According to Google AdWords and a simple web search “content marketing” is a highly competitive keyword targeted by businesses that offer content marketing services. Those businesses hope that by investing in this keyword, their content marketing skills can be easily found by those looking for such services.
Content Marketing Keyword Competition
Source: Google AdWords
But why should anyone care about content marketing services? After all, content marketing appears to be a fairly new concept. According to Google Trends, the search and news reference volume for the term has only recently become significant, especially in the past year. Yet, it seems to be an important and lucrative endeavor.
Search and News Reference Volume for Content Marketing
Source: Google Trends
What Is Content Marketing?
Content is another word for information and marketing is the act of presenting useful information to potential buyers. Put the two together and you get something that looks strangely like traditional marketing: Companies presenting information about their brand in order to influence an audience’s purchasing decisions.
Generally, all buyers follow a similar process: They have a problem. They gather relevant information from a variety of sources that point them to several possible solutions. Then they choose the option that provides the best functionality at the best price.
Today’s online buyers are concerned with trust. Marketing has evolved from an interruptive activity to one that requires an audience’s permission and goodwill. By integrating traditional marketing techniques with new ones, companies are able to build a content marketing portfolio that can assist any type of buyer at any point in the sales cycle.
Content Marketing Is Pervasive Throughout The Buy Cycle
Forrester Research defines the customer buy cycle as five stages that lead from awareness to customer retention. Content marketing should occur throughout these five stages. It is therefore crucial for marketers to have appropriate content for the entire process: from curious internet searchers to paying customers whose subscription is about to expire.
Source: Forrester Research
“The State Of Lead To Revenue Management”
For example, customers in the awareness and lead origination stage of the buy cycle are exploring a variety of solutions. For these people, content marketing efforts should focus on advertising through review sites or search engines.
For B2B buyers in the nurturing stage who are in the process of narrowing their selections, it is important to make sure that they have access to case-studies and whitepapers that highlight the proven capabilities of a company and their thought leadership.
For B2C consumers in the nurturing stage, engaging emails, reviews on your website and interactive videos can differentiate your company from the competition.
Don’t forget that content marketing is required for those who have already submitted payment. This stage is the time for customer retention. In order to ensure customer loyalty and a reduced churn rate, marketers should consult with customer service departments and make sure that the content of confirmation pages provides useful information to the recently converted.
Another way to provide content marketing to your customers is to become active on social media platforms. For example, Adobe uses content marketing on Twitter to provide reliable, up-to-date information to inquirers.
Social Content Marketing From @adobe_care
Content Marketing Is Multimedia
Content marketing encompasses a multitude of formats. The following is a list of 15 different types of content that make up a comprehensive content marketing strategy that you can use to jump-start ideas for a thorough content marketing strategy:
- Emails
- Social media
- Blog posts
- Case studies
- Webinars
- Podcasts
- White papers
- E-books
- Peer reviews
- Consumer reviews
- Videos
- Photos
- FAQs
- PPC landing pages
- Confirmation pages
Keystone: An effective content marketing strategy is a pervasive, multimedia affair that combines traditional marketing techniques with social, web 2.0 content. It is a comprehensive effort that can help every company in their quest to not only acquire and retain customers, but to showcase leadership and authenticity.