The Complete Guide to Business Growth With Good Content Marketing
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Disclaimer
This e-book has been written for information purposes only. Every effort has been made to make this ebook as complete and accurate as possible.
However, there may be mistakes in typography or content. Also, this ebook provides information only up to the publishing date. Therefore, this ebook should be used as a guide - not as the ultimate source.
The purpose of this ebook is to educate. The author and the publisher does not warrant that the information contained in this e-book is fully complete and shall not be responsible for any errors or omissions. The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this e-book.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: What is Content Marketing? .......................................................4
Chapter 2: Why Content Marketing? ............................................................7
Chapter 3: Types of Content Marketing......................................................14
Chapter 4: Curating vs. Creating Content ..................................................27
Chapter 5: Use Content to Get Leads ........................................................38
Chapter 6: Content Marketing and Social Media........................................44
Chapter 7: Conclusion ................................................................................54
Resources .................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 1: What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a phrase often mentioned when discussing digital marketing. It’s often used in so many different contexts; it can be tough to understand what it really means. Let’s clear that up right now.
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable
customer action...View More>>>
The media is anything that has been created like blog posts, articles, videos, images or books. What you’re reading right now is a form of content or media. It can be in long form or very short. The overall purpose of content is to make a statement in a way that is compel ing and attractive to your preferred audience. When you’re using content for marketing purposes, you want to include some kind of call to action that encourages people to do something. You can be asking them to click a link, make a call, sign a petition or simply share the information.
The most important thing to remember when you are using content marketing is to focus on providing value. You’re not creating a commercial.
While commercials are a form of content, they’re one sided. Their purpose is solely to sell. When you use content as a marketing tool, your purpose is 4
to educate, inform and engage people with the goal of turning them into customers.
It’s not about direct sales to increase your bottom line; it’s about using information to show customers and potential customers that your company can provide value they need to enhance their lives in some way. It’s an indirect sales method that can turn customers into consistent clients.
By sharing content, you are encouraging a form of two way communication.
Not only do you want people to become customers, you want them to become an active community of clients that use your company consistently.
The reason you’ve been hearing about content marketing so much is that businesses are starting to recognize that communicating with customers is much more beneficial than communicating at customers. Advertising involves communicating at customers. You put together messages and images you think people wil like and you send them their way.
There is no room for dialogue or any type of engagement with your audience. That kind of communication is no longer as effective as it once was. People tend to tune out advertisements so you have to do more of it to make an impact.
People don’t tune out information. In fact, in this age of information, people are consuming it in large amounts. The 24 hour news cycle is a prime example of that. You have news networks that are on the air 24 hours a day sharing information. These networks wouldn’t be thriving if people 5
didn’t want to know information at any given moment of the day. If you are able to contribute to their desire for knowledge and information, you won’t be tuned out.
This is why content marketing should be used by all businesses, especially ones that live in the digital space. You have the opportunity to connect with your audience in a way that is meaningful. You have the opportunity to help quench their thirst for knowledge while providing a product or service to back it up.
This book will help you do that. It wil introduce you to the different types of content and show how to use it to get leads and sales. The great thing with content marketing is that anyone can do it. Once you lock in on the type of content you feel most comfortable creating you can do it.
Let’s Growth Marketing Strategies content marketing!>>
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Chapter 2: Why Content Marketing?
Now that you have a better understanding of what content marketing is, you may be wondering why you should use it. Creating content can take time and effort away from other things you could be doing for your business. It’s definitely not a magic pil that you can use to experience instant profit making results. It is however a very valuable process you can use multiple times to build your business.
As with any marketing endeavor, you have to take the time to create a strategy, organize a plan and determine how you wil measure a content marketing campaign. Yes, this takes time but it is time wel spent. Here are some statistics that show the value of creating content.
1. According to Nielsen, 58% of consumers trust editorial content.
2. 80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement 3. 61% of consumers say they feel better about a company that delivers custom content and, they are also more likely to buy from that company.
4. B2B companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month on average than non-blogging firms.
5. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads.
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6. Interesting content is the top 3 reasons people follow brands on social media.
Impressive, right?
Since content marketing is still fairly new, its benefits are still being determined but these numbers are more than promising. In the few years that businesses have been incorporating content into their marketing strategy or creating marketing strategy around content, it has provided great value.
If you’re on the fence about content marketing because you’re wary of making the investment, consider that you’re already doing some form of content marketing without even realizing it. Your website, emails and company newsletters are all forms of content that you use to contribute to your company’s brand.
You may not realize it but you are already using content in your company business even if your intent isn’t to garner sales from it. Now it’s time to change how you view the communication pieces you create for your company. Everything you create has the ability to drive sales or build an audience.
Since you’re already creating content for your business, shouldn’t it help your bottom line?
Specifically, there are Ten key reasons – and benefits – for enterprises to use content marketing>>
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Content marketing is cost effective
The root of content marketing is information that you already have. Al you need is to put it in a format that can be easily shared and digested by potential customers. Some of those formats are free to create and distribute as will be discussed later. They do take time but once you’ve created a strong piece of content, it can often be used multiple times to generate income. So while the initial time investment may be fairly high, over time the benefits gotten from that piece of content wil make that investment worthwhile.
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Content marketing helps you build a relationship with your audience
Any time you communicate with your audience, you make room for a dialogue which leads to a relationship. Brand loyalty comes when consumers have a relationship with a brand.
Before content marketing, that relationship usually took years to develop. Now you can do it in a much shorter amount of time by sharing content that helps put a face to your company and brand. Pulling back the corporate veil to share insights into what drives your company and the values it represents helps create a much more meaningful connection with consumers.
Content is the tool you can use to do that.
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Content marketing lets you be a resource
By sharing valuable information and insights with people, you can demonstrate the value that your company can provide. By presenting yourself as a resource, it gives you the opportunity to build a level of trust before people become customers. When customers trust you, they’re much more likely to become long-term clients. They’re also much more likely to refer other potential customers to your business.
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Content marketing gives you a competitive edge If you’re not a multinational corporation with a huge marketing budget, it can seem daunting to get into the marketplace and compete effectively. You may feel like you don’t have the ability to compete especially if it’s in an industry with a few major players. Sharing content gives you an edge because it levels the playing field. You have a unique perspective and can provide professional insight just like someone at a larger company. Multinational corporations don’t have a monopoly on knowledge.
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Content marketing isn’t industry specific
Every industry can benefit from sharing valuable information and insight with consumers. You don’t have to be in a creative or entertainment oriented field to benefit from sharing content.
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As long as you are providing value that people can use, you will benefit from content marketing.
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Content marketing creates educated customers Sometimes as a business you spend a lot of time answering the same questions over and over again. This is why many business websites have frequently asked questions pages. It’s done in an attempt to field some of the more common questions asked to ensure that when consumers make contact, they’re knowledgeable. By sharing content, you help increase that level of knowledge even more. It makes your interactions with customers more focused on how you can help than and less focused on why they need your help.
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Content marketing creates empowered consumers When people are informed and knowledgeable about something, they’re empowered to make informed decisions.
When your customers are empowered, they can be more savvy and easier to work with. People can be appreciative when they are given the ability to become empowered, especially when it’s through the sharing of information. Appreciative customers can turn into long term clients.
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Content marketing can lead to a viral campaign
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While it’s not a great idea to make content solely for the purpose of it going viral, you increase your odds that it wil go viral by creating it. It can be tough to make a piece of content go viral largely because the factors that lead to that kind of exposure can vary and are tough to pin down. However, by creating content, you are much more likely to experience a viral piece of content than if you don’t create content at all.
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Content marketing lets you control your message
When you are the one creating the content being used to represent your business, you can control what that message is and what it says. You can determine who your ideal audience is and craft messages solely for them. You can also determine which piece of content wil work best. Sometimes traditional advertising and marketing messages aren’t the best way to communicate with your ideal customer. Content marketing gives you the flexibility and control to do what’s best for your audience.
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Content marketing allows you to recycle information
When you create a valuable piece of content, it’s always possible to reuse that information for additional purposes. You can turn a white paper into a series of articles and then turn those articles into short videos. The possibilities for what you 12
can do with your content are limited only by your own creativity and imagination.
If the statistics shared at the beginning of this chapter aren’t enough to convince you why you should be using content marketing, these benefits that were just outlined should do it. As a small business, you have to be creative with how you reach your audience. Finding ways you can connect and show your value wil go a long way towards building a sustained customer base.
Content marketing gives you the ability to use your knowledge and experience to differentiate yourself from the competition. You are leaving money on the table if you don’t take full advantage of it. Plus, no one has the same knowledge and experiences as you. Creating content allows you to explore and use your own unique selling proposition.
100% Original Content To Your Social Media Accounts & Websites In Less
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