Understanding What Content Marketing Is

Understanding What Content Marketing Is

If you’ve made the decision to use content to promote your business, and you’re ready to get started, you can now start to build brand awareness, develop relationships and boost your profits in amazing ways. Content marketing encompasses all forms of content that add value to consumers, thereby directly or indirectly promoting a business, brand, product, or service. Content marketing occurs both online and offline, but the free and simple tools of the social Web have opened up the ability for companies of all sizes to compete alongside one another, not for market share but for voice and influence.

Marketing a business using content isn’t a new concept, however, it has evolved in recent years to mean far more than creating a company brochure filled with promotional messages and images. Today, content marketing focuses on creating content that is meaningful and useful to consumers with promotional taking a backseat, to adding value, particularly adding value to the online conversations that are happening across the social Web.

Evolving From Interruption Marketing To Engagement Marketing

In the 21st century, consumers actively try to avoid being interrupted by ads and marketing messages. While companies used to have to rely on catching the attention of consumers using tactics such as shock advertising, the same tactic aren’t as effective today when consumers can simply click away from an online ad or just skip the commercials. Even the most attention-getting ads go unnoticed by consumers who fast forward over them.

At the same time, consumers are now hyper-connected. they have access to enormous of information, such as instant access to real-time news, from their homes, offices, and mobile devices. In other words, simply interrupting consumers, and delivering marketing messages won’t get the job done anymore. Instead, companies have to quickly show the added value they can deliver, particularly if they're interrupting consumers in order to deliver that value.

To achieve success, companies need to engage consumers rather than interrupt them. Consider a pop-up ad appearing on a Web site today. It was not so long ago that pop-up ads were all the rage among marketers. Today, they’re a surefire way to annoy customers and cause them to turn away from you. Rather than taking control of consumers’ online experiences, businesses need to enhance those experiences, and they can do it with content that adds value and engages consumers.

Breaking Through The Online Clutter

Given how cluttered the Web is with content, messages, spam, and so on, you will be wondering how you can get consumers to notice you without doing something drastic to catch their attention. That’s where you can apply the steps of brand-building to your content marketing strategy.

Just as a brand isn’t built overnight, neither is an effective and influential content marketing plan. Start thinking of content marketing as an essential part of building your brand and online reputation. A powerful brand can lead a business to fantastic places. For example, the Disney brand adds immense value to the Walt Disney Company. You can build your own brand through content marketing and position yourself for success through long-term sustainable growth. 

Here are 3 fundamental steps of brand building for your content marketing initiatives:

a. Consistency

All of your messages and activities must consistently communicate your brand image and promise, or consumers will become confused. They’ll turn away from your brand and look for one that does consistently meet their expectations.

b. Persistence

Brands are built over time and through continued efforts in spreading messages and meeting customers’ expectations.

c. Restraint

Brands must stay focused and resist extending into areas of business or activities that run counter to the brand promise.

Just as a brand represents a promise that consumers can rely on to meet their expectations again and again, so should your content marketing. By publishing valuable content that consistently communicates your brand promise, consumers will develop expectations for your brand and become loyal to it. Loyal consumers talk about the brands they love. This is a marketer’s dream come true. In other words, you can build your brand and your business through content with little or no monetary investment. Instead, you simply need to commit your time and efforts. It’s an opportunity for everyone who is committed to it. 

That’s all for now, my friends. See you all in my next article.

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