and then have them agree upon a common voice. Next, the designers on your team must establish a visual look or brand for the campaign. Finally, schedule the creation and execution of each content marketing piece just as you would have traditionally timed a mailer or ad buy. Make very intentional and strategic decisions for the campaign and about each segment within your audience. Adopting content marketing does not mean abandoning social media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are all excellent platforms to deploy your content. It all depends upon your end goal. Understanding your audiences and the advantages of each social network will enusre accurate deployment of your content and increase the likelihood of engagement.
Need Some Help?
Whether it’s the strategic planning, creation of content or accurate deployment to your audience, Contrast Creative canassist you with any or all phases of your content marketing campaign. With more than 15 years of experience in the marketing and communications arena, Contrast Creative can bring a proven level of knowldege and a quality assurance to your project that will that will achieve measurable results.
